KATHMANDU, NEPAL, May 2, 2008: Nepal’s newly elected constituent assembly will hold its first meeting next month and officially begin the process of abolishing the Hindu king’s 239-year-old crown and turning him into a commoner. “The people have mandated us to transform Nepal into a federal democratic republic and end the feudal monarchical system,” Maoist lawmaker and winner of constituent assembly election Janardan Sharma told IANS. “All institutions associated with the royal family and feudalism will have to be changed. The Kumari is not an essential institution for the new Nepal,” he said.
Two years ago, when the king’s bid to seize absolute power with the help of the army failed, a national uprising led by the Maoists forced the monarch to step down. The new government subsequently declared Nepal, the world’s only Hindu kingdom, a secular nation. However, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who succeeded the king, kept up the state attendance at Hindu festivals, triggering much criticism. With Nepal’s Maoists having begun an inexorable countdown for the ouster of the once all-powerful King Gyanendra, the fate of one of the oldest religious institutions of the nation – the Kumaris or “living Goddesses” – also lies in jeopardy.