Update on Sajani: Do You Really Want To Be A Goddess?
From Salon: Do you really want to be a goddess?
July 23, 2007:
I’m not sure if this is good news or bad news, but the BBC reports that one of Nepal’s living goddesses, Sajani Shakya, will not be stripped of her divine standing despite her recent trip to the United States.
Some background for anyone who doesn’t remember the brief mention of this Nepali practice from a couple of months ago in Broadsheet (reported on here in more detail by the Christian Science Monitor), here’s the basic background: There is a Nepalese tradition of selecting young girls as “kumaris” — living goddesses who supposedly have the power to protect Nepal’s king. The word “kumari” means “virgin,” and the moment a girl menstruates she is demoted from kumari goddess to mere mortal, and another toddler takes her place.
The process for selecting kumaris is complex. According to this recent article from the BBC, kumaris are picked when they’re between the ages of 2 and 4, are always from the same Buddhist clan and must hold 32 attributes, “including thighs like those of a deer and a neck like a conch shell.”
What does it mean to have a neck like a conch shell? I’m not sure. But what’s clear is that life as a Nepali goddess is not as fun as it seems it should be. Kumaris are separated from their actual parents, are forced to live in foster families and aren’t allowed out of their palaces more than three or four times a year. According to the BBC, their feet must never touch the ground without a red carpet beneath them and they “must follow certain rules, such as being kept in a dark room without crying.” And kumaris are denied formal education — which is bad enough on its own but becomes even more of a problem when the kumaris lose their goddess titles and must learn to live as “normal,” ungodly children.
Anyway, back to the news hook: As the BBC article mentioned above indicates, a Nepalese kumari named Sajani Shakya got in trouble for traveling to the United States to promote a documentary film. Elders started searching for a replacement kumari for Shakya, who was one of the top three kumaris in Nepal. But now Shakya’s back in Nepal and has been allowed to keep her title as a kumari, since she’s willing to undergo a “cleansing ceremony.”
The practice of selecting prepubescent girls to serve as goddesses, then stripping them of their title the moment they’re contaminated by menstruation, seems too messed up to warrant much discussion. But it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the kumari tradition, since, as the Christian Science Monitor reports, Nepal’s Supreme Court is investigating whether the tradition of kumaris has led to the exploitation of young girls. Maybe I’m missing something, but is that actually a question?
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Makes one wonder what the hell is involved in a “cleansing ceremony”.
Shudder at the thought. Poor little girl.
Wow. I find this heartbreaking on so many levels. What happens to these poor girls after they’re de-goddessed? Hell, like puberty isn’t hard enough. “I used to be a goddess. Now I’m a fifteen-year-old second grader.” Poor girls.
I am too ignorant to figure how goddesses fit into the Budhist scheme of things. Like DUG, I worry about the cleansing ceremony.
But I’m sure the good folks of Nepal are just as perplexed and horrified by our culture as we are by parts of theirs.
What was life like for the priestesses of the goddesses of Mesopotamia?
Did they get to “graduate” and get married and raise a family? Or once consecrated, they could never leave?
I’m fairly certain Mesopotamian goddesses held the position for life, and are still doing so today, under cover of disguise or in limbo.
Must be a horrible shock to go from Goddess status to lowly worshipper. I can’t imagine.
My understanding from the earlier coverage was that the goddesses enjoyed themselves (or so Sajani said), being worshipped. And that they are not thrown completely unprepared on the world, but are financially supported later. But how long this lasts and whether it’s an honor to marry one, I don’t know.
Better to be a goddess as a child and then become a normal human than be forced into perpetual virginity without one’s own choice, as a fair number of young children were in medieval Christianity (called oblates, they were dedicated by their parents, not their own consent, to convents and monasteries).
But I certainly agree that there’s something weird about transitory deity and definitely something anti-woman about menstruation being the cut off.
From what I remember of the article, they are allowed to marry as usual, but it seems to bring “bad luck” to the husband, so most end up single, poor and without enough government support to live above poverty.
I did read that she had been allowed to attend school though.
I’ve got that SF story based on the kumaris, and the news coverage of the real kumaris mixed up in my head. I’m not sure how many of the details the author took from real life, and how many he made up.
I would be very interested in seeing a non-fiction book about what happened to the kumaris after their goddess-hood. But even that could be an unwelcome invasion of privacy.
Purity, innocence and beauty are all worthwhile things to worship, I think, but this is very much a human sacrifice. Not of death, but of formative years. Most religions have substituted statues and flowers for this kind of thing.
