Baby with tail 'reincarnation of Hindu god' (with picture)

Ananova ^ | 01/11/02 | ananova

[Arkle]

Crowds are flocking to Indian temples to see a Muslim baby with a 'tail' who is believed to be the reincarnation of a Hindu god.

The 11-month-old boy has been named Balaji or Bajrangbali, another name for monkey-faced Lord Hanuman.

He is reported to have a 4in 'tail' caused by genetic mutations during the development of the foetus.

Iqbal Qureshi, the child's maternal grandfather, is taking Balaji from temple to temple where people offer money to see the boy.

Mr Qureshi says the baby has nine spots on his body like Lord Hanuman and showed them to journalists, reports Indian newspaper The Tribune.

There have been other cases of babies born with tails. A report appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1982 by Dr Fred Ledley.

His paper entitled 'Evolution and the Human Tail' concerned a baby born with a 2in growth on its back.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Crowds are flocking to Indian temples to see a Muslim baby with a 'tail' who is believed to be the reincarnation of a Hindu god

Doesnt satan have a tail ?

[Prodigal Daughter]

Well, I'll have to investigate and see if the link I posted is a hoax. I don't think it is, but if so, I'll state to the contrary here in the future if it is.

About the little boy, do you honestly believe in the year 2002, that there is no Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or Christian doctor who would not be happy to surgically remove the tail out of charity and benevolence (and if not for any of those reasons, they'll do it to get some free advertising?) No, this exploitation cannot be explained away because of Third World poverty. I suspect they believe that their son is the incarnation of a Hindu god.

[ArmchairWarrior]

Thanks for your reply :) Yes indeed I hope that the child gets the medical attention he deserves. And I'm sure he will. India has many doctors who travel the countryside rendering free medical service, and it produces more doctors in a year than any other country in Asia.

As for my statement about the people, no I am not blaming their actions on "3rd world poverty". Just the opposite. I believe that people living in less than favorable conditions -- anywhere in the world -- would look to their religion for an explanation for things they do not understand. And if they are sincere in their belief that the child is a "re-incarnation" of a Hindu God, then you can be sure they'd take especially good care of him.

As for the website in question... well Sanskrit, the language in which the Hindu texts are most often written, is a dead language and one famous for words with multiple meanings and implications - a single sentence can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Whatever the truth may be, consider the India of the present - if it's majority Hindu population were vile and fanatical as some paint them to be, India would have Hinduism as it's official religion and the kind of diversity it has would not be encouraged. All the Bangladeshis and the Tibetans and the Nepalese who come looking for a better life would be turned away. Well, maybe I don't explain things very well. All I know is that Hinduism has co-existed peacefully for countless centuries, from the age of the Greeks and Romans to the present day, and deserves the benefit of the doubt, if not some respect.

[Prodigal Daughter]

Please don't get me wrong, I'm pro-India and pro-Indian doctors. My husband has visited India. If you read any of my posts, I'm very anti-religion; religion = bondage, I used to be a pseudo-Hindu, sort of George Harrison style, not as deeply involved as him, but pretty deep, and Jesus Christ is freedom from religion.

I think all cultures have been tainted by bestiality, definitely not limited to India. But anyway, looks like I was right about the website being legitimate, although I grant you, it may have misinterpreted the Sanskrit although I'm more convinced that it didn't.

It does not appear to be anti-Hindu propaganda http://india30.tripod.com/index.html appears to be a legitimate scholarly website, "Hinduism - Indology - Indian history - Indic languages", articles taken from Indopaedia at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/1335/, "The largest and best collection of encyclopedias on India anywhere un the internet. India is one of the least understood regions of the world. This site dispells some of the mythology and folklore taught about India. It is a standard reference for both laymen and learned scholars. Some of the hyperpedias located here contain more than 100 references each. The design of the hyperpedias is such that the layman need only concern himdelf with the uppermost portions of each page, while the scholar can continue to the more difficult parts further down the page. Several mistakes made in standard textbooks are corrected.
However, the site is still under severe construction. There are several volumes of Lexica Indica; not all are yet available"

but at any rate, I checked Princeton University Press website and they do have: Goldman, Robert P. The Ramayana of Valmiki: an Epic of Ancient India. Balakanda (vol. 1). Pub.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-06561-6. listed.

I also read http://www.valmikiramayan.net/bala/sarga14/bala_14_frame.htm

Translation says: Queen Kousalya encircled that horse around in reverence and great joy, and killed it with three knives. [1-14-33]

Queen Kousalya lived with that [slain] horse for one night for [achieving the ritual] results, with a firm and virtuous mind. [1-14-34]

I looked up "avasat" in Sanskrit dictionary, found Sanskrit to French where it says:

vas_1 v. [‍1‍] pr. (vasati) impft. (avasat) pft. (uvāsa) pp. (uṣita) abs. (uṣitvā, -uṣya) pf. (adhi, upa, ni, pra, vi, saṃ) habiter, demeurer | passer, séjourner; rester — ca. (vāsayati) loger, héberger, abriter || all. Wesen; ang. was"

(Maybe, maybe not although IMO it looks like the implied meaning is "slept with")

See second paragraph of a paper written by Lowell Edmunds, Professor of Classics at Rutgers University since 1988 where he states: "It turns out that in the as’vamedha the mahisî or chief queen cohabited with the stallion that was the centerpiece of the ritual (161); the sexual element is lacking in the Roman ritual; in the Celtic ritual, the king mates with a mare."

(Just another confirmatio that religions are shams. There are no holy men, only an Holy God.)

[rintense]

You can feel my brilliance that far north? Wow. Must be because it's a clear day. It usually only travels 25 miles or so. :-P

[rintense]

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAA! I don't know whether that's funny or just sick and wrong...

[aShepard]

All your tail are belong to us!

[ArmchairWarrior]

When I first read this article and the posts that followed, I was rather hurt but now that I have read your latest reply I am finally at peace. I apologise -- you are clearly better informed on the subject and I bow to your wisdom. Thank you also for the references. I guess I may have been wrong about this website but I do recall that there was one that I saw a couple of years ago that was set up a Muslim seeking solely to disparage Hinduism. I agree completely with your closing statement - I am not religious either but there are those fleeting moments when one feels compelled to speak out based on principle alone...okay, rambling now. Good to know this thread has a happy ending.

[muleskinner]

Oh Man. LOL

[mikrofon]

It could also add a new turn on the phrase- "He's got his finger stuck up his ___."

[Stultis]

And he'll be able to, you know, "arrange" (or scratch) himself more discreetly than most of us.

[RonDog]

FYI ping. See, in particular, Registered's ANIMATION in post #67.

(How did we miss this previously?)

[Focault's Pendulum]

Gives new meaning to that sage greeting...."How's it hanging?"

[aruanan]

Hope the child does get some corrective surgery for Spina bifada

It's not spina bifida. That's a congenital cleft of the neural tube, not its elongation.

[txhurl]

'mary birthmark'.. that is richly, richly wicked. Shame.

I follow evolution pretty closely, and lemme tell you people, there are more and better examples of innate morality developed as evolutionary adaptations than any Religion could ever instill. No, really. 'Kin even prove it.

Don't make me whip out my copy of The Naked Ape.

[Ditter]

LOL You're a sick man. I like that in a person.

[lonevoice]

Thanks for the ping. Hmmm...that "tail" looks a lot longer than the "4 inches" reported in the article.