Sri M said...

Shivarathri, traditionally, is supposed to be the day when Samudra Manthan was done and the poison came out. You know that story of the churning of the ocean-the Manthan- and when the churning took place, first a very powerful poison called ‘halahala visha’ is supposed to have come out and it would have enveloped the world but for the fact that Shiva is supposed to have drunk it up. It stopped in his throat so it became blue, so He is called Neelkant. This is a fact which is applicable to all yogis, not only to Shiva.