Paper short abstract:

The living goddess Kumari, as a form of the tutelary deity of Malla kings, played a legitimating role for the Nepalese monarchy. A case that brought the Kumari before the court emphasized the humanity and the rights of the child. What is left of her divine status and role in the secular republic?

Paper long abstract:

Worshipping virgin girls as the goddess Kumari has long been symbolically central to the culture of Newars of the Kathmandu valley, Nepal. This cult has also served to legitimating Hindu kings: mythological accounts relate the origin of Kumari as a form taken by Taleju, the tutelary deity of the ancient Malla kings, to maintain a relationship with the king. This relationship was appropriated by the subsequent Shah dynasty. Despite the demise of Shah monarchy in 2006, the Kumari did not lose her status under the new secular republic: since 2009, the Kumari has regularly blessed the President during her main festival. The Kumari tradition is challenged by modernization and secularisation, and in 2005 was confronted by a petition from a human rights lawyer, who brought Kumari before the court as a human child deprived of her rights. The verdict in 2008 gave primacy to legally defined human rights over traditional divine status. The paper will respond to the question whether Kumari has lost her status as a powerful goddess after this case and will show how her divine nature has been negotiated inside and outside the court.