The new 'living goddess' wants to be a nurse when she is older Nepal selects 'living goddess'
29/09/2008 19:12 - (SA)
Kathmandu - Nepal's new Maoist government has taken over the task of selecting a girl to be a "living goddess", ousting royal priests from a role they fulfilled for centuries.
The strictly atheist Maoists gained power in the Himalayan country after the end of the civil war in 2006 and landmark polls earlier this year that brought down the world's last Hindu monarchy.
"Just because we are now a republic and no longer have a king or royal priest, does not mean we should end our traditions," said Keshab Bahadur Shrestha, a member of the government panel that selected the girl known as a Kumari.
The girl selected, Shreeya Bajracharya, is from Bhaktapur town, 30km west of Kathmandu. She is the six-year-old daughter of a farmer.
She met 32 strict criteria, including having "eyelashes like a cow" and a "voice as soft and clear as a duck", said Shrestha.
Bajracharya made her first public appearance at a religious festival in Bhaktapur on Sunday.
For centuries, residents from three medieval towns in the Kathmandu valley have worshipped young virgin girls from a Buddhist caste as the living incarnation of the Hindu goddess Taleju.
The previous Bhaktapur Kumari, 11-year-old Sajani Shakya, upset traditionalists last year when she travelled to the United States to promote a documentary.
Religious officials said she had lost her divine status by travelling abroad and her term as Kumari ended in March with her symbolic wedding to a fruit.
Despite Nepal's new secular status, religious tradition remains deeply ingrained in a country where 80% of people are Hindu.
Last week, an attempt by the Maoist finance minister to cut a $200 government grant to Kathmandu's "Royal Kumari" festival caused rioting and prompted criticism that the Maoists were starting a "cultural revolution".
The Kumari in Kathmandu spends most of her time locked up in an ornate palace in the heart of the city, though last month Nepal's supreme court ruled that the practice violated the child's human rights Sphere: Related Content
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