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Former goddess faces life

Twenty-two-year-old Rashmilla Shakya is like any other eager student in the crowded Kathmandu classroom, working towards a bachelor's degree in information technology.

Once in a while, though, people step aside and fold their hands together in respectful greeting as they recognize Nepal's former child goddess.

Rashmilla was four when she was taken from her home and enthroned as the Kumari, or virgin goddess, in an ancient three-storeyed palace with ornately carved balconies and window screens in Kathmandu's Durbar square.

For eight years, until she reached puberty, she was revered by both Hindus and Buddhists as the protector of 23 million Nepali people and the king in a tradition dating back to the 18th century.

Once she started menstruating, she lost her divine status and was returned to her family in a tiny, brick-and-mud house along an alley in a low-income Kathmandu neighborhood.

A five-year-old girl replaced her as the living goddess and Rashmilla, who could neither read nor write, started rebuilding her life from scratch.

The tradition of worshipping an ordinary girl as the source of supreme power has endured in the world's only Hindu kingdom, despite criticism from human rights activists.

"Rashmilla considers herself lucky," her elder sister, Pramilla, said in an interview in their home adorned by pictures of the living goddess.

"She says she has had two lives, being a Kumari was one life, and now she is born again."

A shy and smiling Rashmilla sat in another room, preparing for her computer-science class at Kathmandu's Institute of Science and Technology. She said her sister would speak on her behalf.

Critics argue it is cruel to take a child from her parents, deny her a childhood and then toss her back unprepared to handle the realities of life.

As a goddess, Rashmilla lived a life of extreme privilege, but also a life of isolation.

She could leave her palace only a few times a year to be wheeled through the capital on a chariot pulled by devotees.

The Kumari must wear red all the time, her hair is tied tightly in a topknot -- which permanently damages her hairline -- and she has a mythical third eye painted on her forehead to ward off evil spirits.

Rashmilla's playmates were children of the family that took care of her in the palace.

"The Kumarighar became her home," said Pramilla, who is a college physics lecturer, referring to the house of the goddess.

"She was completely adapted, the caretakers were her family." The selection of the goddess, who must come from the Shakya Buddhist clan, is an elaborate process of secret rituals.

"No girl is forced to become a Kumari," said Mukunda Raj Aryal, who teaches indigenous culture in Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University.

"This is part of Nepali culture where even parents compete to give daughters as Kumaris."

There were three other candidates, but Rashmilla was chosen after her horoscope matched that of then king Birendra, who was later killed by his drunken son in a palace massacre in 2001.

"We had mixed feelings when she was going. She was too small to remember anything," said Pramilla.

A tutor came to teach Rashmilla but he was too scared to order her to study. When she "retired" at 12, she started school in grade 1. Other 12-year-olds were in grade four.

Leather -- which comes from cows, which are considered sacred -- is not allowed anywhere in the palace, and Pramilla recalls how her sister recoiled in horror the first time she had to wear shoes to school.

"She is strong inside -- she told herself `the only way I can get over this is to wear it'."

Rashmilla will get a lifetime pension of 3,000 Nepali rupees (US$40) a month from the government. The pension used to be 300 rupees until the age of 21.

A child-rights activist said conditions for the kumaris, past and present, had improved after criticism.

"Human rights became an issue about 12 years ago," said Gauri Pradhan, head of the Child Workers group in Nepal. "Most of the concerns have been met, they are getting an education, friends and families can now meet them."
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