Baby Born With 4 Arms, Legs Due To Rare Condition Hailed A Reincarnation Of Goddess

A baby girl born with four arms and legs in a village in India has left the locals in shock, with many referring to the newborn as a "miracle of nature" and a reincarnation of a goddess.

The child's mother -- identified only as Kareena -- was admitted to a local healthcare center in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, when she started experiencing labor pains.

Soon after the birth of the child, news spread across the village the child had an extra pair of limbs, which led to some people believing the baby was the reincarnation of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who has several hands, according to India Today.

Photos of the baby quickly went viral on social media. Doctors reportedly said the baby and the mother were healthy. The child has been sent to Lucknow for further medical treatment. It was not clear when the baby was born.

"This is the case of twins being born. The head of one child seems to be connected to the stomach of another one, which is yet to be developed fully," Dr Ramesh Babu told India Today.

Some reports said the baby seems to have a birth defect called polymelia. This condition is said to be common in animals but rarely seen in humans. It is a congenital anomaly, which is defined as the presence of accessory limbs attached to various body parts, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

While such cases are rare, there have been previous similar births where a child has had extra body parts attached to it. Most of the time, these such cases are linked to conjoined births. In March, a woman in the state of Madhya Pradesh gave birth to a baby with two heads, two hearts, one torso and three hands. Pediatric surgeon Dr. Brijesh Lahoti said at the time the condition was called dicephalic parapagus, which was a rare form of partial twinning. "Such cases are rare and the condition of babies remains uncertain especially in the initial days due to which we have kept them under observation. We have not planned for any surgery on the patient," Dr. Lahoti said. During sonography, it looked like the woman was pregnant with twins. In such a case, many children either die in the womb or within 48 hours of birth.