Child Rights and The Living Goddess "kumari’

Nepal is a land of different gods and goddesses. Many are Hindu and others are Buddhist. The Nepalese have many facets to their religious pantheon; and many are incarnations, manifestations, and aspects of the different major gods and goddesses. However, we have one unique aspect of our Hindu religion, the Kumari Devi. She is an actual living goddess in the flesh. Her titles are the Kumari Devi, the Royal Kumari, or the Virgin Goddess. She is worshiped as the incarnation of the Goddess Teleju Bhawani or the young incarnation of the Goddess Durga.

Kumari literally means a virgin. A young girl from the Buddhist community is chosen to represent a Hindu goddess after she passes 32 tests of “perfection,” which include a body like a banyan tree and golden, tender skin that has never been scratched or shed a drop of blood. After Kumari has been chosen, she has to live in Kumari ghar (house) in Kathmandu Durbar Square.

The selection process of Kumari is:

 A panel of judges’ conducts series of ancient ceremonies to select the goddess from several 2- to 4-year-old girls who are all members of the impoverished Shakya goldsmith caste.

 The judges read the candidates’ horoscopes and check each one for physical imperfections. The living goddess must have perfect hair, eyes, teeth and skin with no scars, and should not be afraid of the dark.

 As a final test, the living goddess must spend a night alone in a room among the heads of ritually slaughtered goats and buffaloes without showing fear.

Since the time of selection, no importance is given to the child rights of the young girl called Kumari. She is made to shun everything at such an early age for the sake of the culture and religion. At a time when the children of her age go to school, she is made to sit at Kumari Ghar. She is deprived of her child rights. So many people have raised the voice to safeguard the rights of Kumari. Three years ago, child rights activists challenged the practice of choosing Kumari, saying it infringed on the rights of a child to go to school or play with other children while they assumed the role of living goddesses. Government has also turned deaf ear regarding the rights of Kumari. In August 2008, the Nepalese Supreme Court has asked the government to guarantee basic child rights to the living goddesses as guaranteed in the (United Nations) Convention on the Rights of the Child. The court’s response came after a three-year debate on whether the practice of keeping a child secluded as a living goddess infringed on her rights. There should be no bar on Kumaris from going to school and enjoying health-related rights,” the Supreme Court said. “The Kumaris should not be treated as bonded laborers, and restrictions on free movement should not be imposed.” Now with the order from Supreme Court, a bit has changed with the living of Kumari but it is still not enough to safeguard the rights of a child.