Three-year-old girl becomes
Kathmandu’s next ‘living goddess’ after predecessor
retires
Tom Embury-Dennis 28
September 2017 The Independent Online
Trishna Shakya is the
latest young girl to be worshipped as the living embodiment of a
Hindu deity
A three-year-old girl has
been named Kathmandu’s next “living goddess” after her predecessor
retired.
Trishna Shakya has been
named the new Kumari of Nepal’s capital, continuing an ancient
tradition that sees young girls worshipped as the living embodiment
of the Hindu goddess Taleju.
She was selected ahead of
three other candidates after a 21-day process that included
spending a night among heads of slaughtered goats and buffaloes,
the Kathmandu Post reports.
Trishna was anointed on
Thursday, before being taken from her family home to live in an
ancient palace to be looked after by a team of
caretakers.
“She will take her place on the Kumari’s throne
after we perform prayers and tantric rituals,” Uddhav Man
Karmacharya, a Hindu priest, said before the event.
Eligible girls must fulfil
all the criteria of the “32 perfections” of a goddess, which
include having a “body like a banyan tree”, “eyelashes like a cow”
and a “voice soft and clear as a duck’s”.
The girl will now only be
allowed to leave 13 times a year on festival days, where she will
be paraded through the city and worshipped by both Hindus and
Buddhists.
Her predecessor,
12-year-old Matina Shakya, left the palace from a rear entrance
carried by her family and supporters as the Trishna arrived,
according to The Hindu.
Despite criticism from some
child rights activists, the practice has continued since the end of
the Nepalese Hindu monarchy in 2008.
The same year, the
country’s Supreme Court ruled the Kumari should be given an
education inside the palace and be allowed to sit exams.