Lord Sharabha is a part-lion, part-bird, and part-god incarnation of Lord Shiva that he assumed to pacify Lord Narasimha. This form is popular as Sharabheshwara or Sharabheshwaramurti. The story of Sharabha is in the Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Vamana Purana, Kalika Purana, Skanda Purana, and Sharabha Upanishad.
The Story of Sharabha Incarnation of Lord Shiva:
Prologue to Sharabha Incarnation:
To kill Hiranyakashipu, Lord Vishnu assumed a very fierce incarnation, i.e., Narasimha Avatar. Narasimha was so fierce and angry that even after killing Hiranyakashipu, his fury did not subside. Gods feared that the universe would annihilate because of it.
Therefore, they sent Prahlada to pacify him. Seeing his favorite devotee, the anger of Narasimha subsided a little bit and he embraced him. Prahlada alone could not pacify him completely. Hence, the gods went to Lord Shiva and requested him to save the universe.
Lord Shiva ordered Virabhadra to calm Narasimha. Then, he went to Narasimha, eulogized him, and requested him to calm down.
This did not affect Narasimha. On the contrary, he became angrier and threatened Virabhadra. He roared and began to seize him with force.
How did Lord Narasimha die?
In the meantime, the splendor of Lord Shiva rose unbearably enveloping the sky all around. It was terrible and cause for imminent fear. Then in a trice, the form of Virabhadra became invisible. The splendor of Lord Shiva was neither golden nor fiery, neither lunar nor solar. It resembled neither the lightning nor the moon. It was beyond comparison.
Thereafter its middle became manifested in the form characteristic of Rudra of deformed shape. Even as all the gods stood watching with the auspicious shouts of victory, Lord Shiva became manifest in the form of the Annihilator.
He had a thousand hands and wore matted hair. His head was adorned by the crescent moon. He appeared like a bird with wings and beak. His body was fierce and fully developed. His fangs were very sharp. Adamantine daws were his weapons. His neck was black. He had huge arms and four legs. He was blazing like fire.
His voice was resonant and terrible like the rumbling sound of the clouds that gather at the end of a Yuga. He had three eyes as wide and blazing as the fire of the evil spirit of great fury. His fangs and lips were clearly visible. He was producing a hissing sound of Humkara.
At his very vision, Lord Vishnu lost his strength and exploit. He assumed a luster of the flickering glow-worm beneath the sun.
Fluttering with his wings, and tearing the navel and legs, he bound the legs of the Man-lion with his tail and his hands with his own hands. He struck his chest and caught hold of Lord Vishnu. It expanded in the sky along with the gods and the sages.
Like a vulture seizing a serpent, he fearlessly caught hold of Lord Vishnu, lifted him, and fell him to the ground. At the time of flight, he was excessively oppressed, being hit with the wings. Then Lord Shiva took Lord Vishnu and flew up.
Thus, Lord Vishnu was helpless. His face was pallid and sorrowful. With palms joined in reverence, he eulogized Lord Shiva with the 108 names, Narasimha requested Lord Sharabha again.
“O great lord, whenever my ignorant mind becomes defiled by arrogance, it shall be removed by you alone.”
Thus saying with love to Lord Shiva, the Man-lion turned submissive and bowed to him. Lord Vishnu was utterly defeated and came to the end of his life.
Within a trice, Virabhadra made his powerful body powerless and dead.
What happened to Lord Sharabha after the death of Lord Narasimha?
Then Lord Brahma and other gods eulogized Lord Shiva who had assumed the form of a Sharabha. On hearing the praise from the gods, Lord Shiva said, “Just as water poured into water, or milk poured into milk, or ghee poured into ghee becomes one with those things, so also Vishnu is merged into me, not otherwise. It was Vishnu alone in the form of the Man-lion, haughty and strong, engaged in the activity of annihilating the universe. He shall be prayed and bowed by my devotees aspiring achievements. He is the foremost of my devotees and the granter of boons.”
After saying this, the lordly king of birds of great strength, vanished there, itself even as all the gods were watching.
Lord Virabhadra peeled off the hide of the Man-lion and went to the mountain taking it with him. From that time, Lord Shiva began to wear the hide of the Man-lion. His head was the leading bead in his necklace of skulls.
Then the gods freed from their distress began to sing the glory of this story. With their eyes blooming with wonder, they returned the way they came.
In another version of the story, Lord Narasimha took the form of Gandaberunda (a two-headed bird) and fought with Lord Sharabha for 18 days before getting killed.
The Story in the Skanda Purana:
According to the Skanda Purana, Narasimha struck Sharabha with his body but Sharabha was unmoved. Instead, it was Narasimha who groaned in pain. Then he realized that Sharabha was Lord Shiva and bowed and praised him. Lord Shiva then blessed him and gave him a boon to kill demons. After this, Narasimha discarded his form and united with his original divine form.
In this story, Sharabha does not kill Narasimha.
The Story of Lord Sharabha in the Kalika Purana:
According to this Purana, Lord Vishnu requested Lord Shiva to destroy his Varaha form as he and his three sons were causing problems in the world. Lord Shiva took the form of Sharabha. When Sharabha started fighting with Varaha, Narasimha came to his aid. Then Lord Shiva killed both Narasimha and Varaha.
In Buddhism:
In the Jataka tales, Sharabha is Bodhisattva, an eight-legged deer who saves the life of a king who comes to hunt him. The king is overwhelmed by the compassion of deer and declares hunting as an illegal activity.
In Tibetan Buddhism, he is a beast with a goat’s head and horns, a lion’s mane, and a horse’s body and legs.
The Conflict between Shaivites and Vaishnavites:
Vaishnavites don’t believe that Sharabha killed Narasimha. They regard Shaivite Puranas as not authoritative. They believe that Shaivites created the story to denigrate Lord Vishnu.
In the Ramayana, which is Vaishnavite literature, one animal named Sharabha is mentioned.
In the Mahabharata, which is dedicated to Lord Krishna who was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Sharabha is mentioned as an animal. Once a dog, with the help of a sage, assumes different animal forms including Sharabha. Sharabha assumes a fiercer form and wants to devour the sage, but the sage curses him to go back to its original form of a dog. Sharabha in this story is not correlated to Lord Shiva.
The Lord Sharabha form of Lord Shiva is less popular than his other forms.
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Munneswaram_Sharabha.jpg
References:
Shiva Purana Section 3, Ch. – 10, 11, 12