A toddler chosen as Nepal's new living goddess was carried by family from her home in a Kathmandu alley to a temple palace on Tuesday during Dashain, the country's longest and most significant Hindu festival. Aryatara Shakya, at 2 years and 8 months, was chosen as the new "Kumari," or "virgin goddess," replacing the incumbent, who's considered by tradition to become a mere mortal upon reaching puberty, per the AP. Living goddesses, worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists, are selected between the ages of 2 and 4 and are required to have unblemished skin, hair, eyes, and teeth. They also shouldn't be afraid of the dark.
During religious festivals, the living goddess is wheeled around on a chariot pulled by devotees. They always wear red and have their hair pinned up in topknots, and a "third eye" is painted on their forehead. Family, friends, and devotees paraded Shakya through Kathmandu on Tuesday before entering the temple palace that will be her home for the next several years. Devotees lined up to touch the girl's feet with their foreheads, the highest sign of respect among Hindus in the Himalayan nation, and offered her flowers and money. The new Kumari will bless devotees, including the president, on Thursday.
"She was just my daughter yesterday, but today she is a goddess," said her father, Ananta Shakya. He said there were already signs she would be the goddess before her birth. "My wife during pregnancy dreamed that she was a goddess, and we knew she was going to be someone very special," he said. The former Kumari, Trishna Shakya, now 11 years old, left the temple from a rear entrance on a palanquin carried by her family and supporters. She became the living goddess in 2017.
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Kumaris live a sequestered life. They have few selected playmates and are allowed outside only a few times a year for festivals. Former Kumaris can face difficulties adjusting to normal life, learning to do chores, and attending regular schools. According to Nepalese folklore, men who marry a former Kumari will die young, and so, many of these girls remain unmarried. Over the past few years, there've been many changes in tradition, so that the Kumari is now allowed to receive an education from private tutors inside the temple palace and even have a TV. The government also now offers retired Kumaris a small monthly pension.
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