Circus Freak or Divine Goddess? 8-Limbed Indian Girl

Meet Lakshmi. She sparked mass exoduses among Hindu faithful in rural India who believed she was the reincarnation of the Goddess Lakshmi, her parents received offers from a traveling circus to buy her, and her four hands and four feet are the subject of an upcoming National Geographic documentary. More, after the jump... Image courtesy of Barcroft Media




In 2005, Lakshmi was born to poor farmers in the rural Binhar region of India. She immediately attracted attention from the superstitious locals due to her eight limbs and shocking resemblance to her goddess namesake. However, after a consultation at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, it was determined that her god-like appearance is actually the result of a mundane (but rare) scientific cause: a parasitic twin. She would likely die before adulthood due to the strain posed by the parasitic twin, and an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital recommended removing the twin to preserve her health. Despite the worries about inflaming the village's wrath, and her own parents' belief that she was indeed a divine reincarnation of a goddess, they allowed the hospital team to perform the surgery which was successful after 24 grueling hours.

Now, thanks to her parents' care and the generous team at the Sparsh Hospital (and a foundation that funded her orthopedic and reconstructive surgical care), a little girl in India is taking her first hesitant steps. Image courtesy of Barcroft Media

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