Swaminarayan As The Boy Ascetic

"This sculpt portrays Swaminarayan as a young ascetic, standing barefoot among offerings of flowers. The boy’s hair is tied in a topknot; a sacred thread crosses the torso; a simple white wrap is knotted at the hip. In his right hand he lifts a japa mala to the heart, while the left carries a kamandalu water pot.
iconographically this is the youthful Neelkanth Varni, who left home at eleven and wandered across India in austere pilgrimage before founding the Swaminarayan Sampradaya."