THE CULT OF KUMARI

PUBLISHED BY:

Institute of Nepal and Asian Studies

Q Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur

Kathmandu, Nepal

~inas
THE CULT OF KUMAR I

Virgin worship in Nepal

by
Michael Allen
1st Printing Dec. 1975.
500 copies.

'Printed by'VnJvenity 'Press

Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.
 Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION •• , , •• , • , , , •• , , , , , , •• , •• , •••••• , •• , •• , ••• , ••••

Historical notes - Living Kumaris

2. TUE ROYAL AND EX-ROYAL KUMAR.IS • , • , • , , , • , , •• , •••• , •• , , , , • , ,

Kathmandu - Patan - Bhadgaon

3. THE KATl-l'IANDU VAJRACHARYA KUMARIS ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 36

Hubaha - Kwabaha

4. MINOR LOCAL KUMARIS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 40

Jyapu Kumaris of Kathmandu and Patan -
Bungamati - Chabahi

5. MATERNAL AND BEAUTIFUL VIRGIN • , • , , • , , , •• , • , , • , , •• , ••••• , •• ,

Taleju Bhavani - Kaumari - Bala Kumari
and Pancha Kumari - The inner and outer
Kumari

:-fOTES , •••• , ••• , , ••••••• , , •• , •• , ••• , ••• , • , ••• , • , , •• , , • , , , • , , • , , , • 60

BIBLIOGRAPHY , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , • , , , , , , , , , , , , • , , , , • , , , , , , , , , , 65
 List of Plates

1. The royal Kumari at Hanuman Dhoka ••••••••••••••••••••• Frontispiece

2. Sri yantra ......•...•..•....•....••. , .•. , •••...... , ••. 3
3. Taleju temple, Kathmandu ••. , .•..•••...•...••...•....•. 5
4. The Pancha Buddha at Kumari .1!E.!! ........... , ......•.. 9
5. Mulchowk in Hanuman Dhoka ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 11
6. Kumari's house, Kathmandu ••••••••••••••••••• , •••• ,,,,, 13
7. The royal Kumari (Seto Matsyendranath ~) .......••. 19
8. Kumari' s chariot .•..•••...•...•... , •..••...•...••. , . , . 19
9. The royal Kumari being lifted onto her chariot .••••.•• 19
10. Re-painting Bhairava's face on her chariot prow ......• 19
11. Ganesa, 1970 .•........•...••.......•.•.........•....•• 19
12. The Patan Kumari •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••. 25
13. Wood-carving of Kumari on~ in Hawbaha ......••..• 25
14. The Patan Kumari's apron •.••...•...••...••..•.....•... 25
15. The Pa tan Kumari' s necklace •..••.......•••..••..•..•.. 25
16. The Patan Kumari' s bangles • , ...•. , .•• , ..••.. , . , .•••... 25
17. The Ekanta Kumari, Bhadgaon •.......••..••....•........ 31
18. The Ekanta Kumari 0 Bhadgaon on her throne ...•.•. , .•... 31
19. Kumari temple, Bhagawan Baba . , .••.......• , .. , .•.••.... 39
20. The Kwabaha Kumari ••. , .•..• , ....• , , ..•. , , •.. , , . , . , •. , • 41
21. The Kwabaha Kumari being worshipped ..•..•.••.••....... 41
22, The Jyapu Kumari 0 Patan ••..•• , ..••. , ..• , , , ...•. , ..•••. 43
23. The Bungamati Kumar! .•.••...•..•••..••..••..•••...••.. 45
24. The Chabahi Kumari and her parents . , •• , ..•• , , , , , , .•. , . 47
25. The Chabahi Kumari .••. , ••...•...••..•.....•...•...••.. 49
26. Vajra Yogini .......•••.••...•...•....•...••..... , , •. , . 57
27. Khadga yogini , .•• , .••• , .• , , , •• , , • , .. , •....•..•••...••. 57

