Living Child Goddess in Nepal | BBC Our World | SAHAR ZAND

[Music] worship them feared by thousands this young girl is in living goddess the latest in a long line of goddesses of memories that goes back centuries that was the deal Allah Akbar sort of of young mother she's confined to the temple and has little contact with the outside world [Applause] she can't speak to anyone and her feet must not touch the ground but puberty is the end of her reign and she must leave the temple the worrying you were worshipped as a courtesan and next day it's nothing for some the shock is too much and they refused to leave it's been 60 years doesn't your auntie want to start a mortal life a normal life now campaigners are asking if becoming a goddess is in the best interest of Nepal's children that you use a huge mental scar that affects their life forever [Applause] [Music] this is patate one of Nepal's largest cities and a focal point of an ancient and controversial tradition tonight is very special hundreds of people have gathered in the streets hoping to see someone they believe is holy and can perform miracles someone who is both feared and worshipped this 8 year old girl is who they're all been waiting revered by thousands she's considered in living goddess a Kumari [Music] there are even people waiting for her outside of the temple to give her operation before she's taken inside unique Apache Acharya was selected to become a goddess at the age of six and she will remain one until the day of her first period she rarely goes out in public when she does her feet must not touch the ground in order to preserve her godliness [Music] that's where the rest of the rituals are gonna happen tonight behind closed doors and she will come out a few hours later [Music] [Applause] [Music] Nepal is a predominantly Hindu country but with a significant Buddhist population the two religions have coexisted and intermingled for centuries they share priests and temples and they both worship the Kumari today is the eighth day of design a festival in which the goddess Durga is worshipped in her many forms the Kumari is believed to be a living embodiment of one of those forms that is the window to the living goddesses room that's where she's sitting and that's where she gets worshipped and served by everybody I'm having to wait until she's ready to see me because today she's very very busy maybe because it's one of the biggest Nepalese festivals today she lives here in the Kumari Palace and receives visitors in this room she's not allowed to speak to anyone outside of her family as long as she's a living goddess and that includes me [Music] we're waiting for a lady in her 60s and she was a Kumari over 50 years ago I'm very curious to find out how things were for her when she was a Living Goddess oh I think I think she said oh hello namaste nice to meet you Saha nun in Maya Shaka became a Kumari at the age of four and remained one until she was 12 years old this is a picture of her when she was a Kumari here she said she was around five years old sad words they do Ali Akbar shut up what one over five years old you were so young did you not miss your parents was it not difficult to be away from your parents baila baila was a multi-millionaire I was away on a balloonism bundle my mom away doesn't know anybody as a small child she was taken away from her parents and brought to live in the Kumari palace though they could visit they couldn't take her home so the young Kumari was brought up by priests and caretakers [Music] the role of a living goddess is to protect our city and the tradition is believed to have started sometime around the 12th century there are only three official Kumari's in the whole country and they're all in the Kathmandu Valley [Music] the living goddesses of Pathan have always come from the same small Buddhist community of about 115 eligible families shanira was a goddess for 10 years from the age of five until she got her period at the age of 15 since Kumari is regarded as a goddess she's not supposed to be called by her name this is called their measure that means goddess even by my mom and dad had to perform a special offering every day [Music] she has to be kept pure in everywhere and she has to be dealt with respect but the goddesses aren't just respected they're worshipped although Kumar is in the past have been as young as one and a half years old they're expected to act as a link between the worshipers and the gods I've heard a lot of prayers everyone they do come with an offering and then just pray for it official people they would come to come for job someone for a visa flight for passing an exam for just prosperity for success did I ever bring alcohol because I knew that they suffer but then as a child like you have to accept these offerings and you have to you know consume a part of it how was that when you just just take a sip on your lip in it it's not necessarily a condiment it's just some showing that you're accepting it not easy you're not forced to drink it maybe because of the power of God is you don't feel dizzy I never drank before outside of my throne [Music] like other Kumari's shanira's childhood was very different to that of most other children her age I didn't have friends because people would come and treat me as a goddess they would just come bow down and take blessings and then go so they were not like friends but I have two younger brothers so I used to play with them my brother's very mentally prepared that she is a