Living Goddesses

:00:00. > :00:12.a glimpse of the young girls who live as goddesses.

:00:13. > :00:19.Worship and feared by thousands, this young girlies are living

:00:20. > :00:21.goddess. The latest in a long line of goddesses or Kumaris that goes

:00:22. > :00:31.back centuries. She is confined to the temple and

:00:32. > :00:41.has little contact with the outside world. She can't speak to anyone and

:00:42. > :00:49.her feet must not touch the ground. Puberty is the end of her reign and

:00:50. > :00:54.she must leave the temple. For some, the shock is too much and they

:00:55. > :00:58.refused to leave. It has been 60 years. Doesn't your IT want to start

:00:59. > :01:12.immortal life, a normal life? Now campaigners are asking

:01:13. > :01:16.if becoming a goddess is in the best That leaves a huge mental scar that

:01:17. > :01:30.affect their life forever. This is Patan, one of

:01:31. > :01:32.Nepal's largest cities, and a focal point of an ancient

:01:33. > :01:35.and controversial tradition. Hundreds of people have

:01:36. > :01:40.gathered in the streets, hoping to see someone they believe

:01:41. > :01:43.is holy and can perform miracles. Someone who is both

:01:44. > :01:56.feared and worshipped. This eight-year-old

:01:57. > :01:58.girl is who they have Revered by thousands,

:01:59. > :02:07.she is considered a living There are even people waiting

:02:08. > :02:18.for her outside of the temple, to give her offerings before

:02:19. > :02:24.she's taken inside. She was selected to become

:02:25. > :02:27.a goddess at the age of six and will remain one until the day

:02:28. > :02:35.of her first period. When she does, her feet must

:02:36. > :02:39.not touch the ground, That's where the rest of the rituals

:02:40. > :02:58.are going to happen tonight, And she will come out

:02:59. > :03:24.a few hours later. Nepal is a predominantly Hindu

:03:25. > :03:28.country, but with a significant The two religions have coexisted

:03:29. > :03:36.and intermingled for centuries. They share priests and temples

:03:37. > :03:43.and they both worshipped the kumari. Today is the eighth day of Dashain,

:03:44. > :03:47.a festival in which the goddess Durga is worshipped

:03:48. > :03:51.in her many forms. The kumari is believed

:03:52. > :03:53.to be a living embodiment That is the window to

:03:54. > :03:59.the living goddess's room. That is where she is sitting

:04:00. > :04:02.and where she gets worshipped I'm having to wait until she's ready

:04:03. > :04:07.to see me because today she is very, very busy, maybe because it's one

:04:08. > :04:10.of the biggest Nepalese She lives here in the kumari Palace

:04:11. > :04:32.and receives visitors in this room. She's not allowed to speak to anyone

:04:33. > :04:35.outside of her family as long as she's a living goddess,

:04:36. > :04:47.and that includes me. We're waiting for a lady in her 60s,

:04:48. > :04:52.and she was a kumari I'm very curious to find out

:04:53. > :04:57.how things were for her She became a kumari at the age

:04:58. > :05:13.of four and remained one This is a picture of her

:05:14. > :05:19.when she was a kumari. Here, she says she was

:05:20. > :05:27.around five years old. Was it not difficult to be

:05:28. > :06:05.away from your parents? Though they could visit,

:06:06. > :06:07.they couldn't take her home, so the young Kumari was brought up

:06:08. > :06:10.by priests and caretakers. The role of a living goddess

:06:11. > :06:13.is to protect her city, and the tradition is believed

:06:14. > :06:15.to have started sometime There are only three official

:06:16. > :06:21.Kumaris in the whole country, and they are all in the Kathmandu

:06:22. > :06:26.Valley. The living goddesses of Patan have

:06:27. > :06:29.always come from the same small Buddhist community

:06:30. > :06:37.of about 115 eligible families. Shaneera was a goddess for ten

:06:38. > :06:41.years, from the age of five until she got her periods

:06:42. > :06:45.at the age of 15. Since Kumari is regarded

:06:46. > :06:48.as a goddess, she's not supposed She is called something

:06:49. > :06:55.that means "goddess". And dad had to perform

:06:56. > :07:06.a special offering everyday. She has to be kept pure

:07:07. > :07:09.in every way, and she has But the goddesses aren't just

:07:10. > :07:19.respected, they are worshipped. Although Kumaris in the past have

:07:20. > :07:22.been as young as one and a half years old,

:07:23. > :07:25.they are expected to act as the link between

:07:26. > :07:28.the worshippers and the gods. Everyone comes with an offering

:07:29. > :07:34.and then they just pray for it. Official people, they would

:07:35. > :07:37.come to come for a job. Someone for a visa, flight,

:07:38. > :07:40.for passing an exam, But then, as a child, like,

:07:41. > :07:52.you have to accept these offerings and you have to consume

:07:53. > :07:55.a part of it. When you just take a sip

:07:56. > :08:00.on your lip, it's not It's just showing that

:08:01. > :08:03.you're accepting it. Maybe because of the power of God,

:08:04. > :08:10.you don't feel dizzy. Like other Kumaris, her childhood

:08:11. > :08:26.was very different to that of most I didn't have friends because people

