Living Goddess Gives Up Status to Star in Movie

Apparently 10 year-old Sajani Shakya has been demoted to a simple human after breaking tradition and leaving her country.

The once living goddess, or “Kumari”, is one of three goddesses from Napal who are widely worshiped by Hindus and Buddhists.

The selection process for Kumari is quite strict.

Eligible girls are Buddhists from the Newar Shakya caste of silver and goldsmiths. She must be in excellent health, never have shed blood or been afflicted by any diseases, be without blemish and must not have yet lost any teeth. Girls who pass these basic eligibility requirements are examined for the battis lakshanas, or ‘thirty-two perfections’ of a goddess. Some of these are poetically listed as such:

• A neck like a conch shell
• A body like a banyan tree
• Eyelashes like a cow
• Thighs like a deer
• Chest like a lion
• Voice soft and clear as a duck’s

In addition to this, her hair and eyes should be very black, she should have dainty hands and feet, small and well-recessed sexual organs and a set of twenty teeth.

The film makers are saddened by the news and claim they had no idea that the Kumari were not allowed to leave their country.

By Aki Nakimura on 11-07-2007