BTW, there are many, many different varieties of Buddhism, just like there are many different flavors of Christianity. Some are very strict and hold women in a lot of contempt (in contradiction to the teachings of the Buddha), and others are rather lax, ask for a few “Namida Buddhas,” and are happy to send the departed soul off to Nirvana/paradise. In Japan at least, there’s been a bloody history between Buddhist sects — that time reminds me very much of the Reformation era in Europe. So, don’t judge Buddhism by the sect — it’s much broader than what a few bald guys at the top of the oganization say it is.
Interesting to know, Micki–
I guess every religion is accented or, as you say, “flavored,” by the underlying old religion or beliefs practiced in the geographic location. English Catholicism is not much similar to Mexican Catholicism, for instance. Guess the same goes for Buddhism.
These kids have a strange life, but it’s nothing (I guess) compared to the lives of girls in Africa, where female circumcison is still widely practiced.
I would not want to be a goddess of any sort because I dislike being singled out for any reason. But, in our popular culture right now, goddessism is a manifestation of feminism, and appeals to many. In a way, it’s payback, and the longer I think about it, the more complicated and less benign it seems. And, you bet, I’m an old-line feminist myself.
Or maybe I’m just thinking of shoes, which seems to fit into this whole construct in some way. It’s late, I’m tired, and there’s a five-year-old driving me nuts with bubblewrap.
Interesting Post.
During a holiday in Nepal I was in old Kathmandu when the ‘living goddess’ was allowed to come to a window of her palace to be shown to the public, by her guardians. A little girl in stunning clothing and make-up appeared, giggling and having fun. There was no aspect of neglect or restraint and the whole event was very good natured.
The concept of hurting/exploiting a child or her prospects would be very foreign indeed to the Nepalese, who are a wonderful people, where even the stray dogs carrying rabies are protected by the Buddhist traditions which provent anything being killed.
Nepal has a culture of multiple traditions, religions and festivals where the past is very much part of the daily life of the people who live there. The worship of gods and goddesses is an integral part of that culture.
I agree with the earlier posts that not all of this is benign, but my own experience in that country, tells me that western culture is not well placed to comment on specific aspects.
In fact, in rural Nepal there are other practices which would really make your hair stand on end!
For example, in one community, when a girl marries a boy with single brothers, she marries ALL of the brothers at the same time, and is expected to sleep with them all and give each of them a son.
Now think about that one!
Love your posts. Take care, Ray-Anne
http://mischiefandfilth.blogspot.com/
While I’m still a little squicked out by the thought of evaluating a 3 year old for having “legs like a deer”, I’m going to go with the “this is probably more good than bad” theory on this practice and don’t really plan to follow up. The girls get worshipped in their young life. They have responsibilities, yes, but also quite the life of comparative luxury. And their family gets money. On the whole, they are treated well rather than badly. And they aren’t stuck in perpetual virginhood. By the time they up and develop some independence they are let go. Maybe that says something about what some consider “purity”, in that it can only occur in a strictly controlled environment. And I’m never a fan of “purity” worship. But whatver. The girls get to wear tiaras and get regular food. There are worse gigs.
The way it sounds, it’s not actively good and not actively bad, it just is. In the CSMonitor article (I think), it mentions that one of the living goddesses grew up to keep wearing the makeup and trappings. Another living goddess saw that, and said, “Heck, no, I’m not living that way!” and went on to get a college degree.
It just depends on the personality involved, I think. Maybe the living goddess who was trapped in the past would have still been a girl who was trapped in the past (albeit a different past) even with a “normal” life and education.
It’s interesting to see the biases of the media in this story, though. The BBC article makes some statements that I think could be strictly true, but interpreted in different ways by the readers. That thing about being in a dark room without crying, for example. No details, and it sounds terrible. If it was one of the tests for the goddess candidates, and only happens that one time, I think it’s a reasonable test. If it happens constantly (the goddesses are constantly tested for their divinity), that’s horrible.
Once in a great while, we have a parallel in western culture, when a child star makes it big. But their caretakers aren’t vetted by the government, and when they are over, they are OVER. No pension or anything except what they’ve managed to save. Or what their caretakers choose to give them. I kind of view the kumaris in the same category — as Louisa said, it’s not female circumcision, and I agree with CrankyOtter that there are worse gigs.
the end of a goddess’s reign is to marry a fruit?
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080303/world/nepal_religion_1