[2] Due to her elephantine features, the goddess is generally associated with the elephant-headed god of wisdom, Ganesha.

However, scholar Krishan believes that Vinayaki is an early elephant-headed matrikas, the Brahmanical shakti of Ganesha, and the Tantric yogini are three distinct goddesses.

Here, the goddess's bent left leg is supported by an elephant-headed male, presumably Ganesha who is seated at her feet.

Her two front hands are held in abhaya ("fear-not") and varada (boon-giving) mudras (gestures).

The four-armed goddess carries a gada (mace), ghata (pot), parashu (axe) and possibly a radish.

A Pratihara image shows a pot-bellied Vinayaki, with four arms holding a gada-parashu combination, a lotus, an unidentifiable object and a plate of modak sweets, which the trunk grabs.

[8] Damaged four-armed or two-armed Vinayaki images are also found in Ranipur Jharial (Orissa), Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Another interpretation suggests that all the female deities, including Vinayaki, are mothers of the infant god.

In Skanda Purana, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is cursed to have an elephant head, which she gets rid of by pleasing the god Brahma by penance.

These are not called Vinayaki and are remotely linked to Ganesha as a mother (Malini) or a consort (Lakshmi in some icons).

In the Matsya Purana (compiled c. 550 CE), she is one of the Matrikas, created by the god Shiva – Ganesha's father – to defeat the demon Andhaka.

[13] The Medieval text Gorakshasamhita describes Vinayaki as elephant-faced, pot-bellied, having three eyes and four arms, holding a parashu and a plate of modaks.

[14] Srikumara's sixteenth century iconographical treatise Shilparatna describes a female form of Ganesha (Ganapati) called Shakti-Ganapati, who resides in the Vindhyas.