Lakshmi Tatma Back in the News

She was considered a "goddess" by the villagers when she was born. A girl child, conjoined to a partially formed twin, was born with four legs and four arms. Her parents named her "Lakshmi" after the Goddess of good fortune. I've written about her in previous posts. Today I saw this recent news. She's so cute (see photo in article!) From Metro.co.uk Eight-limbed goddess girl takes first steps Sunday, June 15, 2008 Lakshmi Tatma - the girl worshipped as a goddess after she was born with four arms and four legs - has taken her first steps since the extra limbs were removed. The two-year-old, who was sent into hiding after a circus tried to buy her, was all smiles as she shuffled around in a baby walker. But this does not mark the end of the struggle for the young girl, named after the eight-limbed Hindu goddess of wealth and fortune. Despite a gruelling eight months of rehabilitation she will need more surgery on her spine and feet. Lakshmi was born joined at the spine to a headless, 'parasitic' twin in Bihar, north-eastern India. She could not use the twin's arms and legs but the conjoined body fed on hers for oxygen and nutrition. For more than a year she was linked to the twin because her parents feared an operation on the goddess 'reincarnation' would bring bad luck. But doctors warned that their little girl would probably not survive into her teens unless they acted. She travelled thousands of kilometres to Bangalore, southern India, where 30 neurosurgeons worked for 27 hours to remove the extra limbs and separate her spinal column and kidney. The toddler now attends a school for the disabled.

Lakshmi Back in the News - Update

The sweet little girl with the sunny dispostion and sunshine smile is back in the news. There is an update on her progress since the surgery she had in November to remove her extra limbs - and several photos. From The Telegraph.co.uk Eight-limbed girl 'will always be a Goddess' By Megan Levy Last Updated: 8:43am GMT 19/02/2008 Lakshmi's dad says: For as long as she is alive, until my dying day, I will believe she is the goddess.

When she was born, the inhabitants of her village believed she was a gift from God and christened her Lakshmi, after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth.

However, her mother, Poonam, and father, Shambu Tatma, both in their twenties and earning about 50p a day as casual labourers, rejected the opportunity to exhibit her to pilgrims as a lucky charm and instead sought treatment.

Tomorrow's programme [a documetary] examines Indian attitudes to disability and the difficulties faced by the rural poor in overcoming deeply help superstitious beliefs.

"What mustn't happen is that Lakshmi is taken away and sold to a circus," the leader of Lakshmi’s village elders told the documentary's makers. "She could have been exhibited like a freak here and earned us a fortune but we never wanted to do that and neither did the parents."

Entire article.

A Legend About the Goddess Lakshmi

From The Times of India Goddess of East, wealth for all 30 Dec 2007, 0201 hrs IST, Prashant Dayal,TNN AHMEDABAD: Saumyak Shah started a saree store in Ratanpol area of the Walled city in 1953 and called it "Deepak Stores". As the city grew westward, Shah opened another shop on Ashram Road in 1983, now known as 'Deepkala'. Today Shah has his third showroom on the Shivranjani crossroads, in new Ahmedabad, but has not closed the Ratanpol shop. These are the traders of old Ahmedabad who had small beginnings and believe that the Walled city brought them prosperity, because the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, resided there. Folklore has it that nearly 600 years ago, a guard of the ancient city of Ahmedabad, Khwaja Siddiqui, posted at Teen Darwaza had stopped the Goddess from leaving the city without the permission of Sultan Ahmed Shah. The Goddess promised that she would stand right there till the guard returned after seeking permission from the Sultan. When the guard met the Sultan, he was so enraged at the idea of the Goddess leaving, he beheaded the guard. The Goddess stayed. In memory of the guard's sacrifice and honour of the Goddess, a lamp burns 24x7 to this day at Teen Darwaza, one of Ahmedabad's most beautiful gates. It is said that the Mahalakshmi temple at Dhana Suthar ni pol in Kalupur is dedicated to this Goddess. The priest of this temple, Bhupendra Bhatt, is the tenth descendant. The local mujawar has been lighting this lamp for the last 50 years and says this place is revered by both Hindus and Muslims. The traders who launched businesses here owe their prosperity to this belief that Lakshmi (wealth) is more stable here than outside the fort wall. Many businessmen retailed to West Ahmedabad but still have their original shops in the Walled city. West Ahmedabad still hears of several cases of fraud, and businesses winding up, but nothing of this sort for ancient family businesses. Shah of Deepkala says, "There is also a section of people on that side of the river who never cross the river to the western bank and these are our dedicated clientele". Dilip Rochwani of Azad Sweetmart, who set up his first shop in 1958 in the Revdi bazaar area of Kalupur, does not want to leave this area. He has other shops in West Ahmedabad but he says, "we had started on a very small scale for the middle class and they are our dedicated customers whom we don't want to leave".

An Update on Lakshmi

Two year old toddler Lakshmi Tatma, who had the extra limbs and some extra organs of a "parasitic twin" (a twin who failed to develop fully) removed in a complicated 27-hour operation conducted by teams of surgeons, has left the hopsital under her own power. Doctors consider her recovery remarkable. Unfortunately, the story at the UK Daily Mail was a "not found;" I got this information from a story at the UK Sun, which featured a typically tabloid headline!

