Article Added On: April 03, 2008 - over 3 years ago
Title: Baby with two faces worshipped as Hindu god
Original URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/02/windia102.xml
Author: Rahul Bedi
Publication: Telegraph
Publication Date: April 03, 2008 - over 3 years ago
Faith Groups: Hindu
Themes: religion in the media, other

Abstract:

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 scan on her for free. But they have ignored me."

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.