Sharabha or Sharabheshwara Swamy, Avatar of Lord Shiva

Lord Sharabha

Lord Sharabha

Lord Sharabha is an avatar of Lord Shiva, who incarnated in the most powerful form than a lion to pacify Lord Narasimha Swamy. Lord Sharabha appeared like a huge bird with wings and strong beak. Sharabha Jayanthi falls in Vaisakha mass. Sharabha JAyanthi is an auspicious occasion for shaivaites.

Legend of Sharabha Avatar of Lord Shiva:

After demolishing Demon Hiranyakashapa, Lord Narasimha was very ferocious, roaring with anger, and it was impossible to stop him for all Gods and even for Prahlad, for whom Lord Narayana incarnated as Lord Narasimha and destroyed Hiranyakashapa.

To make Lord Narasimha calm and peaceful or to pacify him, all Gods went to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva manifested as Veerabhadra (one of the incarnations of Lord Shiva) and went to Lord Narasimha and asked him to be calm as he was an incarnated for Lok Kalyan (Universal peace). But Lord Narasimha refused Lord Veerabhadras words and told him to go away from the place.

Angered with Lord Narasimhas reply, Lord Veerabhadra spread his body up to the sky and spread all over the Universe. He made his lower half of the body as Sharabha (bird) and remained his upper half as it is.

Lord Sharabha (one of the incarnations of Lord Shiva), lifted Lord Narasimha with his tail and was about to hit him on to the space. Lord Narasimha realized his mistake and prayed to Lord Sharabha to forgive him. Sharabheswara knew that Lord Narasimha realized his mistake and will remain calm and forgiven Narasimha. Excited Narasimha removed his skin (Lions skin) and presented it to Lord Shiva. Thus, Lord Shiva was appeared in two avatars (Veerabhadra avatar and Sharabha avatar) to pacify Lord Narasimha.

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86 Comments

  1. Charulata says:

    who is d greatest enemy of lord shiva

  2. Paridhi says:

    Lord shiva Ke Sharabha Avatar Ka Stotram In Hindi

  3. Dhirendra says:

    Vrishab avtar of lord Shiva and its significance

  4. Shubhankar says:

    mantra & shlokas: lord narasimha and shiva sarabha in sanskrit literature

  5. Swetaketu says:

    Lord shiva rudra avatar veerbhadra fight with vishnu

  6. Parni says:

    how shiva help to reduce narasimha god anger

  7. Bhupendra says:

    www how sharabha defeated narasimha and gandaberunda com

  8. Nand says:

    narsingh and lord shiva avatar to stop it

  9. Akshayaa says:

    www why lord shiva took vrishabha avatar com

  10. puranik says:

    Parampita Parmatma “Shiv” hai.
    “Bramha,Vishnu,Mahesh” e tino dev shiv ne banaye, lekin mahesh jo hai use hi hum shivshankar kehte hai, to mahesh hi shiv Parmatma hai…
    Om Namah: Shivay

  11. Parinita says:

    how to keep first time the sharabheshwara photo at home

  12. Talika says:

    what is the use of doing pooja to lord sharabheshwara

  13. Rima says:

    lord lakshmi narasimha and lord sharaba fighting story

  14. Tanulata says:

    what is the use of worshipping lord sharaba

  15. Rajni says:

    who won the battle between sharabha and gandaberunda

    • Shrikanth says:

      It was almighty, all powerful, shakthi-nath, god Sharabheshwara swamy who was carrying mata pratyangira and shoolini durga devi on his both wings. Lord Narasimha created lord gandabherunda from extreme anger who then came upon to attack sharabeshwara swamy while fighting with narasimha swamy. Then maa pratyangira came out of sharabeshwara’s wing and swallowed gandabherunda swamy. By this, lord narasimha got pacified and chanted sharabheshwara 108 names with which sharbha swamy got pacified and bestowed his boons and blessings to lord narasimha swamy.

  16. Thaneesha says:

    lard vishnu narsing avtar black and whit photo

  17. Amara says:

    Story of battle of shiv and vishnu narsingh avatar

  18. Aarika says:

    lord vishnu have fighted with lord veerabhadra swamy

  19. Trishanku says:

    about lord shiva veerabhadra avatar with deep detail

  20. Shrikanth says:

    The great thing to remember from this story is its a leela of god rudra, who is mrityunjaya (wearing moon represents that he remains forever and ever).

