Bala Ganapati ( sa, बाल-गणपति, , literally "child Ganapati") is an aspect of the

Hindu god Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati. The deities of Hinduism have evolved ...

Ganesha Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...

(Ganapati), the elephant-headed of wisdom and fortune, depicted as a child. There are few portrayals of Ganesha as a small boy caressed by his parents,

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...

and

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. An infant Ganesha is also depicted held in his mother Parvati's lap or over her shoulder. Independent portrayals of Bala Ganapati depict as seated or crawling. A bronze from

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

shows Ganesha as an infant crawling on his knees. He has four arms. While two of them hold sweet balls, his trunk holds his favourite sweet, the modaka and curves towards his open mouth, indicating that he is about to eat the sweet. Bala Ganapati is also the first of the

thirty-two forms of Ganesha Thirty-two forms of Ganesha are mentioned frequently in devotional literature related to the Hindu god Ganesha (Ganapati). The Ganesha-centric scripture ''Mudgala Purana'' is the first to list them. Detailed descriptions are included in the ''Shiv ...

listed in the ''

Sritattvanidhi The ''Sritattvanidhi'' (, "The Illustrious Treasure of Realities") is a treatise written in the 19th century in Karnataka on the iconography and iconometry of divine figures in South India. One of its sections includes instructions for, and ill ...

''. He has an elephant head and is depicted like a child. Sometimes, he is described to have a childlike facial expression, and not as a child. He wears a garland of fresh flowers. He has four arms and holds a mango, a branch of the mango tree, a sugarcane rod and a sweet-cake. Another description states that he carries a mango, a banana, a

jackfruit The jackfruit (''Artocarpus heterophyllus''), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family ( Moraceae). Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, ...

and a sugarcane stalk. These objects signify the "abundance and fertility' of the earth.Subramuniyaswami p. 59 The jackfruit may be replaced with a bunch of flowers. In his trunk, he holds a modaka or a wood apple. He is described to be red-complexioned like rays of the rising sun (''balasurya.b'', child Sun). In other accounts, he is said to be golden in colour. The child god represents the future opportunities of growth.Subramuniyaswami p. 159 He is prescribed to be worshipped by children to gain good manners. He is also said to grant a child's joy and good health to his devotee. There are also some shrines in South India dedicated to Ganesha as a two-armed small boy, where he is known as Pillaiyar ("little child").

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* * * {{Ganesha Forms of Ganesha