11-year-old Sajani Shakya was worshipped as a Kumari or “living goddess” for over nine years in the ancient town of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu. For centuries the three major cities of the Kathmandu valley and a few smaller towns have upheld a unique tradition whereby a girl is chosen in infancy to be a Kumari. The chosen child is considered an incarnation of the powerful deity Kali and consequently revered by the Hindus and Buddhists.

Dipak Pandey, a senior official of the state-run Trust Corporation that oversees Nepal’s cultural affairs, confirmed that Shakya had relinquished her position because her family wanted to perform their own religious ritual, a traditional symbolic wedding, that would require her to give up her divine status.

International controversy

This isn’t the first time that Sajani Shakya has hit the headlines. In 2007, she was criticised in her homeland after travelling to the United States to promote a film about the ancient Kumari tradition. Authorities threatened to strip her of her title but public support for Shakya forced them to reconsider.

This time there will be no reprieve for the outgoing Kumari. The elaborate search has already begun in Bhaktapur to find a new living goddess. And it seems Sajani herself won’t be happy about her early retirement. Speaking in Washington last year, she rightly predicted that she wouldn’t be as well treated when she stopped being a living goddess.