I thought there was just one living goddess in Nepal but on my recent visit to Kathmandu, I found out that there are so many. I visited two of them. First, the Kumari of Kathmandu Durbar Square, which online sources suggest is the leader of all the other Kumaris. Second, I visited Patan kumari, which is currently the oldest living goddess at 11 years of age.

I didn’t know what to expect. I went out of curiosity. I did feel some energy dynamics and both the kumaris seemed to have a similar energy footprint. That was interesting.

Kathmandu Durbar Square Kumari

She appears on a window above the courtyard, twice a day, once from 11 AM to 12 PM and once in the evening sometime. The guide who was trying to get hired mentioned, “rest of the time, she is busy studying and doing other chores in life. Her studies are important because once she hits puberty, she needs to step down as a living goddess and mix into society as a ‘normal girl’.”

How ‘normal’ she will be in her life after being a Living Goddess for so long is obviously a question to ponder on.

I stood in this Kumari courtyard taking in the surroundings. There are pancha buddha idols at one side of the house which can be seen by peering into the wooden mesh. There was some form of a yantra with a star symbol etched into the floor.

I was free to click photographs, until the Kumari arrived, at which point we all were asked to stand attentively with hands in Namaste posture. “The kumari might stay for 1 hour sometimes”, told the guide. But, that day, as a few devotees stood there taking her darshan and me simply looking in curiosity and paying attention to the energy dynamics, the kumari hardly stayed for 5 minutes.

She seemed a bit haughty to me, but then I read online that if she smiles, it is very bad luck. I think I need to reconsider what kind of bhaav (expression) a deity would have. Social conditioning has made us think that “smiling” is like some holy grail. In all the photos, meetings, greetings we have to keep smiling. If we are not smiling, people will comment “what’s wrong”. Well, this is only social conditioning. Especially, to a deity, or possessed human, we should not extend similar expectations.

Thus, I now normalize myself to the haughty / bored expression of the kumari or living goddess.

Jai Devi!  

Patan Kumari, the Oldest Living Goddess 

The Patan kumari temple courtyard looked interesting with a large temple in the middle and various vajras and such structures in front of it. However, the kumari was sitting in a smaller room on the side. There were personal clothes drying in that corner. It looked like an unkempt living area of a family. Even the bathroom was overflowing with clumps of hair and such sort of a mess. Strange. 
 
I had to ring a bell to intimate those inside that I was here. If the goddess deemed it, I could go up and see her. Being solo, I felt a little nervous as to what I was supposed to do during the 1-1 audience with the goddess.  

Well, the kumari’s mother was there to guide me. The system was to bow to the Kumari. Her feet were on a plate filled with some currency notes. As I bowed down, she flicked me on my forehead. I looked up at her, she was chewing something like a gum and seemed to be a little bored.  

I felt a very similar energy signature to that in the Kathmandu Durbar Square kumari courtyard earlier on. Very interesting, I guess, all these Kumaris are the vehicles for the same main deity. Some say it is Durga or Taleju (Tulja) Bhavani. 
 
The Patan kumari, at 11yrs of age is the oldest one of the current living goddesses.  

While this was an interesting experience, I didn’t see any reason to go for a third one that I came across in Panauti, while exploring that heritage town to the East of Kathmandu.  

Have you experienced the kumari? What was it like?  

Usually, I am very cautious about putting myself in random energy situations like this. But I am currently in a wild streak of throwing myself into new energy situations of deities and spiritual clans with elan… Kathmandu is a great place to do this!!  Stay tuned for more blogs on my time in Kathmandu region, Nepal.