goddess and you know you have to be playing with her consent and we just play indoor games and not like touching is not allowed and neither is moving around or laughing or crying or even smiling The Living Goddess is expected to sit motionless and expressionless for hours while being worshipped a challenge for any child even when daddy is right there that's why a key criteria for becoming a Kumari is calmness even the girl from my give me the courage come on what's a a sanity no matter City Ratner is part of the committee trust with choosing the Kumari's he's been involved in selecting the last eight communicate that sincerity is a Kumar a sushi gentleman who meets a banana who buys a new car you understand you too you know your uncle what a strong will to neaten it jiggle charger and potato wedges and ginger so I will Tony we flow of animal when a new Kumari is needed eligible families are invited to bring their daughters to this very court yard for a Kumari edition the selected go is then taken to the royal priest for further inspections before a final decision is made guru on underneath Janka genic what hey I was only in for cookie forgive me kun do la Cucaracha no your doula oh you're focusing we were had uncle Who am I had now you're cooking you know I remember being carried to the Royal Forest house and there was a wife were asking something and she was she was checking me my hands and everything she was shaking me and then she put a tika on my head that declaring that she is going to be the next cry becoming a goddess is immediate tonometer nobody can buy a budget no no but you're not working up for the asset beaucoup marine with a psychology psychology about his son on philosophy to Vega ok again are you stuck together for the unit energy module a token token except 'majide for the other better than drink about tabula but she didn't matter Oh burn it and it's such a presentation article India the girls lives changed dramatically and so do their families about how you be biggest not knew I was a girl Zoomer doubly as you jayapala Murray baby something as you carve our Juice I am new at home Annie material food as in english' food Al Ali fini put away today L today a lien only person here being moved away attorney we okay be okay okay Sharon Malone a lien only 104 I see Ileana happy BTW i will change the table I was killed of my Salmons manyanya erectus similar financially the family gets through with a bit of help from the government a monthly allowance rent and some other expenses offerings paid by visitors are another source of income [Music] Santa to do what you double you they are gonna be a junior debt democracy direct them a little weasel no matter how young the goddesses are everything they do is seen as significant my mom tells me that I used to cry a lot 24 hours a day for four days continuously weeping weeping and weeping she consoled me with the toys and she asked me what's wrong with you and she thought that because I was stopped from going outside and before I had to follow a lot of rules that is why she must be crying she was thinking in that way but to the priests and the devotees they had already forecasted something bad is going to happen something bad did happen a massacre of the royal family occurred on the 1st of June 2001 Crown Prince Dipendra went on a rampage in the royal palace in Kathmandu killing his parents the king and queen three of his siblings and several other people the country was left shocked and traumatized on the first day I heard that the world Massacre happened and on that day I stopped crying so so my mom said that she really you know forecasted a bad omen many Nepalese believed that this prediction was the goddess working through the young girl the former Kumar is rarely get together but they share a belief that they all had a very special connection to the deity since we are like we can feel their pairs and it's a feeling of the people States of the people that made us so powerful and the power within our soldiers but oh this comes to a grinding halt the day a Kumari has her first period I told my mother and she said that now you're no longer tomorrow the feeling was a mixture of both curiosity and the sadness sadness because I was no longer a goddess and curiosity to join in the new world and how I would be able to cope with the society and all that as a new goddess arrives the old one must leave carry for the last time though this former Kumari is probably only about 11 or 12 years old she must enjoy a very public ejection the purity dies away when you expedience repeaters the way I put it is you know where there is God women repeaters come through there be the temples be the religious practice at the in their own home in the kitchen because in the kitchen the food is there and if you a woman with a period touches the food and the food becomes impure she has to sit away from the others and then have a food the Kumari must begin her transformation from holy goddess to mortal teenager she must learn to make friends walk around town and go to school all for the first time and adjusting to this fall from grace can be hard it was suddenly girls turning upside down slowly right the brain you were worshipped as a courtesan and next day it's not going to make you smile like they ask me questions like do you feel some powers do you find it that you find a lot of friends a lot faster because you are an ex Kumari or no like my first killer of meals yeah because I was a Kumari and then the