On Monday, we reported that religious authorities in Nepal are searching for the next Kumari.

Today, we bring you an update from Afp.google.com:

A Nepali tradition of locking a young virgin girl in a palace and worshipping her as a “living Goddess” has been dealt a blow with the country’s Supreme Court ruling she has the right to go to school. The court said there was no justification for the specially chosen pre-pubescent girl, known as the Kumari, to be subjected to a practice that dates back centuries.

The ruling comes barely three months after Nepali lawmakers abolished the country’s 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, who received annual blessings from the Kumari in a ceremony designed to underpin the legitimacy of the royals. The court’s verdict was prompted by a complaint from local lawyers that keeping a young girl cooped up in an ornate but decrepit palace in Kathmandu’s medieval quarter was a violation of her rights.

But it was not immediately clear whether the court’s decision would herald the end of the tradition, given that the Kumari’s aura is to a large part dependent on her total separation from the outside world.

“This is not good news. In any case, she is a Goddess so how can court rulings apply?” asserted Rajan Maharajan, the vice president of the committee that looks after the Kumari and her palace. He also said the girl’s rights were not being violated because “her teacher comes to the Kumari Palace every day, and she has three hours a day when she can meet people.” “We do not keep her prisoner,” he said of the current Kumari. “We will ask the Goddess if she wants to go outside more, and if she wants, she can go, but I don’t think she feels comfortable leaving the palace.”

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•