  21. Shiva Kumar Hind says:

    first bad thing of Kaliyuga is to see difference between Hari hara..

  22. Dev Pandey says:

    Well yes Narsimha realized his blunder and elogized sharabheshwar dev with a astottarshatnam ,ythe story is in linga puran ,shiva purana and many tantras and agamas,
    Sharabh is infact a vedic god ,there is one Sharabhopnishad too ,
    But this story of pacifying narsimha this way i havent found in puran veda or tantra agam can u tell from where u took this story.

  23. Gireesh A R says:

    Superb reply sir.

    God is one and only one , but we call him by different names.

    He is the supreme.

  24. Gireesh A R says:

    Even correctly said. Even in shiv purana lord Shiva himself says that if anybody compares in between who is great in between shiva and Vishnu, they will go to hell. Its a big sin comparing between two gods(Shiva and Vishnu)

  25. Bhargava says:

    Nonsense
    This is made up story, just to show narasimha as lesser powerful or weak. ( plz read till end before coming to any conclusion)
    Actual story is as below which we were said as kids:
    Narasimha after killing Hirankasipa was still carrying his anger,and none were ready to go near him, shiva to pacify and sends Veerabadhra who gets killed instantly,then sends more forms..all get killed brutally and Shiva take form of Sharba which has 2 heads, big wings representing Kali and Durga and tries to pacify Lord Narasimha but, Narasimha was in no mood to listen and take up the form of Asta mikha Ganda bherunda,(The Eight forms/faces of “Astamukha Gandaberunda” are (1)Gandabherunda Pakshi Raja (2)Nrisimha Mrugaraja (3)Maha vyaghra (4) Hayagriva (5) Adi Varaha (6) Aghora Vaanarendra (7) Maha Garuda (8) Bhalluka) they fight for 18 days and Gandabherunda caught hold of sharaba in his mouth and killed him.
    Then Brahma and other demi gods had no other option and asked Prahalada to pacify, Prahlad went forward. There was nothing but love in his eyes. ‘My Lord! You have come to protect me…I knew you would come…’Looking at the face of Prahlad, Narasimha smiled, ‘Yes son! For you I have come!…’ Prahlad looked at his father’s body and looked at Narasimha, ‘Do not worry son! You do not know his story! He is my ex-doorkeeper Vijaya. He was born here because of a curse. After three more births he will attain his place back in Vaikunta.. .Do not worry about him…’
    Prahlad nodded his head, ‘I want nothing more, my Lord!’
    Narasimha shook his head, ‘No son! You are meant to rule your people. You will come to Vaikunta after you have completed your work on earth as your people’s ruler…’
    Prahlada nodded his head once more. Prahlada became the benevolent ruler of the Asuras, who prospered during his reign and gave up there old cruel ways.
    This is the story.
    One more reference for all who feel i am wrong
    Sarabha mean one who is perishable
    Adi Shankaracharya , with the reference in the Sharabha Upanishad, refers to this 356th name of Vishnu sahasranama as not mentioning the lion-killing animal at all and instead interprets the name to mean, “As the Lord shines in the body as the indwelling Self, He is called Sharabha, while the body is sara (perishable)
    So if sarabha the name itself means Perishable, how can he perish others?
    Let me also suggest something.
    None of these two (this page story and my side) are true..both were made up stories..Lets use some thing we all have in common..generally people call is common sense.
    After killing the demon Lord Narasimha sat on throne of the demon and Prahalada who was already present ,However unafraid, Prahlad went forward. There was nothing but love in his eyes. ‘My Lord! You have come to protect me…I knew you would come…’and Lord Narasimha smiled, ‘Yes son! For you I have come!…
    When he smiled,how can he be angry or unable to control anger?? Its a made up story of sarabha,etc by english who spoiled many such genuine Purans.
    You all can do some min research and will find, englishman did his best to show our Satana dharma is cock and dick stories and their made up stories as correct.

  26. Viswajit says:

    Siva is the ultimate God, read mahabharat and see what bhagavan Sreekrishna telling about Shiva!!

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