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At the southern end of the Durbar Square stands Kumari Chowk , the gilded cage of the Raj Kumari, Kathmandu's "living goddess" and the pre-eminent of eleven such goddesses in the valley. In case there was any doubt, Kumari Chowk proves Kathmandu is no stuffy, dead museum: no other temple better illustrates the living, breathing and endlessly adaptable nature of religion in Nepal, with its freewheeling blend of Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous elements. The cult of the Kumari - a prepubescent girl worshipped as a living incarnation of Durga, the demon-slaying Hindu mother goddess - probably goes back to the early Middle Ages. Jaya Prakash, the last Malla king of Kathmandu, institutionalized the practice when he built the Kumari Chowk in 1757. According to legend, the king either committed some sexual indiscretion against a Kumari, or disbelieved a girl who claimed to be the goddess - in any case Jaya Prakash, who is remembered as a particularly paranoid and weak king, was so consumed by guilt that he erected the building as an act of atonement. He also established the tradition - continued to this day - that each year during the festival of Indra Jaatra, the Kumari should bestow a tika (auspicious mark) on the forehead of the king who was to reign for the coming year. In 1768, the hapless Jaya Prakash was driven into exile on the eve of Indra Jaatra, and the conquering Prithvi Narayan Shah slipped in and took the tika. Although the Kumari is supposed to be a Hindu goddess, she is chosen from the Buddhist Shakya clan of goldsmiths, according to a selection process reminiscent of the Tibetan Buddhist method of finding reincarnated lamas. Elders interview hundreds of Shakya girls, aged three to five, short-listing those who exhibit 32 auspicious signs: a neck like a conch shell, a body like a banyan tree, eyelashes like a cow's and so on. Finalists are placed in a dark room surrounded by freshly severed buffalo heads, while men in demon masks parade around making scary noises. The girl who shows no fear and can correctly identify belongings of previous Kumaris, and whose horoscope doesn't clash with the king's, becomes the next Kumari. She lives a cloistered life inside the Kumari Chowk and is only carried outside on her throne during Indra Jaatra and four or five other festivals each year; her feet are never allowed to touch the ground. Durga's spirit leaves her when she menstruates or otherwise bleeds, whereupon she's retired with a modest state pension. The transition to life as an ordinary mortal can be hard, and she may have difficulty finding a husband, since tradition has it that the man who marries an ex-Kumari will die young. The present Kumari was installed in 1993, when she was four and a half years old. Non-Hindus aren't allowed past the Kumari Chowk's bahal -style courtyard , which is decorated with exquisitely carved (if weathered) windows, pillars and doorways. When someone slips enough cash to her handlers, the Kumari, decked out in exaggerated eye makeup and jewellery, shows herself at one of the first-floor windows. (Your chances of a sighting are higher in the morning or late afternoon, when she's not busy with her studies.) She's believed to answer her visitors' unspoken questions with the look on her face. Cameras are okay inside the courtyard, but photographing the Kumari is strictly forbidden. The chariot that carries the Kumari around during the Indra Jaatra festival is garaged next door to the Kumari Chowk. The big wooden chariot yokes from past processions, which according to tradition may not be destroyed, are laid out nearby. The broad, bricked area to the east is Basantapur Square , once the site of royal elephant stables, where souvenir sellers now spread their wares.
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