Meeting the Living Goddess
There has been a rush of recent press over the visit of a Nepali Kumari (living goddess) to the United States. Sajani Shakya, who is ten years old, is considered a living incarnation of the goddess Taleju Bhawani (who in turn can be considered an incarnation of Durga or Kali) and will remain so until she reaches puberty.
Sajani Shakya
“Even by the standards of the luminaries who sweep through Washington, the little girl in front of Lafayette Elementary School almost six miles north of the White House was special. Politicians, power brokers and the occasional celebrities who come through town hope to b respected and maybe, in a childlike place in their grown-up hearts, genuinely liked. Sajani Shakya, 10, is worshipped. In Nepal, Sajani is a living goddess, one of about a dozen such goddesses in her homeland who are considered earthly manifestations of the Hindu goddess Kali. Sajani arrived in Washington on Monday to help promote a British documentary about the living goddesses of the Katmandu Valley and to see a bit of the United States. She is the first of the Nepalese living goddesses to come to the United States because the girls live mostly in seclusion.”
Shakya is one of several living goddesses profiled in a new documentary entitled “Living Goddesses” (MySpace Profile). The film looks at the tensions faced by the living goddesses during the 2005-2006 conflicts between King Gyanendra and the Maoist movement (who were eventually backed by the major political parties in Nepal), and wonders at their fate in the newly secularized Nepal.
“The film was made from 2005 to 2006, and it captures a Nepal that was roiled by protests against the monarchy and demands for establishing a democracy. The same people who took part in protests against the king also worship Sajani, Mr. Hawker said. But as Nepal modernizes and changes, Ms. Whitaker noted, parents are less keen for their daughters to become goddesses. “The potency of the cult diminishes,” she said.”
The future of the living goddesses remains uncertain. Some feel the practice is abusive, and have called for the abolishment of Kumari. There is also the possibility that the practice could be ended if the monarchy is completely dissolved in upcoming elections. Others (including the parents of Sajani Shakya) are attempting to find a middle path where the Kumari receive a full education and live as normally as possible outside their ceremonial duties.
“Visiting Washington this week while the film, “Living Goddess,” screened at the Silverdocs documentary film festival, Sajani greets visitors at her posh hotel room wearing pink pedal pusher pants and a white T-shirt “When not doing her religious duties, she’s a normal kid,” said Marc Hawker, the movie’s cinematographer … At home, Sajani wears a school uniform, does homework, and plays tag with her friends in the courtyard in front of her house.”
You can view a trailer for the “Living Goddess” documentary at their MySpace page, where they also have reprinted several mentions in the American press concerning Sajani Shakya’s visit to America.
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