Editing Balarama (section)

===Significance===

In Hindu tradition, Balarama is depicted as a farmer's patron deity, signifying the one who is "harbinger of knowledge", of agricultural tools and prosperity.<ref name=" Vemsani2016p23">{{cite book|author=Lavanya Vemsani |title=Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4fw2DAAAQBAJ |year= 2016|publisher =ABC-CLIO|isbn= 978-1-61069-211-3|pages= 23–25}}</ref> He is almost always shown and described with Krishna, such as in the act of stealing butter, playing childhood pranks, complaining to Yashoda that his baby brother Krishna had eaten dirt, playing in cow sheds, studying together at the school of [[guru]] [[Sandipani]], and fighting malevolent beasts sent by Kamsa to kill the two brothers.<ref name="Vemsani2016p23"/> He is the constant companion of Krishna, ever watchful, leading to the epithet ''"Luk Luk Dauji"'' (or ''Luk Luk Daubaba'') in the [[Pushtimarg|Pustimarga]] tradition of [[Vaishnavism]].<ref name="Vemsani2016p23"/><ref>{{cite book|author=A. Whitney Sanford|editor=Guy L. Beck|title=Alternative Krishnas: Regional And Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8z-v1p2qrwsC&pg=PA91|year=2006|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-6416-8|pages=91–98}}</ref> In the classical Tamil work [[Akanaṉūṟu|Akananuru]], Krishna hides from Balarama when he steals the clothes of the [[Gopi|milkmaids]] while they bathe, suggesting his brother's vigilance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Padmaja |first=T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzgaS1wRnl8C&dq=balaramar+tamil&pg=RA1-PA36 |title=Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu |date=2002 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=978-81-7017-398-4 |pages=35–36 |language=en}}</ref> He is a creative store of knowledge for the agriculturists: the knowledge that dug a water channel to bring Yamuna water to Vrindavan; that restored groves, farms and forests; that produced goods and drinks.<ref name=" Vemsani2016p23"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Lavanya Vemsani|title=Hindu and Jain Mythology of Balarāma: Change and Continuity in an Early Indian Cult|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RXnXAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|location=[[Lewiston, New York]]|publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|isbn=978-0-7734-5723-2|pages=64–66, 94–100, 116–125}}</ref>

In Hindu texts, Balarama almost always supports Krishna in form and spirit. However, there are occasions where the dialogues between Balarama and Krishna present different viewpoints, with Krishna's wisdom establishing him to be the ultimate divinity.<ref name="Vemsani2016p23"/> Balarama's constant symbolic association with Krishna makes him the protector and supporter of [[dharma]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Lavanya Vemsani |title=Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4fw2DAAAQBAJ  |year=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-211-3|page=26}}</ref>