New Living Goddess Appointed In Nepal

KATMANDU, Nepal — Hindu and Buddhist priests chanted sacred hymns and cascaded flowers and grains of rice over a 3-year-old girl who was appointed a living goddess in Nepal on Tuesday.

Wrapped in red silk and adorned with red flowers in her hair, Matani Shakya received approval from the priests and President Ram Baran Yadav in a centuries-old tradition with deep ties to Nepal's monarchy, which was abolished in May.

The new "kumari" or living goddess, was carried from her parents' home to an ancient palatial temple in the heart of the Nepali capital, Katmandu, where she will live until she reaches puberty and loses her divine status.

She will be worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists as an incarnation of the powerful Hindu deity Taleju.

A panel of judges conducted a series of ancient ceremonies to select the goddess from several 2- to 4-year-old girls who are all members of the impoverished Shakya goldsmith caste.

The judges read the candidates' horoscopes and check each one for physical imperfections. The living goddess must have perfect hair, eyes, teeth and skin with no scars, and should not be afraid of the dark.

As a final test, the living goddess must spend a night alone in a room among the heads of ritually slaughtered goats and buffaloes without showing fear.

Having passed all the tests, the child will stay in almost complete isolation at the temple, and will be allowed to return to her family only at the onset of menstruation when a new goddess will be named to replace her.

"I feel a bit sad, but since my child has become a living goddess I feel proud," said her father Pratap Man Shakya.

During her time as a goddess, she will always wear red, pin up her hair in topknots, and have a "third eye" painted on her forehead.

Devotees touch the girls' feet with their foreheads, the highest sign of respect among Hindus in Nepal. During religious festivals the goddesses are wheeled around on a chariot pulled by devotees.

Critics say the tradition violates both international and Nepalese laws on child rights. The girls often struggle to readjust to normal lives after they return home.

Nepalese folklore holds that men who marry a former kumari will die young, and so many girls remain unmarried and face a life of hardship.

Comments

[HockeyMom]

A bird in a gilded cage. The part that got me was her plight when her menses begins.

[Saidas]

Hmmmmm.....let me think about this for a minute.....she's a Godess....lock her in a room with severed goats heads or college....hmmmm.

[Maygressive]

Jon Benet ?

[FlipFlopFlimFlam]

a satirical look at this story:

http://sethcockfield.blogspot.com/2008/10/katman-dont.html

[ObamAtomic]

Well reading about Nepal,in America McCain found his goddess,he;s been busy
trying to push down of Americans throat,this goddess is old,uneducated
and white,preaching to the base and ranting to America,she do not want to go away.

[flash_LI]

Child abuse! Has anyone ever studied what happens to most young girls AFTER they are gods? OOPS! I forgot, but you are tolerant of all religions -EXCEPT CHRISTIANITY!

HAHAHA lol

[knowBuddhaU]

Ahem. The word is "anointed," not appointed.

And for those of you pitying the "poor thing," tell me: where is the divide that separates you or any of us from the divine? Of what is that line made? how does it function? does stuff move from the divine to the profane? do you know that those two words refer to divisions of space in a temple?

So let's imagine we're in a temple. We enter through the profane, past the money-changers and dove-sellers and the like, towards the divine, the Holy of holies.

So again I must ask: where is the divide? In your mind! Find for me the absolute and eternal divide of one thing from another, and you'll have found the line where the universe falls apart.

There is no such line. We're all divine. Jesus Christ himself said as much. We're all children of the divine, we're all kin. Why do we so debase ourselves?

We believe in an absolute divide between creator and created. We further believe that, unless you stand in the proper relation to the proper church and the proper authorities and the proper dogma, you're going to hell. 'Do as I say or suffer immeasurably forever!'

Sounds like a political argument has taken the place of a spiritual one, to me. Can we try a different way of being in the world, other than Life as Holy War, now?

[Truthosaurus]

Who is "we believe"? You may believe in a creator but other people do not. There isn't a shred of evidence for the existence of supernatural gods or a divine realm. Not to mention, you are making claims about a "Jesus Christ" which you don't have the evidence to back up. Come back to the real world, where we have a 3 year old little girl, who is in no position to control what happens to her, and about to become a pawn in one of the oldest con games known to human kind. If you as an adult choose of your own volition to participate in religious nonsense - fine. But don't expect a free ride to abuse children in the process.

[solanus]

poor little thing

[pps]

as a Hindu from Nepal, I find the whole concept of Kumari as a very regressive cultural tradition that should be abolished (as was monarchy, which they recently abolished). Having said that, this is as silly as -praying away the gays, and praying away the witches, and waiting for the end times- which a potential VP of the USA believes in.

[WorldCitizen9]

Thank you pps. It is important that westerners know that many Hindus do not believe in this nonsense. In my last trip to India i saw a young boy framed into "divinity" and giving obviously well rehearsed sermons. However a wise Indian friend explained to me that this was a political stunt. The idea is to take an innocent figure that no one will question, give him miracle status that no one will question, and then have him preach subliminal political propaganda in the name of God. -Of course the boy -about 6 years old- truly is innocent. But, as we see in the US, there is no low too low for many politicians in the world.

[MoonsinLeo]

And atheism is a bad thing?

[TXDem08]

Everyone needs to respect one another. The problem is that most religions practice hate to people that don't believe in the same thing/god/practice. We need to become tolerant and respect each other . Do you honestly think that if you are a Jew came to the "Christian" gates of Heaven, god would turn him down? Give me a break, religion is just a way to instill fear and hold power.

On that note I do believe in a higher "being" and that people should act in a moral way with one another. However, there is NEVER a time when I feel that my beliefs are above others and I respect the different views of others. In this case, they are totally disrespecting the chance for the young girl to grow up and live life on her own - this is very sad!

[Truthosaurus]

No. Everyone does not need to respect other views or beliefs. We need to respect the idea that a person can hold a belief, but we do not need to respect the actual belief. That is an important distinction. For example, I don't need to have respect for your belief that people are going to end up at the entryway to some place called "heaven", with some "thing" you call "god" deciding if they should be let in. If you have some credible evidence that this scenario will occur, I may then have some respect. That is a way to gain respect for a belief " not by demanding the "need" to respect . A person can of course continue to hold a belief regardless of evidence. But when a person decides to open her/his mouth and put a belief out into the world in word and deed, and in the case of the 3 year old "goddess", use it as an excuse to abuse a child, get ready for a load of disrespect.

[MsMadame]

Lol!

[freecheese]

Given the riots that happened last month among same people regarding the government"s decision to cut spending on their ceremony, I don't think this is going to end any time soon. Since most of the youth Newar community are educated enough to understand the importance of education and human rights, they should press hard to make education and little bit of normalcy in daily life to be introduced to the kid.

The notion of dead Goddess after her puberty should be changed to the nation"s cultural hero, by providing her with moral and financial support to continue a sound life when she returns.

[ccmd]

What if she grows up and hets pregnant out of wed lock?

[mkj1525]

maybe her mom will get to run for VP

[jtmoney]

It's not nice to judge other cultures.

[llisa]

Even when they abuse children? This is nothing less than child abuse! Total isolation? I wouldn't do that to a dog!

[Judyisacutie]

Funny to hear people call this child abuse when millions of Americans were voting on America's Got Talent for a 4 year old to win a nightly stadium gig singing "Beauty and the Beast" in front of thousands of liquored up Vegas tourists.

[JeffLake]

Just like the Olsen twins.

[EarthToZoey]

Religulous.