teacher used to bring all the friends man whom they're worshiping and wow this must be so kind of weird because all these people used to come and worship you and you didn't tell him did you obviously as a Kumari I know you're in the same school as them yeah I also face a lot of problem going just a two minute walk was a it was quite difficult for me I needed my parents to hold my hands and I feel that the streets were you know the tradition of living goddesses is one full of secrets and hidden rituals and superstition takes root it's believed that anyone marrying a former Kumari will die within six months yet many have married without incident but there is one that may have some human rights organizations have been trying for many years to get the practice of living goddesses regulated because they think it can harm young children not able to assert their rights that is undoubtedly against the rights of these little children I mean there's just four years old five years old I mean they've never been they don't know anything about this and that leaves a huge mental scar that affects their life forever and maybe that's probably one reason they don't want to talk about it as well whatever the reality of their experiences most former Kumari's only have good things to say at least publicly I miss my life so much many others you are more above than normal child in a family yet you are around person in a society and a whole world full of nation of you as a parent you are living a life as a princess our leaders what else we do expert yet Shanna is keen to start a support group for X goddesses to help them adjust to the mortal life I want to do something for the X Kamara's like some counseling to the Korean Kumari that how their life would change and giving them basic trainings like maybe music or ours and also make extra classes of presentations these former Kumari's have managed to build a good life for themselves they have an education jobs and some are married but one Kumari has not been able to move on she was elected when she was 2 years old so almost 6 years 60 years so almost all her life has been a Kumari in matter we have a little that Kumari leaves her status when she first met streets and in her case she she'd ever had the menstruation and that is why she remained Kumari but Kumari is more like a little girl she preferred to be a little girl and that is why on to today Garman pressure or the pressure from the committee we had to have another official Kumari and but she said that I would be staying within the same rules as my own wish and that is why people still believe in her and they become for train it was forecasted to back to the time of her birth there was a priest and he broadcasted that she was going to be the wrong life Kumari so maybe it was destined doesn't your auntie want to start a more to life a normal life no why not I don't know that is why she chose to think of my even she could have left her status when she was officially dismissed but she trusted this life why why is she boy she's so cured maybe because sister believes that she has the goddess [Music] some human rights organizations worried about the effect years of being and living goddess can have on young girls they applied to Nepal Supreme Court to declare the practice child labor the court declined to do so but did ask for reforms campaign is however still assert the girls are denied their rights the rights that I'm talking about is basically the right to go to school to learn with other kids to grow in us in the same manner as other kids to make sure that if they have a health issue they have a health problem they allowed to go to hospitals they are allowed to go to medical check-ups into the hospitals and and not that because in some in some systems they are not allowed to go to hospitals the doctors have to come to the Kamara house but they can do little because neither the community nor the former goddesses themselves are complaining [Applause] [Music] but this evolution may be overtaken by the demands of modern living this Kumari tradition is very unique and it is a very unique culture and that's why I believe it has to be preserved but I'm afraid that the candidates who apply for this Kumari tradition is very small number of people I went to see this election president has very sad to see that only two candidates were appearing only two girls yeah we're volunteered by their family here we come Aries and how many was there before like when you were a Kumari oh I was there were seven girls [Music] the tradition of goddesses goes back many generations and it does have its admirers but it seems like fewer and fewer parents are willing to sacrifice their daughters carefree childhood for the chance to becoming a goddess even if they think it offers a link to the divine [Music] you

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Keywords: Sahar Zand, Sahar, Zand, Sahar Zand BBC, Our World, Living Goddess, Nepal, Patan, Kumari, tradition, kathmandu, Magic, WTF, Wow, Human Rights, Woman Rights, buddhism, سحر زند, بی بی سی, Fashion, Religion, Culture, mental health, BBC 100 Women, Documentary, Travel, Cute, Iranian girl, women, girls, feminism, girl gang, female, documentaries, interviews, culture, lifestyle, exclusive, journalism, religion, RED, SPIRITUALITY, goddess, honour, festival, temple, kumari goddess, god, Himalayan, BBC, BBC News, BBC World

Id: 6-dLjePVK4E

Length: 23min 7sec (1387 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 15 2018