Lakshmi the Goddess

You may have noticed that I don't usually post about people who've been born physically "different" from the rest of us. Although I think all human differences should be embraced, I find many such stories to be in bad taste. So I didn't write about a little Indian girl named Lakshmi when I first became aware of her existence many months ago.

See Lakshmi was born with eight limbs. The extra four belonged to what's known as a "parasitic twin"--a sister with whom Lakshmi had fused in her mother's womb. (The same condition that accounted for the case of the girl with a twin in her stomach, which I wrote about last week.)

When the news about Lakshmi first broke, she was facing a very complicated surgery, and there was a very good chance she might die. I didn't think it would be a good idea to post about her, but even then, I found her story quite moving. You see, instead of treating Lakshmi like a freak, the people of her village in India believed she was an incarnation of her namesake--the eight-limbed goddess Lakshmi (shown above)--and revered her accordingly.

Lakshmi's surgery was a success, and she's now a healthy, happy little girl. Tonight, the television show 20/20 will have a segment on the previously eight-limbed girl, and you can read more about her (and see a short video) here on the ABC News website.