A baby girl born with two faces in a north Indian village is being worshipped as the reincarnation of the Hindu god, Lord Ganesha.

The three-week-old unnamed baby from Saini village in Uttar Pradesh state, 30 miles north-east of the capital New Delhi, is being hailed as a "miracle" child.

Hundreds of locals are flocking to seek her "blessing" and, in keeping with Indian traditional, showering her parents with money.

"At first I was a little afraid," Vinod Kumar Singh, the 24-year-old father said of his first child born last month. "But then I accepted whatever God gives."

To the largely illiterate villagers from the agricultural community the little girl is a reincarnation of Lord Ganesh, the half person and half elephant, and one of the most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon.

He is a highly benevolent god revered as the remover of obstacles and creating new beginnings.

"It's a gift from God. Some people say she is like a goddess," schoolmaster Harsharan Singh gushed.