Harihara

Harihara is the fused representation of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) from the SanatanaDharma tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana ("Shankara" is Shiva, and "Narayana" is Vishnu), Harihara is thus revered by both Vaishnavites and Shaivites as a form of the Supreme God.

Harihara is also sometimes used as a philosophical term to denote the unity of Vishnu and Shiva as different aspects of the same Ultimate Reality called Brahman. This concept of equivalence of various gods as one principle and "oneness of all existence" is discussed as Harihara in the texts of Advaita Vedanta school of SanatanaDharma philosophy.

Some of the earliest sculptures of Harihara, with one half of the image as Shiva and other half as Vishnu, are found in the surviving cave temples of Bharata, such as in the cave 1 and cave 3 of the 6th-century Badami cave temples.