Today Indian doctors began a grueling 40-hour surgery on a two-year-old girl born with an astonishing 8 limbs. The girl is believed by some to be the reincarnation of the multi-limbed Hindu goddess Vishnu. They are hoping to remove half of her limbs so that she may lead a more normal life.

The girl, Lakshmi Tatma, was born joined to a parasitic twin" in a poverty-stricken region of Bihar, India. Interestingly, she was born on the day devoted to the celebration of the four-armed Hindu goddess Vishnu.

The headless "twin" is joined to Lakshmi at the pelvis and has its own spinal column and kidney. It stopped developing in her mother's womb, while Lakshmi absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the twin. This is known as a very rare condition called isciopagus.

Doctors believe that without this operation the girl would never be able to walk or crawl, and would be unlikely to live beyond her teens.

A team of 30 surgeons will remove two of her useless arms and legs.