Which Hindu goddess is the goddess of childbirth and children?

Shashthi is the Hindu goddess associated with childbirth, fertility, and the protection of children.

She is especially revered by mothers and people seeking children. Shashthi is believed to assist during childbirth, bless conception, and safeguard infants and growing children. Her name means “sixth,” reflecting the traditional worship held on the sixth day after a child’s birth and on the sixth lunar day of each month.

Shashthi is commonly depicted as a motherly woman riding a cat and carrying or nursing children. In eastern India, shrines or sacred spaces dedicated to her may stand beneath banyan trees. Bengal’s Jamai-Shashthi festival and related household rites preserve her role as a guardian of family prosperity and children’s welfare.

Her character changed over time. Earlier traditions sometimes portrayed her as a dangerous power linked to disease or the death of infants, one that needed to be appeased. Later Hindu traditions increasingly presented her as a benevolent protector. She is also identified in some texts with Devasena, the consort of Skanda, though these associations vary by region and scripture.