Originally posted by: shruti.nil
@Shivani-they say hes his son since he emerges from him-he is the Rudra avatr of Mahadev!
Shruti
From what I recall - this is from the ACK 'Shiva & Sati' - Shiva, after being told of Sati's fate, got enraged, and tore off a lock of his hair and split it into 2. One part gave rise to Veerbhadra, and another to Bhadrakali/Mahakali, and they were sent to wreck Daksha's yagna.
So Veerbhadra sounds to me like one of those partial avatars of Mahadev - just like Hanuman. Hanuman was said to have been born out of one of Shiva's limbs, whereas Veerbhadra was created out of his hair.
One unique thing about Shiva's avatars in contrast to Vishnu's - Vishnu's avatars were always a complete transformation of Vishnu, so that when they were doing their various activities - whether as Varaha, Vamana, Rama or Krishna, there were no Narayan's in Vaikunta as well, and so, their avatars ended once their job was done. In Mahadev's case, since his avatars did not cause his absence, they are immortal - whether it's Hanuman or Veerbhadra.