Since Shiva refuses to give her a child, Parvati decides to create a child on her own. She anoints her body with a paste of turmeric and oil, then scrapes it off, collects the rubbings which have mingled with her sweat, and moulds out of it a doll into which she breathes life. This is her son who she calls Vinayaka, the one born without (vina) a man (nayaka).