1. The royal Kumari 1 s house at Basantapur . . • . . . . . . . • • . . . . 13

2. Taha Sinha E..!!1! ..•...••...•..•....••..•• , , , . , , , , •• , • , , 57
 Foreword

Dr. Michael Allen (Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney)

was affiliated to this Institute between September of 1973 and January
1974 for the purpose of conducting research on 'Society and Religion
amongst the Newars of Nepal. 1 The present monograph is the outcome of
this research. Under the rules of affiliation with Tribhuvan University
research reports submitted to this Institute may be published i f they are
deemed useful. Since this is the most comprehensive study yet undertaken
on the cult of the Kumar! or the 'Virgin Goddess,' the value of this
monograph for readers of Nepalese cultural history is quite evident.
Dr. Allen has, in this work, succeeded not only in compiling much data
on the subject for the first time, but also has tried to show the deep
significance of the cult for the socio-religious life of the people of the
Kathmandu Valley. The material of the book nas also been presented from
a sociological angle which gives a fresh approach to the subject. It is
hoped that the publication of this work may further the objective of
planning future similar studies on the 'living' Nepalese culture. At the
end, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Allen for making
his excellent study available to the Institute for publication.

Mahanavami,
October 13, 1975 P.R. Sharma
Dean
 THE CULT OF KUMARI

£L
Michae Z A Z.Z.cn

1. lntroduct ion

The worship of female deities has for long played a most important
uart in man's religious behaviour. In the ancient civilizations of the
Mediterranean, Asia Minor and the Middle East mother goddesses (Bhatta-
charya, 1971:6-13) were foremost amongst the deities worshipped, and in
many contemporary tribal societies the chief cults focus on such themes
as fertility and the power of child-bearing and menstruating women. But
it is perhaps above all on the Indian sub-continent that the female
principle has received the most explicit recognition. Indirect evidence
indicates that mother goddesses occupied a central position in the re-
ligions of such ancient civilizations as Mohenjo--daro and Harappa
(Marshall, 1931, i, 57) and the ancient Sankhya philosophical tradition,
which subsequently evolved into Saktism, focussed on the importance of
the female principle Cprakriti) and its union with the male (~~a),
Saktism is still today a popular cult found all over India, and its
chief distinguishing feature is the worship of Sakti (Devi) as the
supreme deity. Though the most elaborate Hindu temples are those dedi-
cated to the worship of male deities such as Siva, Ganesa, Vishnu and
Krishna, far greater attention is paid to the propitiation of less august
though more powerful and dangerous female deities. Everywhere one finds
that daily offerings are made to the small and frequently inconspicuous
shrines of the presiding mother goddess of the locality, and there are
few areas in which the goddess of smallpox is not greatly feared and
worshipped.

Amongst the Newars of Nepal, the numerically dominant ethnic group

of Kathmandu valley, the influence of Tantricism on both Hinduism and
Buddhism has ensured the importance both of sexuality and the worship of
Sakti. In addition to the popularity of such non-Tantric female deities
as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati, the Newars devote a great deal of
their ritual activity to the worshlp of the Devi in one of 11er many
dangerous, mature and bloodlusting forms (Kali, Durga, Ajima, Bhairavi,
Taleju etc.). But the most notable and perhaps unique feature of their
religion is the prominence given to the worship of Kumar!, the living
virgin goddess. In this book I give an outline of the main features of
her cult.l
Historical notes

Kumari-~, or 'virgin worship', is a feature of Hinduism of the

greatest antiquity dating back at least to the late Vedic period. 'l'he
earliest known reference occurs in the Taittiriya Aranyaka, a seventh or
sixth century B.C. text, in which the Sakti ('divine energy' or 'female
creative principle') is addressed as Kanyakumari (Sastri, 1967:14).
Bhattacharya (1971:104) commenting on the same text records in a footnote
(23) that Rudra's spouse Ambika is invoked as Kanyakumari. This particular
name of the deity is especially associated with south India where there is
both a temple and a district called by the same name. The temple,2 which
is still revered by Hindus throughout India, is at the southernmost tit> of
the sub-continent on Cape Comorin, a name which is itself derived from
Kumar! (Yule, Book III, 382-5). The antiquity of the deity is evident in
that a Greek sea captain noted in about 60 A.O. that "Beyond this there is
another place called Comar!, at which are the Cape of Comar! and a harbor;
hither come those men who wish to consecrate themselves for the rest of
their lives, and bathe and dwell in celibacy; and women also do the same;
for it is told that a goddess once dwelt here and bathed" (Schoff, 1912:
46). About 70 years later the geographer Ptolemy referred to the cape as
"Comaria Akron".

