Sharabha
Before I begin my story of Sharabha, I must bring into context the enemy of the story: Narasimha. Narasimha's origins were benevolent which may be surprising. The evil demon Hiranyaksha was killed by Varaha, a Vishnu avatar. This did not sit well with Hiranyakashipu, Hiranyaksha's young brother. He vowed to have revenge against Vishnu and would do anything to receive the ability to defeat the mighty god. Indeed he would do whatever it took as he spent years fasting and praying to Brahma until finally he received a boon. Hiranyakashipu was clever and asked for what he believed would be enough to defeat Vishnu. In no way could he die while inside or outside his home, during night or day, or on the ground or sky. He could not die from a weapon, human, animal as well as no living or dead created by Brahma himself. Finally, no demigod, demon, nor great snake from any lower planets could kill him. As you can see, it was going to pretty difficult to kill mighty Hiranyakashipu and he knew that as well.
Hiranyakashipu immediately began attacking the followers of Vishnu but came across a particularly difficult situation. His son, Prahlada, was a big devotee of Vishnu, the sworn enemy of Hiranyakashipu. Understandably, Hiranyakashipu could not handle the fact his son so blatantly opposed him and demanded his son recognize him as the most powerful. Prahlada refused and like you have you seen before, Hiranyakashipu became extremely angry, demanding to know Vishnu's presence. He pointed to a nearby tree and shouted, "Tell me if Vishnu was present in its trunk since he is the omnipresent being." Prahlada, perhaps knowingly, provoked his father by answering "He is in pillars, and he is in the smallest twig." That was the final straw as Hiranyakashipu smashed the tree with a thunderous noise.
We are almost getting to the point of Sharabha, so hang in there. Vishnu, who was probably watching from his heavenly abode, decided enough was enough. He came down to Earth in defense of Prahlada. Yet Vishnu was in a form never seen before. He appeared as the mighty and ferocious Narasimha, a creature with a human body and lion face and claws. This is where it gets interesting. Remember Hiranyakashipu's earlier boon from Brahman? It would take something special for Vishnu to find a loophole to kill Hiranayaksipu, and a loophole he found indeed. You see since Hiranyakashipu was part human and part animal (lion), he was technically not one or the other and could kill Hiranyakashipu. Vishnu also came at twilight, so not daytime or night time, and showed up at Hiranyakashipu's courtyard so technically not inside nor outside his home. When he saw what was before him, Hiranayaksipu knew he was in trouble. Narasimha lunged, attacking him with its sharp claws, which were technically not weapons, and killed the evil demon.
Now comes the part where I show up. I know it was a long wait, but trust me, it will be worth it. For some reason, Narasimha was not satisfied with killing Hiranyakashipu. His anger with the demon's disrespect could not be satisfied by his death, and the man-lion began to terrorize villages and people to appease himself. This is where I step in. I could not bear to see such terror and destruction happening so arbitrarily and without my command. At first, I sent forth a creature I created that was such a fierce warrior, he would surely defeat Narasimha and send Vishnu back to his divine form: Virabhadra. Yet, as Virabhdra approached Narasimha, the mighty Vishnu avatar defeated Shiva's warrior. Alas, I knew I had to take it into my own hands.
In order to beat a ferocious creature, I would need a ferocious creature myself. At last, you all get to meet Sharabha. Like Narasimha, Sharabha was a mix of two creatures, a lion and a bird beast. He had eight legs, was more powerful than any animal on Earth, and could cross any valley. With this creature as my form, I headed to the mighty Narasimha to return Vishnu to his divine self.
Narasimha could sense my presence as I stepped forth on the ground. The lion-man had just terrorized a village, and blood dripped from his sharp lion fangs. I knew Vishnu was inside there, but he had become overcome by the ferocious creature. Narasimha immediately attacked me, but I felt no pain. Sharabha's skin was impenetrable, but I had to be careful to not injure Vishnu. With careful agility, I attacked Narasimha, dismembering his limbs until he was immobile. As it sat there, I heard a loud cry from within the creature. He was Vishnu. He groaned in pain as he recognized my Sharabha form and asked to be free. Ultimately, this is what I had come to do. With my blessing, I released Vishnu back to his heavenly abode and discarded the remains of Narasimha.
I hope you all enjoyed meeting my Sharabha form! I know it took a while to get there, but consider it a two-for-one story! Come back next week as I tell you about the story of my son Ganesha!
Author's Note: With this story, I essentially had to combine two stories to ensure the reader was not confused as to why and how Sharabha came to be. Thus, I included the backstory on Narasimha to showcase this development. For the story narration, I wanted to make it light and slightly humorous take on the stories, specifically from the perspective of Shiva. That is why there are a lot of personal takes where I seem to address the reader. Regarding the plot, I included elements from many versions of the story. Specifically, elements were taken from the Shiva Purana, Shaiva scripture, and Skanda Purana. Some of the stories present Narasimha as being bloodthirsty and mention nothing of Vishnu being within its form. I decided to include both aspects of Narasimha being a terror as well as Vishnu residing in Narasimha waiting to return to his divine form. I felt this would create a suitable conflict that would show the reader why Shiva became Sharabha as well as give the story a reasonable and conclusive ending. In the Kalika Purana, Vishnu also asks Shiva to free him from the ferocious creature which also fits in well the plot.
Bibliography:
Skanda Purana and Kalika Purana
Sharabha defeating Narasimha image