There are several legends who mean to explain the origin of this tradition, I will tell you one (the most popular as it seems). Goddess Taleju used to visit the King Jayaprakash Malla every night to play tripasa –a dice game-, with the condition that he kept silent about their meetings. One night, the king's wife followed him to his chamber in order to find out who he was with so often. The king's wife saw Taleju and the goddess very angered, told the king that, if he wants to see her again or have her protect his country, he'd have to search for her among the Newari (Shakya) community, as she would be incarnated as a little girl among them. Hoping to make amends with his patroness, the king left the palace in search of the young girl who was possessed by Taleju's spirit. And that is how the Kumari legend started.
Finding the Living Goddess is not an easy affair, though.
According to the traditions of Vajrayana sect of Mahayana Buddhism, the girls must be between 4 and 7 years old, and belong to the Shakya clan of the Nepalese Newari community. Among many other requisits, she should also have an ‘appropriate’ horoscope, up to 32 attributes of physical perfection, including color of eyes, “thighs like those of a deer and a neck like a conch shell”. One part of the selection is pretty hardcore for a kid, and is as follows: “if the blood-loving Taleju is to reside in her, she must not be repelled at the sight of gore. And to test her fearlessness, the child is pushed into an odiferous room with 108 decapitated buffalos laid out in a sea of blood. Men wearing horrid masks dance among them in an effort to frighten the child, who walks clockwise through this scene of carnage. If she cries out, faints or shows any sign of hysteria, she is immediately disqualified and the next candidate is brought forward for consideration”. The real goddess is the one who can support this.
Preeti Shakya, having just learned to walk, was found the be the next one. Hereafter, she was taken from her family and installed in her royal chambers. She will not talk to ordinary mortals. She lives a confined life, only coming out of her palace three or four times a year. Tourists come to their palace and if they are lucky and patient she may come to her window, where you can see her. Big dark eyes, serious. Few seconds, and back in. Photographs not allowed. (and many times disappointment from tourists who don't get the chance to see her!)
i got this photo in one of kumari's walks outside of her house. It was seto machendranath festival, she has to be there and when she is out of home, photos are allowed. Her feet can't touch the ground so that is why a man is carrying her.The Kumari’s godhood comes to an end with her first menstruation, because it is believed that on reaching puberty the Kumari turns human. That day she will pass from all these cares and decorations to her parent’s residence who knows where. After playing God for the last 10 years how would a girl feel? “As soon as I began to menstruate, there was a huge flutter in the palace, and I thought I had done something very wrong,' remembers Anita Shakya, whose Kumarihood lasted 6 years. `The priests went into a huddle and then informed me I was no longer a goddess and that I had to go back to my parents. I could not understand what was happening. I did not want to go. I was very sad.” Uncomfortable in normal society, uneducated, and with no marriage at sight. The superstition that a Kumari's husband dies early has taken firm root in the Nepalese society, and few men are likely to ask for her hand. She will spend the rest of her days trying to figure out the strange hand fate had dealt her.
Facing freedom will definitely not be easy.
Today's Kumari is perhaps relatively lucky. Under quite new arrangements, living goddesses nowadays are all entitled to a formal education with a tutor of their choice.
Thank god –or goddess- some things change sometimes.
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