Feminist Peace Network

According to Reuters,

“Religious authorities in Nepal have begun the search for a girl who could be as young as three or four to serve as the new Kumari, or the virgin “living goddess”, in a centuries-old tradition.”

“”If we don’t change her now, we’ll have to wait until next year which could be late,” said Deepak Bahadur Pandey, a senior official of the state-run Trust Corporation that oversees the country’s cultural matters.

“If the girl starts menstruating while serving as Kumari, it is considered inauspicious,” Pandey told Reuters on Tuesday.”

“The “Kumari” must have perfect eyes, teeth, hair and must not have even a small scratch to her skin.”

There are significant questions about this practice and whether it is a violation of the human rights of the girls who are chosen to be Goddesses. The Christian Science Monitor has a good piece about this here.

In any case, being a Goddess isn’t all that appealing anymore,

“In the old days, life as a goddess was viewed as a route to a better life. But Nepal now has a constitution that guarantees equal rights to women, and more women are getting educated and competing for jobs once held exclusively by men.”

“Being a kumari isn’t good for one’s marriage prospects either. Nepalese folklore holds that men who marry an ex-goddess will die young, and most of the eight living ex-goddesses are unmarried.

A living goddess must come from a specific Buddhist clan the Shakyas. She can have only a few selected playmates. She sees the outside world a few times a year when she is wheeled through the capital on a chariot pulled by devotees.

The goddess must always wear red, tie her hair in a topknot and have a third eye painted on her forehead.

The kumari candidate must endure difficult tests, including spending a night among the heads of ritually slaughtered goats and buffaloes.”"

And with that last one, keep in mind that the candidates are chosen at the age of 3 or 4. While I am very hesitant to criticize what is considered a cultural/religious practice, ritual is not an excuse for child abuse.  Aside from this, what I find so odd is that I never read about Kali’s child aspect–in what I’ve read, she is always a very powerful fully embodied deity–but then again, cultures that revere fully embodied powerful women are a tad hard to find.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Children, Human Rights