Sharabha Rudra Avatar

The word ‘Sharabha’ (Sanskrit: शरभ) is a Sanskrit word which refers to one of the species of deer. ‘Sharabh’ is also referred to an animal group called ‘Jaṅghāla’ (large-kneed). ‘Sharabh’ is a specific breed of deer whose legs are very long and extremely strong.

But here ‘Sarabha Rudra Avatar’ is one of the Divine incarnations of Bhagwan Swachchanda Bhairava Shiva.

The origin of ‘Sharabha Avatar’ is related to the ‘Shyama Sharabha’. ‘Shyama’ means black or dark in colour. According to Himalayan Siddhas, ‘Shyama Sharabh’ is a bird that was much stronger than the ‘Garuda’ (a bird from the family of falcons. But way stronger than any falcon or eagle.)

The Siddhas tell us that Garuda can kill even an elephant. While ‘Shyama Sharabha’ is way stronger than the Garuda. It can easily clutch two elephants and can fly with energy and speed.

According to Sanskrit Language:

1. ‘Sharabh’ is a species of deer.

1. ‘Shyama Sharabh’ is a Divine bird with the largest wings that one can imagine in a bird. Its wings are dark or black colour and extremely powerful as mentioned above.

Hence, Bhagwan Sharabha Avatar of Bhagwan Rudra has the strongest grip in this Universe. He held Bhagwan Shri Vishnu in His strong grip. Bhagwan Sharabha Rudra is known for his excellency and speed. There is immense power, tremendous force and speed in flight of Bhagwan Sharabha. Therefore Bhagwan Shri Brahma addressed Him as the Sharabha Avatar of Mahadeva Swachchanda Bhairava.

In the tradition of Himalayan Siddhas, it is said that when this Divine Avatar manifested and was doing the ‘Leela’ in ‘Akash’ (sky), He folded two of His Divine hands in ‘Pranam’ mudra.

Iconography

Bhagwan Sharabha has ‘Ashta Paada’ (eight legs). He has two ‘Urdhava paad’ (upper two legs). The upper two legs symbolise that Bhagwan Sharabha Rudra is both, the creator and the holder of the Universe. He has such a long tail that it forms several rings. His tail is referred to as the ‘Vajra Paash’. ‘Vajra Paash’ means having the grip of ‘Vajra’. That is, if someone comes into the grip of His tail, it can’t free itself from the clutches of His tail until Bhagwan Sharabh loosens the grip Himself.

He has two ‘Agra Paad’ (legs in front) in which He is holding Bhagwan Shri Vishnu in His Bhagwan Narasimha’s Avatar. The rest four legs are similar to what most four legged animals look like. These four legs represent the four ‘Purushartha’- Dharma, Artha, Kaam and Moksha. All the eight legs resemble ‘Vyaghra Paad’ (legs of tiger) or at some places are referred to as the ‘Singha Paada’ (legs of lion).

The ‘Agra Paad’ in which He is holding Bhagwan Narsimha, who Himself is the ‘Visphotak Shakti’ (an immensely explosive Shakti) in Brahmand, symbolises the wisdom hands. It means that Bhagwan Sharabh is holder of both- ‘Ugrata’ (ferocity) and ‘Ishvaratva’ (Divinity).

He has two huge wings. The wings symbolise the two worlds, ‘Para’ and ‘Apara’. ‘Apara’ is the physical realm and ‘Para’ are the worlds beyond the physical. That is Bhagwan Sharabha holds His supreme rights in both the worlds. That His speed and energy extends to both the worlds. It is because of Him that this universe is going forward. His wings are taking the Universe forward in time.

Half of His body is human like. The human part of His body represents that humans can manifest ‘Viraat Shakti’ (colossal power) of the Universe in them. The Yogis invoke Shakti of Bhagwan Sharabha in their ‘Swadhisthan’ (Sacral Chakra), ‘Manipoora’ Chakra (naval Chakra), ‘Anahata’ Chakra (Heart Chakra) nd ‘Vishuddha’ Chakra (throat Chakra).

