Bala Tirupurasundari - The Little Daughter
She protects her devotees from all possible misfortunes in life and grants repeated successes in all their endeavours. She can also alleviate planetary ill effects { gruha doshas } and bless Her devotees with Tejas [ [ smart looks } and clarity of expression as a sign of Her blessings. She makes Her devotees look more beautiful and attractive , giving a magnetic appeal. There are a lot of people in the entertainment industry who pray for Her Grace and blessings for immense popularity, likeability, name and fame.
All Sakthi Devatas respect Bala as they would treat Her mother. All Siddhapurushas are devotees of Bala to attain their objectives of self realization and knowledge. All Parihara Pujas done to the Navagrahas by the Bala devotees are successful if done after doing Puja to Bala. She also represents the 51 Matruka Aksharas and hence whenever the puja is done, Her three letter beeja Manthras are repeated after each of the MatrukaAksharas, as per prescribed procedure.
Devotees consider that Bala Puja yields quick results as She can be approached quickly and She also responds without any delay. Bala always presents Herself to the devotees as a nine year old child and Her reactions to the devotees are also like a nine year old girl. She does not consider what you are offering to Her and your status. She expects your sincerity and commitment in your approach. If you do not have anything to offer to Her as Naivedyam, she does not mind it. She is content with the Mudras that you are offering during the Puja and is quite content with that. Mudras are gestures made by hand signifying something that was intended to be offered. It is better to learn about these Mudras from your Guru, like Beeja Mantras.
There are several temples throughout India for Bala. The one at Kanyakumari was established by Parasurama at the confluence of the three oceans at the southern tip of India. There is a Sakthi peet temple at Ambaji in Gujarat which has 51 sannadhis for each of the Matruka Akshara Devathas, the last kumbabhishekam was organized by Maha Periyaval of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt.
Earlier, King Dileepan requested his Guru Vasishta for specified desires and was given the sacred cow Nandini, who is the daughter of Kamadhenu. Dileepan did Go puja to Nandini and got all his desires fulfilled. It is therefore said that Bala is pleased with Go Pujas done by Her devotees. Nandini then took the form of Bala.
An anecdote about Bhargava, an assistant to Vasishta who was just assisting him in the daily chores and did not know much about the religious mantras and formalities. One night, he had a dream of doing Puja to Bala , which he did with all earnestness , including offering the prasadam of Milk Payasam. He also did apply Mehndi { marudhani } on the tiny feet of Bala with utmost sincerity. Bala took some Mehndi paste from Her feet and put it in his mouth and the dream ended. Bhargava became very knowledgeable and scholastic. He immediately wrote the Bala Sahasranamam which , till date is being used in our Pujas. Later on, he became Bhargava Rishi.
Once Bhandasura, accompanied by his 30 sons waged a war against Devas. Bala requested Her mother to allow her to fight with them. Even as Adhi Sakthi was reluctant to send the nine year old child, She relented as Bala was adamant. She blessed her and equipped her for the war. Bala killed all the 30 sons of Bhandasura without any difficulty and returned successfully.
