AVATARS OF SHIVA

Avatars are a unique feature of Hindu mythology. The avatars of Lord

Vishnu are very famous. Lord Brahma does not have avatars, but Lord
Shiva is mentioned to have avatars in Shiva Purana. The word avatar
means, to come down. In Hindu mythological context, it means the coming
down of a great power on earth to alleviate the pain and the suffering of the
common man.
Hinduism believes that one Supreme Consciousness pervades all Universe,
and all gods and deities are just different manifestations of the different
aspects of the one power. Hence, many deities are said to be form of other
gods and deities. Similarly, there is no clear distinction between human and
divine in Hinduism. A human with sufficient quality can become divine. And
hence over history, those human beings who have born Shiva like attributes
and have worked selflessly for the society have been accorded the status of
an avatar of Shiva.
There are many stories of the avatars of Lord Shiva in the Shiva Purana. But
these stories and these avatars are not very famous. It is also because Lord
Shiva is already worshipped in many forms like Nataraja, Ardhanarishwar,
Neelkantha, Pashupati, Lakulesh, Lingbodhav etc. The forms that he has
taken in different places in different times are worshipped just like avatars.
Veerbhadra, is worshipped as the form that Shiva took to punish Daksha. In
Bhairava, we see the ferocious aspect of Shiva, worshipped in Tantra. In
Hanuman, we see a gentle, loving, yet all-powerful image of Shiva, with full
of devotion and bhakti for Shri Rama. And he is even worshipped in the
form of the Gopis, the childhood companions of Shri Krishna.
Although, the Puranas give the following as the avatars of Shiva: The most
important five incarnations are: Tatpurush, Namadeva, Aghoresh, Sadhojat
and Ishan. His Rudra avatars are eleven: Kapali, Pingal, Bheem,
Virupaksha, Vilohit, Shastra, Ajapaad, Ahirbudhnya, Shambhu, Chand and
Bhav.