Kumari Goddess: Too Much Of Tradition?

A deep rooted tradition within the Nepalese culture has been the worship of a child goddess, whom the native claim to be an incarnation of Goddess kali or Teluja.The goddess is a pre-pubescent girl who is chosen from the Shakya community. There is a trail of rituals and tests that a girl is made to go through for qualifying as the next Goddess. The tests are rather rigorous and bizarre for a child to undergo but that is what the tradition has spoken for an elongated time period in Nepal.

Five senior Buddhist Barjacharya are appointed for the task of selection ofkumara Goddess.Physical requirements have been specified for a girl to be a Kumari. Some of them are:

• black hair and eyes

• cow like eyelashes

• twentyunbroken teeth.

• Well recessed sexual organs

Another major yet scary ritual comprises of killing of buffaloes. The girl is made to stay among the for sometime bloodshed and the sacrificed heads of the animal, a validation for a great amount of courage. The process does not end here. Further, she is scrutinized under theprerequisite of bearing ‘battis laksha’, 32 perfection .

Lifestyle of the Kumari is rather stressful for a child. The Kumari barely goes out of her palace, except for some occasions. She does not talk to the people who come to seek her blessings and communicates through actions. The parents of the girl are not allowed to stay with her. A maximum number of 15 visits are allowed, for a year.

The girls were deprived of any formal education during their tenure of serving as a goddess. However, various child rights activists have raised the issue and now the girls are allowed to pursue their education through a personal tutor. Exams are conducted within the palace under an invigilator.

But after a glorious and a super sacred tenure, the girl returns to her ordinary life as her menstrual cyclesbegin. What’s ironical is that attainment and loss of the divine powers revolves around the biological and the most natural process of a human body.Its interesting to the changing dynamics of the such a tradition even in the times of such advancing technologies.