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Nepali `living goddess' retires early to live with family

An 11-year-old girl revered as a living goddess in Nepal has retired early, less than a year after she sparked controversy by breaking tradition and traveling overseas, officials said yesterday.

Sajani Shakya was considered to be among the top three of the country's several kumari, or living goddesses, having lived for nine years as the kumari of the ancient temple-town of Bhaktapur, near Kathmandu.

Jaiprasad Regmi, chief of the government trust that manages the affairs of the living goddesses, said Sajani is to be replaced because she had "come of age" and said the decision had nothing to do with last year's row.

"We have begun the process of searching for a new kumari," Regmi said.

Sajani was temporarily stripped of her revered kumari status last July when she traveled to the US to promote a documentary about Nepal's centuries-old tradition of living goddesses.

Officials removed her title while she was overseas because of tradition that living goddesses do not leave the homeland. Popular support for Sajani apparently forced officials to reverse the decision and reinstate her.

On return to Nepal, Sajani was met by hundreds of her supporters and followers who took her to the temple where she is worshipped and held a brief ceremony to welcome her back.

Selected as toddlers, living goddesses usually keep their positions until they reach puberty, meaning that Sajani, at age 11, is retiring slightly early.

Sajani's family wanted her to take part in another ritual performed for all girls of the Newar ethnic community, to which she belongs, Regmi said.

She could not take part in the ceremony while still continuing as the living goddess.

The living goddesses are worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists. Under the kumari tradition a girl between the ages of two and four is selected from a Buddhist Newar family through a rigorous cultural process becomes the "living goddess."

They are required to have perfect skin, hair, eyes and teeth, should not have scars and should not be afraid of the dark.

She is considered an incarnation of the powerful deity Kali and is revered by the Hindus and Buddhists until she menstruates, after which she must return to the family and a new one is chosen.

Devotees touch the girls' feet with their foreheads, the highest sign of respect among Hindus in Nepal. During religious festivals the girls are wheeled around on a chariot pulled by devotees.

Some human-rights activists have petitioned the Supreme Court to end the practice, saying it denies the girl her normal life.

The court has yet to deliver a judgment.
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