Watch Tower and the Goddess of Wealth

Holy Cow! Is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society affiliated (behind the scenes, of course) with the Goddess of Wealth? Well, I mean I know the Jehovah's Witnesses continue to rake in cash from their door to door work (and congregant contributions) in the USA to subsidize their world-wide work in the poorer nations, but - oh, I get it. Insurance, yes, insurance... Of course, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is not "in" on this, so to speak, not in India, in all events - at least, not at present. But, then again, who knows? On a more practical level, it has been reported that in addition to getting vengence for unpaid doweries, wives have been killed in order for husband and/or husband's family to get life insurance money. As India is rushing into the 21st century, skipping forward from the 16th century CE, perhaps equal opportunity is now at hand, and wives are killing their husbands for life insurance money... From CentralChronicle.com Watch Tower: Lakshmiji, the Goddess of Wealth Removal of `untouchability' has really been the boon of Mahalakshmi. Could we revive this concept to remove the ignorance vehemently prevalent in us, queries SN Patra In West Bengal Lakshmi Pujan was performed as usual on Sharad Purnima. In the north, Lakshmi Pujan will religiously be performed on Deepawali Amasvasya. In Orissa, Lakshmi Pujan will be performed on every Thursday of the Margshira month. In Karnataka, Friday is important for the propitiation of Lakshmiji. In Gujarat, similarly Vaibhav Lakshmi vrata is performed on Fridays. In the Srimad Bhagwat Mahapurana, Payo Vrata has been prescribed for acquiring wealth. All these vratas and worships are intended for acquisition of wealth purely through legitimate means which we call `white money(?). But, for most worshippers wealth earned through means fair or foul is okay. Ends and not means matter. Ganeshji laid importance on the `means' part, rightfully so. Want- want of sufficient money to run the household falls squarely on the shoulders of `griha Lakshmi'. If the husband, the head of the family does not earn black money, the lady wife takes to Lakshmi pujan religiously and the wealth may come in the way of insurance amount from a) a personal accident policy & b) an insurance policy which prematurely fetches a lumpsum amount on the death of the man (the husband). Besides, the ritualistic Lakshmi pujan, these days we find girls taking up challenging jobs like the boys. When married their income is doubled and they make both ends meet even at the cost of some neglect to upbringing of children or other household matters. According to the Hindu Act and practices widely prevalent in our country, `stridhan' is not touched by the husband or by the relatives from either side. In most parts people do not eat in the house of the married daughter what to speak of getting regular monetary share of her monthly income. If we chance to have a meal at the married daughter's house we pay some money in return. But, those people who do not have a son or reasonably well-settled son or a tolerant and temperate `bahu' (wife of the son) do fall back upon not only the daughter's income but also on the son-in-law's. They are keen to convert the jamai (son-in-law) to a `ghar jamai' precisely because `behind every successful man there is a woman.' Am I not clear? If not, I have to write a book on the subject. Let us revert back to the introductory part. Vishnu as Venkateswar (Balaji) became poor as Maha Lakshmi left him. Venkateswar, for his marriage to Lakshmi (Padmavati) on the earth had to borrow wealth from Kuber, the lord of wealth!. Even today, he is paying interest to Kuberji because the interest is unending. We, as devotees put wealth in his `hundi' to lighten the burden of Venkateswara tendering his EMIs He has been paying to Kuber. Mahalakshmi purana which is recited by the ladies in Orissa speaks of the importance of Lakshmiji. Once, as per an agreement prior to marriage of Jagannathji and Lakshmiji on a Margashria Thursday, The Goddess of wealth descended on the earth and found everyone lazy, their houses unswept and dirty but for the house of `Sriya' `Chandalini' (safai karmi of Sri Mandir) too clean, tidy and impressive. Therefore, Lakshmiji showered boons and wealth. Balabhadraji, the elder brother of Jagannathji ensured Lakshmiji to leave her husband because she committed the gravest sin of having entered the house of a `safai karmi'. The Purana runs into a good twenty pages and more in dramatic poise enumerating what is to be done for prosperity and acquisition of wealth and also taking the importance of various gods and goddesses whose help Lakshmiji took in her exile. While leaving the house of Jagannathji she cursed both the brothers of poverty, starvation and ignominy till they come to her and ate food cooked by Lakshmiji herself. It happened. Lakshmiji came back to Sri Mandir on condition that `mahaprasad is eaten by Brahmins and sudras partaking it from each other and not washing their hands but wiping in their heads and that she would visit any house on the earth if Lakshmiji found it clean and its members following fair means in every respect irrespective of caste or creed of the inhabitants of that house. Jagannathji and elder brother Balabhadra had to agree to these two conditions, per force. What surprises me even today is that how the Pandas of Puri who are believed to be `gopis' in their precious birth do not allow a non-caste-Hindu enter the Sri Mandir or Jaganath temple. Removal of `untouchability' has really been the boon of Mahalakshmi. Could we revive this concept to remove the ignorance vehemently prevalent in us?