KATHMANDU, NEPAL, August 20, 2008: A centuries-old tradition in Nepal of worshipping a virgin girl-child in a palace as a “living goddess” has been challenged after it was condemned as outdated by the country’s supreme court, which has ruled that the deity-girl must go to school.
Earlier this year, religious authorities started a search for a new Kumari, chosen from a handful of three-year-olds, after it was revealed the current living goddess is going to retire later this year. The court ruled against the rights of the Kumari being “be violated in the name of culture.” “There should be no bar on the Kumaris from going to school and enjoying health-related rights,” the court said.
Some analysts said the court was simply responding to the new political atmosphere in the Himalayan nation under former rebel Maoists, who are determined to end practices they oppose. The Kumari was probably doomed the moment the Maoist administration took office. One of the first acts of the Maoists was to end the 240-year-old monarchy in Nepal. It was tradition for Nepal’s king to be blessed by the Kumari, whose horoscope had to match that of the monarch.
Maoist MPs have described the institution of the Kumari as an “evil symbol,” incompatible with revolutionary socialism.