In the Mahabharata, parts of which may date hack to the Vedic period,
Kumari is gi~of the many names of Sakti or Devi, and in the
Devi-Mahatmya, a Purana of about the fourth century A.D. 1 there are many
references to Kaumari as one of the seven mother-goddesses (Agrawala,
1963:105,111,121,133). Both Atkinson (1974:801) and IJoodroffe (1973:110)
note that in the latter text she is again especially identified with
Ambika, the 'little mother'.

Though I have no firm evidence for the assertion, i t seems likely

that some form of Kumar! worship has existed in Nepal for a very long
time - possibly as long as in India. The Nepalese Chronicles (Vamsavalis) 1
though of limited value as historical records, represent the goddess as
dating back at least as far as the sixth century A.O. Padmagiri (Hasrat,
1970: 41) noted that "Sivadeva also built a city on the four crossroads
which was named Naubali, and in which were formally placed the images of
the following deities and their respective vahanas or carriages, and
ganas or followers: 4 Ganes, 4 Bhairava, 4 Nrityanath, 4 Mahadeva,
4 Kumari, 4 Khandita-Buddhas, 4 Khamba, 4 Gaganachari, (see also Wright,
1877:125). Again he recorded that "He (Sivadeva) constituted a ~ to
the goddess Vajresvari which takes place annually on Phalguna-Badi Dvadsi
or Trayodasi (or 13th) when the Kumaris or Virgins are feasted and on the
Chaturdasi (14th) of the same month is performed the ceremony of the
Rathyatra while fires are kindled before the images of Mahadeva throughout
the city". The date of Sivadeva is still controversial with some chronicles
placing him two names· e'8Fl.ar-tllan Amsuvarma (regnal dates circa 568-616
Plate 2. The Sri yantra or Sri cakra. The design as a whole represents
sakti, the divine power which motivates the universe and is
~tially female. I quote from Tucci (1969,46-7):" such
mandalas are made by four isosceles triangles with the apices
~pwards, and by five others with the apices downwards; they
are of various sizes and they intersect one another. In the
middle is a point, the bindu, the mysterious matrix". The five
downward facing triangl~e usually taken to indicate the
five aspects of Sakti while the four upward pointing ones
symbolize Siva. The eight surrounding petals symbolize t:lie
lotus of creation.
A.D.) and others as overlapping with that ruler. Pal (1970:3) on the
seemingly strong grounds of an inscription dated 598 A.D., takes the
latter approach. Hasrat (42) also notes that Vas~d_ev~h a king who in
most chronicles is placed three names after SiVSCleVa, - installed near Devi
Jayavagesvari images of Kumari Gana and Nau Durga: -

Thus far the evidence points solely to the existence of a goddess

called Kumari; there is no information at all concerning the nature of her
worship. Wright's Vamsavali (1972: 157) provides a clue to the possible
origin of the unique practice of worshipping young girls as living Kumaris.
The author records that Lakshm.ikamadeva, a Raja of Kantipur who reigned
from about 1024-40 A.O.,

"thinking that his grandfather had acquired so much wealth and

conquered the four quarters of the world through the aid of the
Kumaris, resolved to do the same. With this intention he went to the
Pa tan Durbar, and having worshipped as Kumar! the daughter of a
bandya (Sakya caste), living in a bihar near the Durbar, known by
the name of Lakshmi-barman, he erected an image of Kumar! and
established the Kumar! puja."

This reference is of particular interest for the Sanskrit name of the

baha from which the present Patan Kumar! is selected is Lakshimikalyan-
gavarnasankaritanakaramahavihara. It was built by Lakslunikamadeva in
Haka locality immediately adjacent to the place, but was subsequently
moved to its present location in Gahbahal tol when the palace was enlarged
in the seventeenth century. If the evidence of the Vamsavalis is to be
believed it appears that the Patan royal Kumar! is of greater antiquity
than her more famous Kathmandu counterpart. Indeed, Lakslunikamadeva
predates by almost two centuries the introduction to Nepal of Taleju
Bhavani, the lineage deity of the Malla dynasty who is commonly believed
to be incarnate in the living Kumar!. Lakshmikamadeva is also credited
with having begun a number of important festivals, including lndrajatra,
which today incorporates the spectacular chariot festival (ratha1atra) of
the Kathmandu royal Kumar! (Sharma, 1971:109),

