Calls to kill off living goddess: “During the past 300

years, a succession of small girls have been chosen to become kumari, or Nepal’s living goddess – a job that entails living in an ornate cloister, appearing at religious

festivals on a chariot and retiring at the age of 11 with a small pension.

But human rights activists are questioning the tradition now that the current kumari has reached puberty, obliging her to step down, and the search for her successor is

about to begin.

‘Nepal has ratified the convention on the rights of the child. It says that you can’t exploit children in the name of culture. And yet the kumari is forced to give up her childhood. She has to be a goddess instead. Her rights are being violated.’

Opponents of the tradition point to the “horrifying” ritual involved in selecting the kumari and the bizarre lifestyle the new goddess is expected to lead.

Potential kumaris, aged four or five, are taken to Kathmandu’s royal palace and locked in a darkened room filled with freshly severed buffalo heads.

The true kumari, who is believed to be an incarnation of the blood-loving goddess Durga, is said to identify herself by emerging unperturbed from the ordeal.” Guardian UK