:08:27. > :08:42.would come entry me as a goddess. They would just come, go down,

:08:43. > :08:46.and take blessings and then go. But I have two younger brothers,

:08:47. > :08:51.so I used to play with them. My brothers were mentally prepared

:08:52. > :08:54.that she is a goddess and you have And neither is moving

:08:55. > :09:01.around, or laughing, The living goddess is expected

:09:02. > :09:05.to sit motionless and expressionless A challenge for any child,

:09:06. > :09:11.even when daddy is right there. That's why a key criteria

:09:12. > :09:27.for becoming a Kumari is calmness. This man is part of the committee

:09:28. > :09:30.tasked with choosing the Kumaris. He has been involved

:09:31. > :09:59.in selecting the last eight. When a new Kumari is needed,

:10:00. > :10:02.eligible families are invited to bring their daughters to this

:10:03. > :10:04.very courtyard for The selected girl is then

:10:05. > :10:11.taken to the royal priest for further inspections,

:10:12. > :10:34.before a final decision is made. I remember being carried

:10:35. > :10:36.to the royal priest's house. And the royal priest's wife

:10:37. > :10:39.was asking something and she was checking me,

:10:40. > :10:41.my hands and everything, And then she put a tikha on my head,

:10:42. > :10:46.declaring that she is going The girls' lives change dramatically

:10:47. > :12:13.and so do their families'. Financially, the family gets

:12:14. > :12:15.through with a bit of help from the government,

:12:16. > :12:17.a monthly allowance, Offerings paid by visitors

:12:18. > :12:22.are another source of income. No matter how young the goddesses

:12:23. > :12:24.are, everything they do No matter how young the goddesses

:12:25. > :12:42.are, everything they do My mum tells me that

:12:43. > :12:49.I used to cry a lot, 24 hours a day for four days,

:12:50. > :12:51.continuously weeping She consoled me with the toys

:12:52. > :12:59.and she asked me, what's And she thought that

:13:00. > :13:01.because I was stopped from going outside and I had

:13:02. > :13:07.to follow a lot of rules, But the priest and the devotees,

:13:08. > :13:13.they had already forecast something A massacre of the royal

:13:14. > :13:18.family occurred on the 1st The crown prince went on a rampage

:13:19. > :13:26.in the Royal Palace in Kathmandu, killing his parents,

:13:27. > :13:28.the king and queen, three of his siblings and

:13:29. > :13:30.several other people. The country was left

:13:31. > :13:37.shocked and traumatised. On the first day, I heard

:13:38. > :13:40.that the royal massacre happened. So my mum said that you really

:13:41. > :13:49.forecast a bad omen. Many Nepalese believe that this

:13:50. > :13:52.prediction was the goddess working The former kumaris rarely get

:13:53. > :14:02.together, but they share a belief that they all had a very special

:14:03. > :14:10.connection to the deity. Since we are like recognised

:14:11. > :14:13.as a goddess, we can feel the prayers and the feeling

:14:14. > :14:16.of the people, the faith of the people that made us

:14:17. > :14:23.so powerful and the power But all this comes to a grinding

:14:24. > :14:28.halt the day a kumari I told my mother and she said that

:14:29. > :14:36.now you are no longer a kumari. The feeling was a mixture of both

:14:37. > :14:52.curiosity and sadness. Sadness because I was no longer

:14:53. > :14:54.a goddess, and curiosity to join in the new world, and how I would be

:14:55. > :14:59.able to cope with the society As a new goddess arrives,

:15:00. > :15:02.the old one must leave. Although this former kumaris only

:15:03. > :15:06.about 11 or 12 years old, she must endure a very

:15:07. > :15:08.public rejection. The purity dies away

:15:09. > :15:11.when you experience your period. The way I put it is,

:15:12. > :15:21.where there is God, women Be at the temples, be it

:15:22. > :15:24.the religious practice in their own home, in the kitchen,

:15:25. > :15:27.because in the kitchen, the food is there and if a woman

:15:28. > :15:31.with a period touch is the food, She has to sit away from the others

:15:32. > :15:36.and then have her food. The kumari must begin her

:15:37. > :15:39.transformation from holy goddess She must learn to make friends,

:15:40. > :15:43.walk around town and go to school, And adjusting to this fall

:15:44. > :15:47.from grace can be hard. It was suddenly a world

:15:48. > :15:50.turned upside down for me. The morning you were worshipped

:15:51. > :15:53.as a goddess, and the next When I went to school for the first

:15:54. > :16:02.time, my friends were very curious They asked me questions like,