The importance that Lakshmikamadeva attached to the worship of

Kumari may well be related to the growing popularity of Tantricism, both
of the Hindu and Buddhist varieties, throughout north India and Nepal
during the eleventh century. The fact that he selected a Sakya (Buddhist)
girl as the living Kumari could be due to the influence of Atisa, the
great Indian mystic who is commonly accredited with having introduced
Vajrayana Buddhism into Nepal towards the end of the Raja 1 s reign (Regmi,
1965, Part 1: 121-2),

The earliest known colophon inscriptions in which references are

made to Kumar! both occur during the reign of Ananta Malla in the late
thirteenth century. They are listed in Petech (1958, ms 3 on p. 95 and
ms 12 on p. 97), the first entitled Kaumari puJ.!. and dated April, 3!l, 1280
.\.D. and the second as Kumari puja vidhana (~means 'rules' or
'regulations') and dated November 24, 1285 A.D. I have not as yet had the
opportunity to translate these inscriptions, though it is evident that the
!<:ing him.self performed both ~.3

An important event in the development of the K.umari cult occurred

about 1323 A.D,4 when Hari Singh Deva brought the goddess Taleju Bhavani
from Sim.raongadh to Bhaktapur, From that date Taleju has been recognised
as foremost amongst the nations deities. According to the Vamsavalis,
Hari Singh Deva, a King of the Karnatak dynasty from Ayodhya in north
India, was ruling in Sim.raongadh when Gayasuddin Tughlak Shah invaded the
city. Hari Singh fled to Nepal. Some authorities say that he became
King of Bhaktapur, though possibly only for a year after which he returned
to Simraongadh; others that he remained for many years as King, and yet
others that he never actually ascended the throne. All, however, are
agreed that he brought his family deity, Taleju Bhavani, with him.
Wright's Vamsavali (106) refers to Taleju (given here as Turja Bhavani)
as the principle goddess of Amarapur in central India,5 and then gives
examples of her great influence and power as the presiding deity of
Bhaktapur. In one long story, given to me orally but said to be based on
a Vamsavali, Taleju is said to be the Devi who figures prominently in the
Ramayana as having first supported Ravana in Sri Lanka but later gave
her support to Rama Chandra. Rama, having defeated Ravana, took the
Devi in the form of a sri yantra. (plate 2), to his capital Ayodhya in
north India where he worshipped her as his ~ deity, The tale then
describes how the yantra continued to be worshipped by Jrinl!' after king,
until Hari Singh Deva first brought i t to Simraongadh and subsequently
to Bhaktapur. (See Wright, 105-8 and Singh, 1968:205-6),

Taleju has continued to be regarded as the chief protective deity

of Nepalese kings right up to the present day. When new capitals were
established the first act of the founder was to build a temple for Taleju,
and on numerous occasions recently-installed kings either built her a
new temple or carried out major renovations, The Vamsavalis frequently
refer to the importance of the goddesses mantra as a mark of legitimate
succession to the throne - rulers who faiied't'O receive the mantra were
regarded as liable to lose their kingdoms. --

When Hari Singh Deva introduced the cult there was only one kingdom
in the valley, and it was not until after Yaksha Malla made a tripartite
division in the early fifteenth century, that first the Kantipur
(Kathmandu) and then the Patan (Lalitpur) temples were built. Ratna
Malla, the son of Yaksha Malla who reigned in Kantipur built a small
Taleju temple in A.D. 1501 (Wright, 202) though it was not until 154q
that Mahendra Malla built a substantial three-tiered temple on the site
of the present building (plate 3). The Patan Taleju temple was built by
Siddhinarasingh in A.D. 1620 (Wright, 233 and Hasrat, 67).
 The establislunent of the Taleju cult is of importance because each
of the principal Kumaris in the three cities of Bhadgaon, Kathmandu and
Patan are still today regarded as living manifestations of Taleju. In
each city there are numerous tales, some recorded in Val'lsavalis and other
transmitted orally, in which a king of that city is represented as having
so offended Taleju that she refused to have anything further to do with
him directly but instead would maintain contact in the form of a young
virgin of the Sakya caste. These tales are invariably recited whenever
enquiries are made regarding the origin of the K1.U11ari cult, and because
most research has focussed on the Kathmandu royal Kumari, the relevant
king, Jayaprakasa Malla, is generally credited with having established
the custom. However, in a number of published Versions (Hasrat, 59-60,
Shrestha and Singh, 1972, 29 and Niloufor) the initiating king is said to
be Trailokya Malla, a monarch of a then undivided kingdom who reigned at
Bhaktapur from about A.D. 1560 to 1613. As in most of the Jayaprakasa
tales, the king is represented as maintaining intimate contact with his
tutelary deity by playing tripasa (a game in which three dice are thrown
on a board) with her. One day the king's daughter intruded on them which
apparently so upset the goddess that when the king next dreamed of her
she informed him 1 that henceforth he would never get a sight of her nor
be allowed to have conference with her. But said the goddess: "I will
present myself in the form. of some girl of high caste". 6 Accordingly
the Rajah caused a Bandya girl to be worshipped by the name of Kumari or
virgin, which custom is still extant to this day. 1 (Hasrat, 60)

