“We take our orders from heaven, not from the Supreme Court.” So say the caregivers of the royal Kumari of Nepal. The world is laden with religion and politics mingled and evolving and perpetuating and disrupting perhaps, ways of life, centuries observed. Authoritative religious texts and teachings and traditions have often been and continue to be the source of authority for the subjugation of women and girls. Complicity or faith? Are congratulations in order to the family of three year old Matani Shakya, the most recent incarnation of the Hindu goddess Taleju, royal Kumari of Katmandu? As a result of her newfound divinity, the child will leave her family and move into an ancient palace where she will be worshipped by Buddhists and Hindus as the “living goddess.” She will remain Kumari until menarche at which time, the...
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