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Edward Moor's book "The Hindu Pantheon", published in 1810, provides numerous pictures of Hindu gods. Here's one such picture, depicting Shiva and Parvati:

enter image description here

My question is, who is the small figure depicted between them, holding two lotus flowers? Is that one of Shiva's Ganas, or Shiva's son Kartikeya (aka Muruga or Skanda)? Could it be Nandi, who's described in anthropomorphic terms as I discuss here?

The reason I ask is that Moor says "the lower central little gentlemen (fig. 6) I am not acquainted with", but considering that he was writing in a period when the Europeans were just starting to become acquainted with Hinduism, we may have more information about this figure. Are there any descriptions in Hindu scripture of Kartikeya or Shiva's Ganas holding two lotus flowers?

By the way, another odd thing about the picture is that Shiva is holding a bull in his hand! Now Shiva is known as Pashupati, the lord of animals, and he rides on a bull and has a bull on his flag, but has anyone ever seen him holding a bull?

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Keshav Srinivasan
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    It's not a bull but a deer, which represents his conquest of the agitated mind. See more http://www.divyajivan.org/articles/siva/symbolism_shiva.htm – Buddho May 22 '15 at 06:23
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    Also, elsewhere on the same page, "Deer represents the Vedas. Its four legs are the four Vedas. Lord Siva is holding the deer in His hand. This indicates that He is the Lord of the Vedas." – Buddho May 22 '15 at 06:30
  • @Buddho Thanks, I never knew that Shiva was depicted holding a deer. – Keshav Srinivasan May 22 '15 at 16:29
  • Is it a deer or a goat. Goat also makes sense as it might refer to Daksha Prajapathi who became a devotee of Shiva after Sati's demise. – Naveen May 22 '15 at 17:43
  • @Naveen The sources I've found on the Internet all say that it's a deer, not a goat. In any case, Daksha didn't turn into a goat, he just got a goat head. – Keshav Srinivasan May 22 '15 at 20:05
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudra See this wiki page rudra is also depicted holding deer and wearing tiger skin. and judging by the number six and position between shiva parvati I consider him as Lord Murugan Karikeya – Yogi May 23 '15 at 14:19
  • @KeshavSrinivasan - Why is godess Parvati shown topless here?? also in many south Indian Style depictions of goddesses they are shown topless. In northern part of India I have only seen goddess kali's depiction as topless women. – Yogi May 23 '15 at 14:21
  • @Creator The 6 doesn't actually mean anything. It's just that the page of the book contains six figures on it, so the author put an arbitrary numbering on them. And the author had no idea who the person is. As far as toplessness goes, the reason that South Indian depictions of goddesses are more often topless than North Indian depictions is that in ancient times, human women were topless in a lot of places in South India, so the South Indian conception is based on the attire of that period. In any case, the author says that he got this picture in Pune, but he doesn't know it's origins. – Keshav Srinivasan May 23 '15 at 19:45
  • I thought that 6 might denote skanda or shadanna names of lord murugan – Yogi May 23 '15 at 20:40
  • His holding deer on one hand indicates that He has removed the Chanchalata of the mind (i.e., attained maturity and firmness in thought process). A deer jumps from one place to another swiftly, similar to the mind moving from one thought to another. - Wikipedia – Mr. Alien May 25 '15 at 06:17
  • I think the person in between must be Lord Kartikeya only. We have never heard of any small sized gana of Lord Shiva. Infact, during those times people height used to be good. He cannont be Nandi as Nandi by the time Lord Shiva married Mata Parvati was not a kid. He cannot be Lord Ganesha as Lord Ganesha's head was changed after the first encounter with Lord Shiva. So, I think he might be Lord Kartikeya only who is shown to depict a family. – Aby May 25 '15 at 07:49
  • @Aby I've seen pictures where Vishnu is depicted as large and Narada and Garuda are depicted as tiny people worshiping him on either side. So it's possible that a Gana might be depicted as small just to show his relative insignificance. In any case, what I'd ideally like is some scripture describing Kartikeya holding two lotus flowers, but so far I haven't found any. – Keshav Srinivasan May 26 '15 at 13:25
  • @Keshav, well i think the 2 flowers here are shown here just to signfy that Lord Kartikeya wants to offer one to Lord Shiva and one to Mata Parvati (see the direction of flowers). Also I don't remember any other Shiv ganas ever shown in between of Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati, they are generally on side. Kartikeya is also said to be ever young/kid/teen ager as goes his name 'Kumara', so that also might be another reason for showing him as a kid. – Aby May 26 '15 at 20:38
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    @Creator, I don't think that Mata Parvati is shown topless here. Its a matter of perspective here. The picture might be wearing a blouse, as there are sleeves above the elbow and blouse ending just above the stomach. – Aby May 26 '15 at 20:45
  • @Aby "well i think the 2 flowers here are shown here just to signfy that Lord Kartikeya wants to offer one to Lord Shiva and one to Mata Parvati (see the direction of flowers)" I hadn't considered that. Yeah, that's definitely a possibility. – Keshav Srinivasan May 26 '15 at 21:30
  • @Aby- Might be you are correct if your sentiments are hurt I am sorry but IMHO topless female has a greater message of being mother universal mother (so that we can see this in any form as a child not as a male counter part), that is what is quality of female which makes her jagatjannani jagadamba so this is her ornament which should be respectfully accepted as it is. – Yogi May 27 '15 at 04:41
  • goat does not have long horns. it must be deer. – sivaramakrishna Dec 13 '15 at 04:41

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I happened to see a clipping in television describing this configuration as 'Somaskandan'. When googled I discovered a wikipedia page is dedicated for this purpose.

enter image description here

An extract from it:

Somaskanda is a particular form of representation of Shiva with his consort Uma, and Skanda as a child. This family group depiction of Shiva originated during the 6th-8th centuries during the period of the Pallava in South India. The representation shows Shiva with four arms and Uma, and between them the infant Skanda is shown as dancing with ecstasy. Over a period of time, a number of such depictions have been discovered from different regions which were once under the control of Pallavas.

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The picture you have shown is showing names with the figures, but the number 6 is not named. So there is a possibility that the boy is kartikeya. But as Lord kartikeya has 6 heads, this can be some Shiva Gana or randomely the author has put this figure. Nandhi is also one possibility.

Any devotee of Lord Shiva can go to Shiva temple and offer Lotus Flowers to Shiva Lingam, so maybe the boy is for decoration purpose only. There is nothing special to be acquainted with him.

Deer is right thing shiva holds in hand it is not bull it is deer.

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