Bhagwan Sharabha has the ‘Chaturbhuja Roop’ (with four hands) where the four hands represent the Divine hands of the Devatas. In his upper left hand, He is holding the ‘Sharabha deer’. In His right hand, He is holding a few ‘Shastras’ like ‘Gada’ and at some places He is depicted carrying the conch shell. In the lower two hands, Bhagwan Sharabha is holding an ‘Agni Khappar’ and a ‘Naaga’ (snake) in the other. His Divine head is bejewelled with ‘Chandrama’ on one side and ‘Naaga’ (snake) on the other. This is the iconography of His ‘moola’ roop (basic form).

Mahasiddha Ishaputra tells that in the tradition Himalayan Siddhas, in Kaulantak Peeth, Bhagwan Sharabha is worshipped in the form, where He is holding ‘Pranam Mudra’, while holding Bhagwan Narasimha in His inescapable clutches. Bhagwan Narasimha calms down only after Bhagwan Sharabha holds Him in His strong grip. Looking at the ‘Ugra Leela’ (ferocious play) of Bhagwan Sharabh, Siddhas got worried that Bhagwan Sharabh’s ferocity might bring ‘Pralay’ (end of creation) in the Universe before the time is ripe. Then the Siddhas prayed to Bhagwan Sharabh with tears in their eyes. Looking at the Siddhas, Bhagwan Sharabh turned to Siddhas with folded hands. The folded hands represented that although Bhagwan Sharabha Rudra is also the destroyer of the Universe, but He wouldn’t do it before the right time had arrived.

Origin

According to Himalayan Siddhas, once the Devatas and the Siddhas went to Kailasha. There, they prayed to Bhagwan Shiva that the asuras and Daityas, take boons from the Tai-Devatas and then create immense destruction and chaos. Then Bhawan Shiva said that in the future, He would manifest in an ‘ati-vismaykaari’, ferocious, aggressive form. Any Sadhak who would do Sadhna of this swaroop, this manifestation of Bhagwan Shiva, Dharma would be strengthened and adharma would weaken. That Sadhak’s courage would increase manifold. His heart will fill with immense courage. That Sadhak would be able to protect himself, his family and his Dharma. The Sadhana of that form of Bhagwan Shiva would destroy all the mental and physical diseases and it can even stop the situation like ‘Pralay’ (destruction) and Maha-Pralay (greater destruction of the Universe). By worshipping this swaroop humans can face the adharmis and can weaken adharma. Therefore to end the sinners and the sins, Bhagwan Shiva will incarnate as an Avatar in future, said Bhagwan Shiva to the Siddhas and the Devatas.

Mahasiddhas then asked Bhagwan Shiva, what will that manifestation of Bhagwan Shiva look like? How will the Siddhas and Devatas recognise that form? Then Bhagwan Shiva replied that this particular incarnation will have colossal wings and eight legs. He further said that the destroyer of fear, this manifestation of Bhagwan Shiva would appear in ‘Akaash’ (sky) and would play His ‘Leela’. From then on, the Siddhas referred to Bhagwan Sharabh (before He manifested and before the name Sharabha Avatar came into existence) as ‘Akaash Bhairava’.

One must note that there are many forms of ‘Akaash Bhairav’ (all of them are forms of Bhagwan Shiva in Bhairava form). Bhagwan Sharabha Rudra is one of the ‘Akaash Bhairava’ out of nineteen forms of ‘Akaash Bhairavas’ as known in Kaulantak Peeth.

Forms

In the ‘Maha Himalaya’, the Himalayan Siddhas have written a Granth called the ‘Sharabha MundaMala Tantra’ in which twelve forms of Bhagwan Sharabh Avatar have been given in detail. Mahasiddha Unmatachooda Nath ji is the author of ‘Sharabha Mundamala Tantra’. Given below are the names of the respective twelve forms of Bhagwan Sharabha.

In this granth, the forms of worship of the twelve different forms of Bhagwan Sharabha, the Beeja mantra and their Yantra Mandala (sacred Geometry) are given. The ‘Sharabha MundaMala Tantra’ is the foremost granth that Siddhas refer to.

The second source for Bhagwan Sharabha is the Granth called Akash Kalpa and the third source is the Sharbhopanishad.

There have been six great master Mahasiddhas in the tradition of Siddha Dharma, who were the Kaulantak Nath (head of Kaulantak Peeth) in their respective time period. They taught Akash Bhairav and ‘Sharabha Mundamala Tantra’ to their Disciples. The list of the six great Mahasiddhas are: