2-year-old girl chosen in Nepal as new living goddess worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists
![[Image: Kumi.avif]](https://i.postimg.cc/NFT1mXHL/Kumi.avif)
Kathmandu, Nepal —A two-year-old girl chosen as Nepal’s new living goddess was carried by family members from their home in a Kathmandu alley to a temple palace Tuesday during the country’s longest and most significant Hindu festival.
Aryatara Shakya, at 2 years and 8 months, was chosen as the new Kumari or “virgin goddess,” replacing the incumbent who is considered by tradition to become a mere mortal upon reaching puberty.
Kumaris are chosen from the Shakya clans of the Newar community, indigenous to the Kathmandu valley, and revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in the predominantly Hindu nation.
The girls are selected between the ages of 2 and 4 and are required to have unblemished skin, hair, eyes and teeth. They should not be afraid of the dark.
Tuesday marked the eighth day of Dashain, a 15-day celebration of the victory of good over evil. Offices and schools were closed as people celebrated with their families.
Family, friends and devotees paraded the new Kumari through the streets of Kathmandu before entering the temple palace which will be her home for several years.
Devotees lined up to touch the girls’ feet with their foreheads, the highest sign of respect among Hindus in the Himalayan nation, and offered her flowers and money. The new Kumari will bless devotees including the president on Thursday.
“My wife during pregnancy dreamed that she was a goddess and we knew she was going to be someone very special,” said her father Ananta Shakya.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/30/asia/...s-intl-hnk
Kathmandu, Nepal —A two-year-old girl chosen as Nepal’s new living goddess was carried by family members from their home in a Kathmandu alley to a temple palace Tuesday during the country’s longest and most significant Hindu festival.
Aryatara Shakya, at 2 years and 8 months, was chosen as the new Kumari or “virgin goddess,” replacing the incumbent who is considered by tradition to become a mere mortal upon reaching puberty.
Kumaris are chosen from the Shakya clans of the Newar community, indigenous to the Kathmandu valley, and revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in the predominantly Hindu nation.
The girls are selected between the ages of 2 and 4 and are required to have unblemished skin, hair, eyes and teeth. They should not be afraid of the dark.
Tuesday marked the eighth day of Dashain, a 15-day celebration of the victory of good over evil. Offices and schools were closed as people celebrated with their families.
Family, friends and devotees paraded the new Kumari through the streets of Kathmandu before entering the temple palace which will be her home for several years.
Devotees lined up to touch the girls’ feet with their foreheads, the highest sign of respect among Hindus in the Himalayan nation, and offered her flowers and money. The new Kumari will bless devotees including the president on Thursday.
“My wife during pregnancy dreamed that she was a goddess and we knew she was going to be someone very special,” said her father Ananta Shakya.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/30/asia/...s-intl-hnk
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
