Shiva sahasranama

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The Shiva sahasranama, a Shaiva sahasranama, is a list of thousand names of God, i.e., Shiva in Shaivism. It occurs in the Mahabharata, in the 17th chapter of Anushāsanaparva, where Krishna recites the 1,008 names of Shiva to Yudhisthira. Yudhisthira had asked Bhishma the names of Shiva but Bhishma admitted his ignorance and requested him to ask Krishna. Interestingly, the thousand names of Vishnu, or Vishnu sahasranama, also occurs in the same Anushāsanaparva. Additional names of Shiva are told by Krishna to Yudhisthira in 161st chapter of Anushāsanaparva in the Mahabharata.

The overlapping of names with the Vishnu sahasranama has led Adi Shankara to conclude that Shiva and Vishnu are both identical, as both forms of one personal God, or Saguna Brahman, a conclusion that is a central tenet of Advaitan or Smarta Hinduism. In fact, one of the names of Shiva, recited in the Mahabharata version states, that "He is in form of Vishnu who floats on the waters after the universal dissolution."

Another version is contained in the Linga Purana.