Avatar of Lord Shiva:Sharabha Avatar

 Lord Shiva has taken avatar whenever there is a need for the protection and welfare of this world. The "Sharabha" avatar of Lord Shiva is one of them. This avatar of Lord Shiva is also known as "Lord Sharbheshwar". This incarnation was taken by Lord Shiva to pacify Lord Vishnu's 4th avatar Lord Narasimha.

AVATAR OF LORD SHIVA: SHARABHA AVATAR

STORY OF SHARBHA AVATAR :

   It is about the time when Hiranyakashipu considered Lord Vishnu as his enemy. Lord Vishnu in form of Lord Varaha killed his brother Hiranyaksha .Both are sons of Maharishi Kashyap ( one of great seven sages and Devi Ditti.

Read More : Bhikshuvarya Avatar of Lord Shiva

       To take revenge on Lord Vishnu,Hiranyakashipu did severe penance( tapasya ) for Lord Brahma and took a boon from him that " Let me not die from any creature, man, animal, deity, demon, serpent created by you.  Let me rule over all beings.  No one can kill me during the day or at night, neither inside the house nor outside.  Also that no one could hit with any weapon or hit with any weapon.  Neither on earth nor in sky, nor in hell, nor in heaven" ,due to which he became immortal even though he was not immortal.

      He started killing the devotees of Lord Vishnu and also snatched the heaven from the gods. He became the lord of the three worlds because of the boon of Lord Brahma.

     But Hiranyakashipu's son Prahlad was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu.When Hiranyakashipu tried to kill Prahlad. He tried to crush his son Prahlad under the feet of an elephant, poisoned him, locked him in a dungeon full of snakes, threw him from top of a mountain, tied him in chains and drowned him in water. .Lord Vishnu thought of taking his Narishma avatar.Lord Vishnu incarnated as Narasimha and saved Prahlad and the universe from the atrocities of Hiranyakashipu.

      There was no extreme limit to Lord Narasimha's anger. Even after killing Hirankashyap, he was still in anger and started roaring loudly.Because of which there was chaos in the whole world.His devotee Prahlad ,Goddess Lakshmi and all the gods tried to pacify him, but did not succeded in stopping the anger of Lord Narsimha.

      Then all the gods with Lord Brahma went to Lord Shiva who was in Samadhi ( doing meditation ). Then gods prayed to him that Lord Narasimha should be pacified so that the whole world would be well.Pleased with his prayer,Lord Shiva first sent Virbhadra, he tried to stop Lord Narasimha but he failed in doing this.

     It was very important that this angry form of Lord Vishnu should be stopped, so Lord Shiva taken avatar as Shrabha, who was bigger and more powerful than Lord Narasimha.Half of his body was that of a lion, half of a human and half that of a bird named Sharabhan (a wild bird which was more powerful than a lion and had eight legs).  According to Sanskrit literature, he had two feathers, beak, thousand arms, studded on head, with moon on his head.

      In Shiva Purana, Sharabha is potrayed as an living thing with two heads, two wings, eight legs of the lion with sharp claws and a long tail whereas The Kalika Purana describes Sharabha as black in colour, with four feet downwards and four feet uplifted, with an enormous body. It also has a long face and nose, nails, eight legs, eight tusks, a cluster of manes, and a long tail. It jumps high repeatedly making a loud cry.

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    In order to pacify the anger of Narasimha avatar, Lord Shiva first started praising Lord Narasimha by wearing Sharabhavatar, but even then his anger did not subside.  Then Lord Shiva, showing his Rudra form, wrapped Lord Narasimha in his hands and took him to the universe.  Then Lord Narasimha took Lord Shiva in the incarnation of Sharabha and his anger started to subside.

        What was it then, Lord Narasimha's fury subsided completely and he started praising Shiva for his apology to Sharbhavatar.Lord Shiva as Sharbha got happy with the praising of Lord Narsimha and released from his hands.And Lord Vishnu came to his original form, due to which the creation was saved from the end.

After this Lord Vishnu ritired to his adobe Vaikuntha,after duly praising Lord Shiva.It was from here on that Shiva came to be known as "Sharabeshamurti" or "Simhagnamurti".In this way Lord Shiva, in Sharabha avatar, protected the universe from the wrath of Lord Narasimha.

Read more : Navadurga : Nine Avatars of Devi Durga

MENTIONED IN:

Sharbha Avatar of Lord Shiva is mentioned in following literatues:

1. Kamikagama

2. Sritattvanidhi

3. Kalki Purana

4. Shiva Purana

  

    

            ॐ पक्षि-राजाय विद्महे शरभेश्वराय धीमहि तन्नो शरभः प्रचोदयात्

                   || OM NAMAH SHIVAAY ||

Read More :

1. Devraj Indra : God of Thunder

2. Agni Dev : God of Fire

3. Krishan Darshan Avatar of Lord Shiva

4. Vrishabha Avatar of Lord Shiva

5. Dashavatara : 10 Incarnations of Lord Vishnu

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