I t is of some interest to note that in Wright's Vamsavali (207)

Mahendra Malla, the Kathmandu king who built a large Taleju temple, is
said to have lived for some time in Bhaktapur with Trailokya Malla where
he worshipped Taleju daily. The goddess is said to have been pleased
with his attentions and directed him to build a temple for her at his
durbar.

A similar tale (see pp, 33-5) focussing on the dice game and
subsequent retreat of the goddess into the form of a Sakya girl is told
in Paean, though here the relevant monarch is said to be either Sid-
dhinarasingh, the seventeenth century monarch who built the first Taleju
temple, or his son Srinivas Malla. My chief Paean informant, a learned
Deo-Brahman who is a direct descendant of Biswanath (Wright, 233) the
famous Guru of Siddhinarasingh, stated that from his understanding of a
number of Vamsavalis, it was Siddhinarasingh who first brought Taleju to
Paean and built her a temple, and that it was during the reign of his son
Srinivas Malla that she became Kumari. However, when my inform.ant gave
me the story of the dice game the monarch mentioned was Siddhinarasingh.

The similarity of the many versions of the dice-game story, though

of importance for an understanding of some fundamental features of Kumari
worship, nevertheless precludes the possibility of any firm statement
regarding the origin of the goddess's associations with Taleju. The most
that may be said is that it occurred in all three Malla Kingdoms, possibly
beginning in Bhaktapur in the late sixteenth century and ending in
Kathmandu in the mid-eighteenth. Just why it should have occurred is by
no means clear, though it seems possible that it may reflect a desire of
the Malla kings to give their lineage deity increased legitimacy through
association with the long established and much-revered Kumari. All of the
stories portray the relevant king as having lost favour with his protecting
deity, a feature which may reflect some weakness in his position. The
reappearance of Taleju as Kumari in the form of a Sakya girl had the
important political result of projecting the source of legitimacy outside
the palace. This feature of the cult gained in importance when the Gurkhas
conquered the Mallas and they too found it desirable to acknowledge the
legitimating function of the Sakya Kumari of Kathmandu.

Living Kumaris

Most authors who discuss the Kumari cult convey the impression that
there is only one girl in Nepal who is worshipped as a living form of the
goddess - the royal Kumar! of Kathmandu at Basantapur. That this is not
so is evident from Moaven 1 s recent paper (1974) in which she discussed
eight individual cases, and I have been abh to gather information about
a total of eleven. There are also a number of Gana Kumaris, groups of
young girls collectively worshipped on special occasions. The goddess
exists in the form of images in temples known as Bala Kumar! and
at innumerable small shrines (.E..!!!!!.) consisting of five stones said to be
the Pancha Kumar!. There are major differences amongst the living forms
according to such variables as the girl's caste membership, who worships
her and what attributes of the goddess are most stressed. The caste
variation is of particular interest for though the Taleju dice-playing
origin tales represent the goddess as taking her Kumari form in Sakya
girl, only six of the present incumbents are of this caste with another
five from the Vajracharya and two· from the Jyapu. Though there seems to
be a particularly close connection between Sakya, Taleju and royalty, it
is not exclusive for the ex-royal Kumari of Patan is selected from a
Vajracharya community. The other four Vajracharya Kumaris have a more
Tantric and Buddhist character than their Sakya counter-parts, and are
more closely associated with the Vajrayana deity Vajradevi than with the
Hindu Taleju. The Jyapu Kumaris are worshipped as ~ deities by the
Pradhans and Dea-Brahmans, high-ranking Newar Hindu castes. The full list
of eleven is as follows:

Kathman~.!!.

