A 6-year-old boy in the Indian state of Punjab is worshiped by villagers as the reincarnation of the Hindu god Ganesha.
Pranshu, who is unable to walk properly, was born with an unexplained medical condition that gave him an oversize forehead and wide-set, narrow eyes. Doctors weren’t able to diagnose or treat him and blamed the defect on pollution.
Hindu god GaneshaShutterstock“His whole body is like the Lord Ganesha,” Pranshu’s father, Kamlesh, told Barcroft News. “Villagers who meet him get their wishes fulfilled.”
Ganesha, who has a large elephant head and a human body, is Hindu’s god of new beginnings and the remover of obstacles. He also provides fortune, prosperity and success.
Pranshu, who says people don’t even know his real name, still goes to school every day, where his father says “they welcome him with flowers.”
“My teachers also worship me at the school,” Pranshu told Barcroft. “My friends don’t bully me at all, as they believe I am Lord Ganesha.”
And every Thursday, Pranshu meets a crowd outside a mosque near his village, where worshipers bow their heads in his presence.
“I want to be like this only,” he told Barcroft News. “It makes me happy.”
