text: Originally an agri-cultural deity, Balarama is mostly described as an incarnation of Adi Shesha, the serpent associated with the deity Vishnu while some Vaishnava traditions regard him as the eighth avatar of Vishnu, with Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda (c.1200) "incorporat[ing] Balarama into the pantheon" as the ninth of the 10 principal avatars of Vishnu.
  Balarama's significance in Indian culture has ancient roots. His image in artwork is dated to around the start of the common era, and in coins dated to the second-century BCE. In Jainism, he is known as Baladeva, and has been a historically significant farmer-related deity.
  History
  Balarama is an ancient deity, a prominent one by the epics era of Indian history as evidenced by archeological and numismatic evidence. His iconography appears with Nāga (many-headed serpent), a plough and other farm artifacts such as a watering pot, possibly indicating his origins in a bucolic, agricultural culture.
  Texts
  Narratives of Balarama are found in Mahabharata, Harivamsha, Bhagavata Purana, and other Puranas. He is identified with the vyuha avatar of Sankarshana, along with the deities of Shesha and Lakshmana. The legend of Balarama as the avatar of Shesha, the demigod-serpent Vishnu rests upon, reflects his role and association with Vishnu. However, Balarama's mythology and his association with the ten avatars of Vishnu is relatively younger and post-Vedic, because it is not found in the Vedic texts.