1. The Raj (royal) or Lakhu (palace) Kumar!. Sakya caste and worshipped
by King and nation,

2. Mu (chief) Kumar!. Vajracharya caste of Mubaha worshipped mostly by

members of her: own caste in central (Datu) Kathmandu.
 3. Kwabaha Kumari. Vajracharya caste of Kwabaha worshipped both by
members of her own caste in north (Thane) Kathmandu and by the
Pradhans of Bbagawan Baba in Thambahi locality.

4. Kilagar Kumari. Jyapu caste and worshipped primarily by the Pradhans

of Kilagar-Itumbaha area.

5. The ex-royal Kumari of Hawbaha in Gahbaha locality. Vajracharya

caste and worshipped by most 'Patan residents and also by a numher
of individuals, not exclusively Newar, from elsewhere.

6, Sonimha Kumari. Jyapu caste of Mikhabaha worshipped by Dea-Brahmans

of that locality.

7. Ekanta Kumari. She can be chosen from any of the bahas of Bhaktapur
and may be of either Vajracharya or Sakya castes. """'iierofficial
residence is in Dipankar Baba and in the past she was worshipped by
the Malla Kings of Bhaktapur. Today she is publicly worshipped by
most of the population of Bhaktapur during Dasain, and is availahle
for private clients on request.

8. Wala Lakhu Kumari. Selection as with the F.kanta Kumari but she is
especially associated with Wala Lakhu, a baha-lil~e courtyard near
Dattatreya temple where she has her .!&!!!!· l-!orshipped only during
Dasain.

9. Tebuk che Kumari. As with all of the Bhaktapur Kumaris she can be
selected from any of the Vajracharya or Sakya families. Worshipped
only during Dasain, most especially by the Jyapus of Tebuk locality.

l'l. Chabahi Kumari. Sakya caste of Suvarnam1rn@mflhi_~ (Chabah.!),

Supposedly long ago worshipped by the Kings of Devapatan. Today
her worship is mostly confined to the members of her own bahi,
though a few individual worshippers from elsewhere also seek her.

11. She is chosen from a single patrilin~l extended fSJl!.ilY (kawa) of

Vajracharya members of Bungabaha. Worshipped by members of most
Bungamati cast.es - especially in connection with their famous god
Hatsye:ufranath.
 2. The Royal and Ex- Royal Kumaris

When the Gurkhas conquered the valley just over two centuries ago
they made Kathmandu their capital and hence paid great attention both to
the local Taleju Bhavani and to her living manifestation as the Basanta!)ur
Kumari. Virtually every history textbook in the country recounts how,
when Prithvinarayan Shah entered Kathmandu during the annual Kumari
festival, he first received prasad from the goddess and then decreed that
the festival should continue. It is this event that above all is re-
presented as conferring legitimacy on the new dynasty - a symbolic act of
great importance still repeated annually when the King comes to receive
his ll!g, from Kumari. As a result of this continuing royal patronage she
is today one of the foremost of Nepalese divinities, while her counter-
parts in Patan and Bhaktapur have sunk into relative oblivion.

According to the Vamsavalis it was Jayaprakasa, the last of the

Malla Kings of Kathmandu, who instituted the royal worship of Kumari.
Though some element of doubt must remain as to whether some of his
predecessors may also have done likewise, it is certain that it was
Jayaprakasa who first built her an official residence near the palace and
also began the annual chariot festival. There is indeed much evidence to
suggest ~hat as Jayaprakasa became increasingly apprehensive about the
growing Gurkha threat he turned more and more to the propitiation of
Taleju and other female deities in the belief that they conferred great
power on King and State,

