A baby girl born with two faces in a north Indian village is
being worshipped as the reincarnation of the Hindu god, Lord
Ganesha.
The three-week-old unnamed baby from Saini village in Uttar
Pradesh state, 30 miles north-east of the capital New Delhi, is
being hailed as a "miracle" child.
Hundreds of locals are flocking to seek her "blessing"
and, in keeping with Indian traditional, showering her parents with
money.
"At first I was a little afraid," Vinod Kumar Singh,
the 24-year-old father said of his first child born last month.
"But then I accepted whatever God gives."
To the largely illiterate villagers from the
agricultural community the little girl is a reincarnation of Lord
Ganesh, the half person and half elephant, and one of the most
worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon.
He is a highly benevolent god revered as the remover of
obstacles and creating new beginnings.
"It's a gift from God. Some people say she is like a
goddess," schoolmaster Harsharan Singh gushed.
Little, however, is known of the baby's physical
condition as her parents are not permitting doctors to examine
her.
"They are not aware enough that they should come in for
treatment," Dr M Ashmosd, who delivered the baby at the local
government hospital, said.
"I have told them that we are ready to do the CT s
Another local doctor, Bridal Nagar, said she was not an
"abnormal baby" but just one with two faces living a normal life,
but who might face problems later on.
"And if she dies it's as God wishes," he added.
Last year surgeons successfully separated a
two-year-old girl from a conjoined headless twin and reconstructed
her body in a gruelling operation lasting nearly 27 hours in
Bangalore, southern India.
Born with four arms and four legs but a single head,
Lakshmi Tatma was named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of
wealth and is growing up normally.
can on her for free. But they have ignored me."
Telegraph