“Do you want to see a living goddess?” our guide asked us as he took us around the palaces of Durbar square. I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about but I was fascinated to find out. It was our first day exploring Kathmandu and it was Saturday, apparently the one day a week that the royal Kumari gives an audience! We stood in a small courtyard and after about 5 minutes a little 3 year old girl peeped out from the middle window above!
Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos but we were told how lucky we were to see her! As soon as I got back in the world of wifi I googled this craziness and found out that it’s been going on for centuries. A child is picked from a particular family and must meet certain physical criteria to be eligible. To be chosen is considered to be a great honour (although it does seem less so nowadays). The child is taken away from her family and lives in the palace and only comes outside for certain religious festivals. She remains Kumari until puberty or if she has some kind of injury earlier where she loses a lot of blood she, this can also result her “term of office” as such coming to an end.
The next at at the Patan museum shop I found a couple of books on the subject so whipped them up. This was a good read about how this girl went back to normal life after being Kumari.
As I read more I found out that the little 3 year old we saw is the royal Kumari but there are others around the country!! In fact there is another in our very own neighbourhood Patan (or Lalitpur) so on our day exploring our neighbourhood we find the Kumari che which is the Kumari palace.. it was a little less fancy than the royal one
We didn’t find our til later that we could have rang a bell and got to see her but once we had this info we knew it was gonna happen. On our last day in Nepal we headed over there… I put my shawl on (bought it specially as My top didn’t cover my shoulders!!) and we rang the bell. A man came out and motioned for us to come inside. He told us to take our shoes off while he went ahead up a set of small, steep wooden stairs. He called us up and there was this young girl sitting in front of us with a very miserable look on her face. He motioned for me to kneel in front of her and she put a blob of flowers and paint on me – this is called a tikka and it was her blessing!
We didn’t find our til later that we could have rang a bell and got to see her but once we had this info we knew it was gonna happen. On our last day in Nepal we headed over there… I put my shawl on (bought it specially as My top didn’t cover my shoulders!!) and we rang the bell. A man came out and motioned for us to come inside. He told us to take our shoes off while he went ahead up a set of small, steep wooden stairs. He called us up and there was this young girl sitting in front of us with a very miserable look on her face. He motioned for me to kneel in front of her and she put a blob of flowers and paint on me – this is called a tikka and it was her blessing!
It was the oddest thing but I must admit I enjoyed meeting the Kumari!
odohertyelaine 
Am loving seeing the pics and reading the blog, keep them coming, Elaine. You 2 look like you are having a ball! Aileen
LikeLike
Thanks a million Aileen. It’s a super trip.. more updates to come!
LikeLike