Sharabha , GandaBerunda, Pratyangira

STORY OF SHARABA( SHIVA INCARNATION), GANDA BERUNDAM(VISHNU FORM),

PRATYANGIRA( MAA DURGA FORM)

Narasimha -Sharabha Avatar of Lord Shiva.

The Narasimha-Sharabha legend is linked to gods assuming mythical animal forms to slay or subdue as the case may be. First, Vishnu assumed the form of Narasimha to slay Hiranyakashipu, an asura (demon) king, who was terrorizing the universe and devotee of Shiva. The Shiva Purana mentions: After slaying Hiranyakashipu, Narasimha’s wrath was not appeased. The world trembled, fearing what he might do. The Devas (the gods) requested Shiva to tackle Narasimha. Initially, Shiva brings forth Virabhadra, one of his terrifying forms, in order to calm Narasimha. When that failed, Shiva manifested as the human-lion-bird Sharabha. Shiva then assumed the Sharabha form. Sharabha then attacked Narasimha and seized him up until he was immobilized. He thus quelled Narasimha’s terrifying rage. Narasimha became a devotee of Shiva after being bound by Sharabha. Sharabha then decapitated and de-skinned Narasimha so Shiva could wear the hide and lion-head as a garment.The Linga Purana and Sharabha Upanishad also mention this mutilation and murder of Narasimha. After the mutilation, Vishnu assumed his normal form and retired to his abode, after duly praising Shiva. It was from here on that Shiva came to be known as "Sharabeshamurti" or "Simhagnamurti".

The Skanda Purana considers Narasimha as a mere irritation and not a threat to the world, contrary to what was brought out in the Shiva and Linga Puranas. The perception was that Vishnu may permanently adopt the fierce form of Narasimha, which would be detrimental to his role of doing good deeds. Hence, the purpose of Shiva assuming the form of Sharabha was to ensure that the lion body of Vishnu was discarded and he got united with his original divine form. Narasimha struck Sharabha with his body, it was Vishnu who groaned in pain and not Sharabha who was in an "adamantine body".

Shiva Purana describes the Sharabha for like this:

He had a thousand hands and wore matted locks. His head was adorned by the crested moon. He appeared like a bird with wings and beak. His body was fierce and fully developed.

His fangs were very sharp. Adamantine claws were His weapons. His neck was black in colour. 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 the yuga. His three eyes were 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. Shiva of such a form appeared in sight.

This fierce form of Shiva is also known as Sarabheswara.

It was then that Vishnu realised that Sharabha was none other than Shiva and bowed and praised Sharabha. Shiva then blesses Vishnu and gives him a boon to kill demons.[22] A Purana ends the story with gods fearing that Sharabha may not be able to control his rage and thus urging Shiva to give up his Sharabha form. Thereafter, Shiva dismembered Sharabha’s form; his limbs were given away and his torso became a Kapalika.

 The Vamana Purana too discusses the tale, ending with Narasimha becoming the calm Vishnu again and Sharabha becoming a lingam, the symbol of Shiva.

 One version also mentions that Sharabha after subduing Narasimha, assumed his original form of a lion, the mount of Durga, and returned to rest at the feet of Durga.

 In the Kalika Purana, Varaha - Vishnu’s boar avatar - had amorous dalliance with the earth goddess. He and his three boar sons then created mayhem in the world, which necessitated Shiva to take the form of Sharabha, to kill the Varaha form. Even, Vishnu requests Shiva to destroy Varaha, unable to control his own form. Here, Narasimha appears to aid Varaha. Sharabha kills Narasimha first and then kills Varaha, allowing Vishnu to reabsorb the energies of both his fierce forms. Finally, Vishnu defeats Sharabha.

After the Avatar or Sharabha - In some puranas says the narasimha swamy was more angered and took form of  GandaBerundam

 Ganda Berunda is described  as below.

GandaBerunda having two heads, fearful rows of teeth, black in complexion and with wide blazing wings. The destructive energy of Narasimha (Vishnu) in the form of the two-headed bird, began to fight fiercely with Sharabha (Shiva) for eighteen days. After the eighteenth day, Mother of all gods and trinity  form of 3 Godess Lakshmi Parvathi , Sarasvati - Godess Durga Devi took form of Maa Pratyangira  upon seeing maa prtyangira Lord vishnu  was finally able to overcome his infinite fierce energy, and regained control over it. In order to save the universe from Vishnu and Shiva's fiercest forms (Berunda and Sharabha), Vishnu stopped the fight, and Sharabha easily tore apart the two-headed bird. Narasimha (Vishnu) himself displayed now his peace, and Shiva finally transformed back in his usual form.

there are plenty Alternative endings from vyshnavites and shaivites

However, the motive of Lord Shiva as Sharaba was to pacify the ferocious Narasimha avatar of Lord Vishnu. Keeping this very motive as central, Sharaba succeeds in pacifying the Lion avatar, by subduing the energies of Vishnu which at that point of time were manifested as Narasimha and Berunda. The very purpose of Sharaba was to bring a sense of calm and well being to the three worlds which were frightened by Narasimha. In a sense, it takes to be even more powerful and superior to calm violent rage and anger.

