Durbar Square, Kathmandu - Kumari's home

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The child goddess lives in this upper floor and sometimes shows her face at 4PM. No picture are allowed.

(con't from previous page)
She can never touch the ground, if she does she can no longer be the living goddess. Behind the temple there is a golden chariot that she gets carried on once a year.

To be a living goddess she has to pass many difficulties to be chosen. Taken to show sacrifice of bull. If she shows any sign of fear, she cannot be living goddess. Priest will wear scary mask to frighten her (Kali).

After puberty, she leaves and goes home to normal life (this is what the guide said, but I'm sure it's anything but normal).

While living here, she is admitted to school, but cannot touch ground, so private tutor comes to give her education. To accept her as a wife may bring peril. A man died prematurely after marrying a living goddes, so now no one will marry her. So she usually becomes a nun and gets a pension from the government..

 

copyright © 2008 Cheryl A. Marland