The Nepalese are probably the only people on the planet who have a deity who lives not in heaven or in the subtle world, but together with the Nepalese on Earth.
According to the ancient religious radiation here, the goddess Taleju, also known as Durga, constantly takes bodily incarnation in little girls called kumari. In Nepal, such virgins are periodically chosen who have thirty-two signs of perfection. From early childhood to puberty, the kumari bring happiness and prosperity to their people, and then, left by the divine essence, they return to ordinary life.
Becoming a kumari is a difficult test and at the same time a great honor for a Nepalese girl. This title is almost always awarded to children from the aristocratic caste, who are taught from the cradle to look, speak and, most importantly, think. At the same time in the Himalayan state there are about ten kumari. Their whole existence is aimed at serving their compatriots - the suffering ones constantly come to the girls with prayers and requests, who want to look into the eyes of the earthly goddess and see Taleja in them.
To become a kumari, a girl must be pretty, and her pedigree and horoscope must be perfect. The child must be completely healthy, including without any birthmarks on the body. The goddess Taleju should not bleed, so the kumari are protected like the apple of an eye, not giving her the opportunity to prick or cut herself. Nevertheless, at the age of ten or fifteen, when the girl's menstrual cycle begins, she is released from sacred duties and begins to be perceived by fellow countrymen as an ordinary person, and in her place a new lucky woman is immediately chosen, carrying divine light.
The earth goddess is like a slave in a golden cage
Kumari live in separate rooms, where an endless stream of prayers rushes. The crowned girl spends her first night in the company of severed goat and bull heads - it is believed that such sacrifices are simply necessary for the goddess for her complete deification.
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For the following years, the kumari lived in her room alone. The child wears only red clothes and does not wear shoes. Thirteen times a year, the kumari leaves his abode, but is unable to walk on the ground - the girl is moved exclusively on a stretcher. Undoubtedly, such a sedentary lifestyle is bad for the health of a young Nepali. She can engage in a kind of physical exercise only in her room and only alone, while at this time, as a rule, she is supposed to sleep.
Universal attention and adoration are the only benefits of such a difficult life. Although any desire of the kumari is a law for her servants, the strict framework of divine prescriptions makes the range of entertainment for such a girl practically zero. She cannot ask for a TV, a computer, or at least a kitten, and therefore languishes from boredom the whole, the most interesting for the developing consciousness, a decade or even more. However, today the kumari at least have the opportunity to use the services of private teachers. Previously, education for carriers of the divine essence of Taleju was prohibited.
Upon reaching puberty, the girl returns to the people, where socialization, habituation and work await her. Marriage for the former Kumari is a big question, because among the Nepalese there is an opinion that ex-goddesses cannot become wives. They say that they bring only suffering to their spouses and may well send them to their forefathers, unintentionally sending a disease or an accident to the chosen one.