Over 20 years ago, Siobhan became aware of, and then fascinated by the manifestation of the goddess Taleju, into a young girl, known as Kumari. Again, this will be the most cursory of explainations, as there are hundreds of years of tradition and religion intrinsic to Nepal's history devoted to the Kumari. The story goes that some several hundred years ago, the king was playing a dice game behind a closed door in the royal palace with the goddess Taleju, a nightly a girffair sacred to the the king and only for he and the goddess. Taleju is a goddess of war and death, similar to Durga. She has four heads and ten arms, rides a lion and demands blood sacrifice. She was brought to Nepal but the southern Indian kings who were escaping from the spread of Islam. She is now uniquely Nepalese, worshipped nowhere else. One night, the queen became jealous and burst in on the game. Taleju was furious and left, vowing never to return. The king, furious with his wife and greatly saddened by the goddess's abandonment, prayed and prayed for her to return. She refused, but said that she would return I'm the form of a prepubescent girl, the Kumari. Another more believeable (as if any of it is believable) variation says that the king tried it on with Taleju which infuriated her, which is why she enters the form of a virginal prepubescent girl, and must be worshipped as such for his transgression.
Every year, 108 cows and 108 goats in sacrifice to the Kumari, and the ones who do the sacrificing are the Gurkas, who use this as a training exercise in killing. Where as the British who were training with the Gurkas used haybags as bayonet training impliments, the Gurkas used the animals so that they could feel the amount of swing necessary and the force required to actually kill, and to get the stomach for killing. This makes them fearsome warriors indeed Gurkas are adherent to the worship of the Kumari, to the point where if they draw their blade, they must draw blood. This means if they do not kill with their drawn blade, they must cut themselves, because Taleju demands a blood sacrifice. The blood sacrifice is taken so seriously that the national airline sacrifices a buffalo to spray its blood all over the nose of the plane. Most unusually, she is from a Buddhist family, but worshipped as a Hindu goddess. There has been a lot of rumour and conjecture regarding her over the years, mostly because she is such a mysterious figure. Noone but her handlers and family get to see her, aside from her daily flits to her window, only thw highly initiates are even allowed to handle the sacrifices prior to sacrifice day, and noone ever talks about their rites or doings, not even ex Kumaris. The Kumari does not even walk on the bare ground, she is either carried, or walks on a cloth which has been laid before her. When she reaches puberty she is relived of her duties because she has reached an age which she is no longer acceptably pure, and the search for the new Kumari begins from a particular caste, usually goldsmith families and have specific traits, and no imperfections, scars or marks, and their horoscope must align with that of the royal family of Nepal.History lesson over. Anyway, the point of this was to mention that Siobhan finally got to see the royal Kumari at her window after two failed attempts. The rule is that no one is permitted to take pictures of the Kumari at their royal home, ever. So naturally people try to take pictures all the time. If she see a camera she is off like a shot, and may not reyun until the nest day, and two consecutive sets of Chinese tourists got over enthusiastic about their picture taking. They were escorted out, and their camera confiscated long enough to delete the offending articles. Finally she returned and sat at her window for a few brief moments, never smiling. A smile from the Kumari means an invitation to heaven, and someone will die. Very bad news, if you believe that sort of thing. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for an 8 year old girl (that's the current Kumari's age) to express not emotion or to just play like a kid, but she displays dignity and composure in line with her position. Siobhan got really rather emotional and our son started shouting "come down, little girl!". I just felt very pleased to have been there for Siobhan's great moment of happiness, and to see something most westerners never do. Very cool.
Every year, 108 cows and 108 goats in sacrifice to the Kumari, and the ones who do the sacrificing are the Gurkas, who use this as a training exercise in killing. Where as the British who were training with the Gurkas used haybags as bayonet training impliments, the Gurkas used the animals so that they could feel the amount of swing necessary and the force required to actually kill, and to get the stomach for killing. This makes them fearsome warriors indeed Gurkas are adherent to the worship of the Kumari, to the point where if they draw their blade, they must draw blood. This means if they do not kill with their drawn blade, they must cut themselves, because Taleju demands a blood sacrifice. The blood sacrifice is taken so seriously that the national airline sacrifices a buffalo to spray its blood all over the nose of the plane. Most unusually, she is from a Buddhist family, but worshipped as a Hindu goddess. There has been a lot of rumour and conjecture regarding her over the years, mostly because she is such a mysterious figure. Noone but her handlers and family get to see her, aside from her daily flits to her window, only thw highly initiates are even allowed to handle the sacrifices prior to sacrifice day, and noone ever talks about their rites or doings, not even ex Kumaris. The Kumari does not even walk on the bare ground, she is either carried, or walks on a cloth which has been laid before her. When she reaches puberty she is relived of her duties because she has reached an age which she is no longer acceptably pure, and the search for the new Kumari begins from a particular caste, usually goldsmith families and have specific traits, and no imperfections, scars or marks, and their horoscope must align with that of the royal family of Nepal.History lesson over. Anyway, the point of this was to mention that Siobhan finally got to see the royal Kumari at her window after two failed attempts. The rule is that no one is permitted to take pictures of the Kumari at their royal home, ever. So naturally people try to take pictures all the time. If she see a camera she is off like a shot, and may not reyun until the nest day, and two consecutive sets of Chinese tourists got over enthusiastic about their picture taking. They were escorted out, and their camera confiscated long enough to delete the offending articles. Finally she returned and sat at her window for a few brief moments, never smiling. A smile from the Kumari means an invitation to heaven, and someone will die. Very bad news, if you believe that sort of thing. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for an 8 year old girl (that's the current Kumari's age) to express not emotion or to just play like a kid, but she displays dignity and composure in line with her position. Siobhan got really rather emotional and our son started shouting "come down, little girl!". I just felt very pleased to have been there for Siobhan's great moment of happiness, and to see something most westerners never do. Very cool.
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