:16:03. > :16:06.do you feel some powers? Do you find it that you find a lot

:16:07. > :16:10.of friends a lot faster No, my friends were

:16:11. > :16:14.scared of me also. And the teacher used

:16:15. > :16:19.to bring all the friends It must be so kind of weird

:16:20. > :16:28.because all these people used to come and worship

:16:29. > :16:31.you and you didn't talk to them, And now you're in the

:16:32. > :16:35.same school as them. Just a two-minute walk

:16:36. > :16:43.was quite difficult for me. I needed my parents to hold my

:16:44. > :16:47.hands, and I felt that the streets The tradition of living

:16:48. > :16:56.goddesses is one of secrets It's believed that anyone marrying

:16:57. > :17:04.a former kumari will die Yet many have married

:17:05. > :17:12.without incident. But there is one rumour that may

:17:13. > :17:15.have some truth to it. This is done every year

:17:16. > :17:20.after being a kumari. The kumari is taken to the temple

:17:21. > :17:29.in the dark room, to do this. Human rights organisations have been

:17:30. > :17:32.trying for many years to get the practice of living

:17:33. > :17:34.goddesses regulated, because they think it can

:17:35. > :17:40.harm young children, That is undoubtedly against

:17:41. > :17:44.the rights of these little children. I mean, they are just four years

:17:45. > :17:49.old, five years old. That leaves a huge mental scar that

:17:50. > :17:54.affects their life forever. Maybe that's one reason

:17:55. > :17:57.they probably don't want to talk Whatever the reality

:17:58. > :18:03.of their experiences, most former kumaris only

:18:04. > :18:05.have good things to say, I miss my life so much,

:18:06. > :18:12.being a goddess. You are more evolved

:18:13. > :18:15.than the normal child in a family. Yet you are a well-known person

:18:16. > :18:18.in society and the whole nation Yet Shaneera is keen to start

:18:19. > :18:34.a support group for ex-goddesses, to help them adjust

:18:35. > :18:56.to their mortal life. These former kumaris have managed

:18:57. > :18:59.to build a good life themselves. They have an education, jobs,

:19:00. > :19:01.and some are married. But one kumari has not

:19:02. > :19:06.been able to move on. This kumari I'm about to meet

:19:07. > :19:13.is very different to the others. She was selected when

:19:14. > :19:15.she was two years old, So almost all her life,

:19:16. > :19:22.she's been a kumari. We have a rule that

:19:23. > :19:25.a kumari leaves her status And in her case, she never

:19:26. > :19:30.have the menstruation. But they kumari is more

:19:31. > :19:36.like a little girl, it is preferred And that is why under

:19:37. > :19:43.pressure from the committee, we had to have another

:19:44. > :19:47.official kumari. But she said that I would be staying

:19:48. > :19:51.within the same rules And that is why our people

:19:52. > :19:57.still believe in her hand they do It was forecast at

:19:58. > :20:05.the time of her birth. There was a priest and he forecast

:20:06. > :20:09.that she would be the long life Doesn't your auntie want to start

:20:10. > :20:14.a mortal life, a normal life? No.

:20:15. > :20:17.Why not? She could have left her status

:20:18. > :20:23.when she was officially dismissed. Why?

:20:24. > :20:30.Why is she so keen? Maybe because she still believes

:20:31. > :20:39.that she has the goddess in her. Some human rights organisations

:20:40. > :20:41.worry about the effects years of being a living goddess can

:20:42. > :20:52.have on young girls. They applied to Nepal's

:20:53. > :20:54.Supreme Court to declare The court declined to do so,

:20:55. > :20:58.but did ask for reforms. Campaigners, however,

:20:59. > :21:00.still assert the girls The rights that I'm talking

:21:01. > :21:07.about is basically the right to go to school, to learn with other kids,

:21:08. > :21:11.to grow in the same manner as other kids, to make sure that

:21:12. > :21:14.if they have a health issue, it health problem, they are allowed

:21:15. > :21:18.to go to hospitals, for medical checkups, to the hospitals,

:21:19. > :21:20.and not that... Because in some systems they are not

:21:21. > :21:24.allowed to go to hospitals, the doctors have to come

:21:25. > :21:28.to the kumari house. But they can do little,

:21:29. > :21:30.because neither the community, nor the former goddesses

:21:31. > :21:32.themselves, are complaining. But this evolution may be overtaken

:21:33. > :21:45.by the demands of modern living. This kumari tradition is very unique

:21:46. > :21:48.and it is a very unique culture, and that is why I believe it

:21:49. > :21:51.has to be preserved. But I'm afraid that the candidates

:21:52. > :21:55.who apply for this kumari tradition I went to see the selection process

:21:56. > :22:01.and I was very sad to see that only So only two girls were volunteered

:22:02. > :22:13.by their family to become kumaris. And how many were there before,

:22:14. > :22:17.like when you were a kumari? The tradition of goddesses goes

:22:18. > :22:24.back many generations, But it seems like fewer

:22:25. > :22:31.and fewer parents are willing to sacrifice their daughter's

:22:32. > :22:33.carefree childhood for the chance Even if they think it offers

:22:34. > :23:11.a link to the divine. Yesterday was a disappointingly

:23:12. > :23:16.cloudy day, but it was not cloudy We had some sunshine,

:23:17. > :23:20.and the best of this was flying