Throughout Vedic literature there are many stories depicting Shiva resolving situations caused by Vishnu and similarly, instances where Lord Vishnu has taken superior forms to resolve situations of Lord Shiva. Shiva taking the Halahala soon after the great churning of the ocean and Vishnu taking the form of Mohini to end Bhasmasura, are some of them. The Vedas clearly state - Shivaya Vishnu Roopaya Shiva Roopaya Vishnave. The Smartha traditionalists and the Advaita school of thought go by that statement and accept both Vishnu and Shiva as equally powerful if not one and the same.
And it is believed that all the 3 gods are just different form  for doing different duties of the god. 

there are some different version of the same story
http://antaryamin.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/lord-narasimha-lord-sharabha-and-goddess-prathyangira/

But the final Intention was calm down 2 gods for the world peace.
Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namo Narayanah, Jaganmatha namo nama

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Story Lord Hayagriva - Less known form of Lord Vishnu

Brahmanda Puranam, Devi Puranam and Garuda Puranam describes  Lord Hayagreeva as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu .  Lord Hayagreeva is the  Horse faced Lord and Epitome of Intelligence.  He is the Guru of Goddess Saraswathy - Lord of Wisdom.  Chanting of hundred and eight names of Lord Hayagreeva  helps to activate the nerves in  the brain which perform the function of memory power .  Worship of  Lord Hayagreeva  needs utmost devotion, hygiene, dedication etc.. like worship of Sivalingam, Lord Narasimha and Anjaneya.   Lord Hayagreeva worshipped as Spatika Akruthi (shape).

Story of Lord Hayagrivam According to Devi Puranam - Shakti Purana

In the Sakta tradition of Hinduism, Hayagriva occupies a different role. Here, a demon named Hayagriva first appears as son of Kashyapa Prajapati. Through great penance the demon managed to obtain a boon from the Goddess Durga that he can only be killed by another "Hayagriva". This instilled a sense of invincibility and he started harassing the Devas. The Devas turned to Vishnu for aid, but despite a long struggle he was also unable to kill Hayagriva.

Tired and drained after the battle, Vishnu proceeded to Vaikuntha Dham to rejuvenate and meditate in padamaasna (a yoga posture) with his head supported by the upper end of his taut bow. The Devas once again approached Vishnu for help against Hayagriva but were unable to rouse him from his meditation. The Devas asked a swarm of termites to assist in waking Vishnu by gnawing away the string of the bow upon which he was resting. However, the snapping of the bow string produced such a resonant sound that the universe trembled, and the broken string lashed out with such force that Vishnu's head was severed from his body.

The Devas were mortified, and prayed to the goddess Durga for guidance. Durga was pleased with their prayers and told the Devas that they need not fear, as no incident in this universe was without some purpose. She then told them of her boon to Hayagriva and asked them to attach the head of a horse to Vishnu so that he in the guise of "Hayagriva" (that is, one with a horse's neck) could kill his foe.

Brahma attached the head of a white horse to Vishnu's body and the revived Vishnu entered into battle with Hayagriva and eventually killed him.

According to some Vishnu and Brahma puranas

Another legend has it that during the creation, the demons Madhu and Kaitabha stole the Vedas from Brahma, and Vishnu then took the Hayagriva form to recover them. The two bodies of Madhu and Kaitabh disintegrated into 2 times 6 — which is twelve pieces (two heads, two torsos, four arms and four legs). These are considered to represent the twelve seismic plates of the Earth. Yet another legend has it that during the creation, Vishnu compiled the Vedas in the Hayagriva form.

Another Version of Same story was - When the destruction of the earth was going on and then a demon named HayaGreeva was memorizing all the vedas to become immortal - then Lord Vishnu cut his head where all the Vedas are stored and he himself took that head had with him safely and returned to  Brahma to continue the Creation -

Some consider Hayagriva to be one of the Dashavatars of Vishnu.

He along with Krishna, Rama and Narasimha is considered to be an important avatar of Vishnu.

In Pancha mukhi Hanuman (five Head)one of the five heads is considered to be Hayagriva( some times shown as horse head and sometimes shown as normal human head.

Lord Hayagreev's Sannithanam is there in Srirangam Temple. Hayagreev in Srirangam is very famous for children's education. The sannithanam is very beautiful and all rituals done according to vedic principles very strictly.

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Story of Dhanteras.

Dhanteras the festival of wealth and prosperity is celebrated two days before Diwali festival in India. The main feature of this festival is shopping! Surprised? It is true, on this day buying steel, silver or gold is considered auspicious. Markets and malls are packed with people as they all head out to purchase jewellery and utensils to venerate the occasion of Dhanteras. 

The main doors of houses and offices are decorated with flowers lights and rangolis. An extensive pooja is organised in all households where people worship Goddess Laxmi with their purchase of the day (utensil/Jewellery). The word ‘Dhan’ literally means wealth and this festival is believed to bring in riches, good luck, light and prosperity in everybody’s life.

Dhanteras Legend

The Yama legend- There are two legends associated with this festival. The first one goes like there was a 16 year old son of King Hima whose horoscope predicted his early death by a snake-bite on the fourth day of his wedding.

The newly-wed wife of the prince was cunning. She did not allow him to sleep on the fourth day of the wedding and she laid out all her ornaments accompanied with heaps of gold and silver coins at the entrance of the sleeping chamber and lit lamps all over the place. Then she started singing melodious songs to keep her husband from falling asleep. 

When Yamraj (Death God) came to take the prince in the guise of snake, his eyes got dazzled and he was temporarily blinded by the sharp light of lamps and jewellery. The serpent was not able to enter the chamber till morning and therefore, he climbed on top of the gold coin heap and sat there the entire night enjoying the songs sung by prince’s wife. In the morning, he silently went away. 

This saved the young prince from his early death and since then this day is celebrated as Dhanteras or Yamadeepdaan. In few houses ladies light earthen lamps or ‘deep’ and these are kept burning throughout the night to glorify Yama (the god of Death). 

Dhanvantari myth-According to the other legend in the cosmic battle between the gods and the demons when both churned the ocean for ‘amrit’ or divine nectar, Dhanvantari – the physician of the gods and an incarnation of Vishnu – emerged carrying a pot of the elixir. So, according to this mythological tale, the word Dhanteras comes from the name Dhanvantari, the divine doctor. 

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Lord Rama HD Wallpapers

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