'Living goddess' of Nepal gives up divine role

CHENNAI, India (RNS) — A young Nepali girl who is worshipped by many Buddhists and Hindus as a kumari, or “living goddess,” has renounced her divine role following a request from her family, an official in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, said March 2.

Sajani Shakya, 11, who was revered for nine years as the kumari of the ancient temple town of Bhaktapur, near Kathmandu, “is no more a kumari,” said Dipak Pandey, a senior official of the state-run corporation that oversees cultural affairs.

Pandey said Sajani’s family wanted to perform their own religious rituals, which required her to give up her divine position and rejoin the family.

Sajani, one of the three most respected kumaris in Nepal, made international headlines last year when she paid a 39-day visit to the United States. She toured Washington, D.C., met Nepalis living in the U.S., toured a school, and met some American children – the first kumari to do so.