An India family says they’ve been blessed by the gods after giving birth to a “miracle” baby with two pairs of extra limbs. The baby born with four arms and four legs thanks to an extra set of limbs attached to the abdomen.
He arrived on Saturday weighing 6.5 pounds (3 kilograms) and both the mother (named as Kareena, with no surname provided) and the child have been declared healthy.
The New York Post reports that the child has attracted a religious following by those who believe the babe may be a reincarnation of the four-armed Hindu goddess Lakshmi. Lakshmi rules all manner of prosperity, including wealth, beauty and fertility.
The identity of the family and the underlying cause of the extra limbs remains a mystery.
However, the baby’s condition is thought to be due to polymelia, a condition that causes extra and unusable limbs in humans. Polymelia is rare and in some cases, the extra limbs are the result of a conjoined twin scenario in which only one twin develops fully. The one who stops developing is essentially absorbed by the other twin. Children born with extra fingers or limbs can usually have them surgically removed.
