Place any two Sahasranāmas side by side and read, name by name, where the scriptures themselves say the same Truth. Narasiṁha wields Pināka. Viṣṇu is called Rudra. Hanumān is Rudra's own descent. The evidence is in the names.
Sources — Śrī Narasiṁha Sahasranāma: Nṛsiṁha Purāṇa / Ahirbudhnya Saṁhitā · Śrī Śiva Sahasranāma: Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva 17. Names are matched by Sanskrit stem, so Pinākine and Pināka, Rudrāya and Rudraḥ are recognised as the same name in different inflections.
Sanātana Dharma does not worship many gods. It worships one Reality that consents to be approached in countless forms. Below, each identity is given with the scripture that states it — nothing is asserted without a source.
The Viṣṇu Sahasranāma of the Anuśāsana Parva itself calls the Lord Śivaḥ, Sthāṇuḥ, Śambhuḥ, Īśānaḥ, Śarvaḥ and Rudraḥ; the Śiva Sahasranāma of the same Parva calls Mahādeva Viṣṇuḥ, Vāsudevaḥ, Nārāyaṇaḥ and Cakrī. Bhīṣma and Upamanyu are teaching one Being from two directions in the same book.
Source: Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva 149 & 17 · Skanda Purāṇa Hari-Hara stuti
The Śarabha Upaniṣad and Śarabha Tantra narrate Śiva assuming the Śarabha form before Narasiṁha; Vaiṣṇava recensions read the same episode as the pacification and mutual recognition of one Lord. Both nāmāvaliḥ lists praise identical attributes — Ugra, Bhīṣaṇa, Jvālāmukha, Pratyaṅgirā's Lord — which the comparison tool below makes visible name by name.
Source: Śarabha Upaniṣad · Śarabha Tantra · Ahirbudhnya Saṁhitā (Vaiṣṇava reading)
The Śiva Purāṇa (Śatarudra Saṁhitā, ch. 20) states plainly that Hanumān is an avatāra of Rudra, born of Vāyu to serve Rāma. Thus the greatest devotee of Viṣṇu's avatāra is Śiva himself — bhakti and identity in one body.
Source: Śiva Purāṇa, Śatarudra Saṁhitā 20 · Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Kāṇḍa
The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa (Uttara Kāṇḍa) and the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa identify Lakṣmaṇa as Ananta Śeṣa descending with Rāma; the same Ananta is Saṅkarṣaṇa of the catur-vyūha. In Pāñcarātra and Gauḍīya theology Saṅkarṣaṇa presides over the tāmasa function and is worshipped as Sadāśiva — which is why Lakṣmaṇa's nāmāvaliḥ carries Rudra-names, and why Balabhadra (the same Saṅkarṣaṇa) is called Śeṣa, Ananta and Nīlāmbara.
Source: Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa · Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa · Sātvata & Ahirbudhnya Saṁhitās
The Brahma Purāṇa's Puruṣottama-kṣetra Māhātmya calls the Dāru-brahma of Nīlācala Kṛṣṇa himself; the Niladri Mahodaya and the Tantric Puri tradition worship the same mūrti as Bhairava with Vimalā Devī as the Śakti Pīṭha, while Balabhadra is Saṅkarṣaṇa and Subhadrā is Yogamāyā. One log of wood, worshipped as Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva and Śākta at once.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa (Puruṣottama-kṣetra) · Niladri Mahodaya · Skanda Purāṇa Utkala Khaṇḍa
Saundarya Laharī opens śivaḥ śaktyā yukto yadi bhavati śaktaḥ prabhavituṁ — Śiva acts only as joined with Śakti. The Ādyā Mahākālī nāmāvaliḥ therefore names her Śivā, Rudrāṇī, Mahākālī and Kālarūpiṇī: not a second God, but the very power by which the one God is God.
Source: Saundarya Laharī 1 · Devī Māhātmya · Mahākāla Saṁhitā
The Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣa declares Gaṇeśa to be Brahman directly — 'you are Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Rudra, you are Agni, Vāyu, Sūrya and Candra'. The Mudgala Purāṇa expands the same identity as Oṁkāra itself, and the Mahāgaṇapati nāmāvaliḥ of the Rudrayāmala repeats the Śrīvidyā bījas of the Devī.
Source: Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣa (Atharvaveda) · Mudgala Purāṇa · Rudrayāmala Tantra
Pāñcarātra theology unfolds Vāsudeva into Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, and the Bhāgavata describes Kāraṇodakaśāyī Mahā-Viṣṇu breathing out universes — yet pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate: the whole remains whole. The shared names across these lists are not coincidence but the same Person named at different depths.
Source: Sātvata & Ahirbudhnya Saṁhitās · Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3, 10.14 · Īśopaniṣad invocation
एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति
ekaṁ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti
Truth is one; the wise call It by many names.
Ṛgveda 1.164.46
ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम्
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
In whatever way people approach Me, in that same way I reciprocate with them.
Bhagavad Gītā 4.11
येऽप्यन्यदेवता भक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः । तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम्
ye 'py anya-devatā bhaktā yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ | te 'pi mām eva kaunteya yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam
Those who worship other devatās with faith worship Me alone, O son of Kuntī, though not by the prescribed way.
Bhagavad Gītā 9.23
शिवाय विष्णुरूपाय शिवरूपाय विष्णवे । शिवस्य हृदयं विष्णुर्विष्णोश्च हृदयं शिवः
śivāya viṣṇu-rūpāya śiva-rūpāya viṣṇave | śivasya hṛdayaṁ viṣṇur viṣṇoś ca hṛdayaṁ śivaḥ
To Śiva who is of the form of Viṣṇu, to Viṣṇu who is of the form of Śiva — Viṣṇu is the heart of Śiva, and Śiva is the heart of Viṣṇu.
Skanda Purāṇa (Hari-Hara abheda stuti)
Different sampradāyas read these identities differently — Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava and Śākta commentators each hold their iṣṭa-devatā as the source. This page does not argue for one school over another; it shows where the received texts themselves overlap, so that the reader may verify every claim in the named recension.
Oṁ Tat Sat
