Speaking of Religulous, I see in the AP that a new Royal Kumari, considered to be a living goddess, has been appointed in Nepal. Not to worry however, it’s only until the 3 year old girl reaches puberty.
At that point she gets demoted back to mortal and can try to adjust back to a normal life after spending nine or ten years isolated in a palace in Katmandu.
Apparently the girl, selected by a panel of judges and having passed a final test where she had to spend the night in a room surrounded by the heads of slaughtered animal, is viewed and worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal as the incarnation of the Hindu deity Taleju.
The Royal Kumari lives in the Kumari Ghar in Katmandu, always dresses in red and has a representation of a third eye attached to her forehead.
As soon as menstruation occurs, a new Kumari is selected and the previous one gets divested of her symbols of divinity in a ceremony over a four day period. At the end the girl is left with a gold coin, a scrap of red fabric from her previous regalia and memories. Superstition has it that men who marry a former Kumari die young by coughing up blood so they’re not exactly high on the date list.
It seems there are actually several Kumaris in Nepal. It’s just the most famous one that is the Royal Kumari in Nepal. One Kumari got into deep water after she attended a screening of a documentary about the living goddesses at the Silverdocs film festival in Maryland. She almost lost her position because the visit to the U.S. had “tainted her purity.”
Hey, I’ve been to Maryland, going there would taint anyone’s purity. Nah, I’m only kidding. Maryland is the home of the world’s best crab cake.
Consider how ridiculous this whole living goddess thing is, especially given the multiplicity of them. Oh well, I guess it’s not much more ridiculous than the concept of a trinity is it?
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