Those eligible to be chosen as Kumari are the daughters of all male

Sakyas who have membership of a Kathmandu baha. Since baha membership is
both hereditary in the male line and confirmed' by formaITnitiation as a
young boy, Sakyas who have come from outside Kathmandu to settle in the
town cannot, even after many generations, offer their daughters for
selection. Also excluded are the daughters of those Sakyas who are
members of bahis. Bahis are mostly located on the outskirts of town and
their member;:-t'hough they freely inter-marry and inter-dine with other
Sakyas, are regarded as of slightly iriferior status. The present Kumari's
family live at Ombaha in Jor Ganesa locality in downtown Kathmandu, and
her father is a member of Bikama Baba (Viswokarma.vihara) in the same
locality. The two previous incumbents were from Nagha tol in the north
and many others have come from Ombaha, Ciram Baba and Tahram Baba in
central Kathmandu near Indra Chowk, Sikham.u Baba immediately beside
Kumari che, and Lagan Baba in downtown. ·

Sikhamu Baba, in addition to a high incidence of girls selected frorri

its membership, is closely linked to the goddess in its role as orovider
of four of the Pancha Buddha. The Pancha Buddha ('Plate 4) are five
Buddhist priests of Vajracharya caste who officiate during the annual
.
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Kumari i!.f!!. and have various other ceremonial duties in connection with
the goddess. They consist of two Ra.i Gubhajus, one from Sikhamu Baha
and the other from Saval Baha in central Kathmandu and three other
Gubhajus of Sikhamu. The Raj Gubhajus hold hereditary positions that
date back to the Malla period when they carried the authority of the King
to settle disputes amongst the Newar Buddhists and to carry out a number
of ritual duties. Even today such disputes, mostly over rights to clients,
are commonly heard by the 18 haha heads in a large meeting room on the
top floor of Kumar! che. 7 ThesI'khamu Raj Gubhaju is the seniormost
member of an agnaticlineage that currently has about 74 male members,
most of whom reside at Rajkirtimahavihara in Maru tol. It is this Gubhaju
who is most especially important in connection withKumari, for in
addition to the performance of both daily and special ~ in her !8!!!!!.•
he plays a prominent part in the selection and installation of new Kumaris.
He also personally selects as the three additional Pancha Buddhas whichever
of his baha's members he regards as suitable. One of these three also
acts as his assistant (upadhya) in performing ~ at Kumar! .£.h!•

As soon as a reigning Kumar! gives evidence, through one of the

disqualifying signs, that the spirit of the goddess is deserting her,
her attendant (Kumarima) must report the 111atter to the Bada Guruju, a
Parbatiya Brahmin who holds a palace appointment as legal adviser on
religious matters. The priest informs the King and having gained his
assent he then asks the royal astrologer to determine an auspicious day
for the selection of a new Kumari. When the date has been selected,
usually about a month prior to Dasain, the news is ,sent to the Pancha
Buddha who in turn inform the elders of the bahas with eligible girls.
The selection committee consists of the Bada Guruju, the Acahju priest
(see pp. 38-39 and note 10) of Taleju temple, the Pancha Buddha and the
royal astrologer. They examine the girls in a room in Hanuman Dhoka,
supposedly using the list of 32 perfectionsB found in goddesses, but
almost certainly basing their judgement on a much simpler and shorter
list. The features most frequently mentioned include the following:
perfect health with no serious illness, especially smallpox, having
occurred, skin without blemish, black hair and eyes, no bad body smells,
ore-menstrual, and no loss of teeth. Though a new-born baby could meet
all of these requirements, it is usual to select a girl who has been
weaned and can walk; indeed, some are of the opinion that she must be at
least two years old, No doubt an unweaned child separated from its mother
would not only pose practical problems, but also be most unlikely to
behave with the composure required of a KumarL The child is also
required to walk on certain formal occasions, including her installation
ceremony. In addition to the physical signs, the members of the selec-
tion committee are expected to consider such matters as her personality,
which should show signs both of calmness and fearlessness, and the general
reputation, especially in terms of piety, of her family. The practical
irrelevance of the formal list of 32 perfections is evident in that many
of them could be found only in a mature woman; for example, the forty
10

teeth (the fallen milk teeth plus the full adult set), cheeks like a lion
or body like a banyan tree. Indeed, it is evident that the list applies
to Kumari in her true or inner form as a fully mature woman - a theme to
which I will subsequently return.

If the conmittee finds that all of the candidates display some

undesirable feature, a not uncommon occurrence, they simply hope for the
best by naming the girl who comes closest to the ideal. At this point
the astrologer examines the successful girl's horoscope to check that it
is not only generally favourable but that i t in no way clashes with that
of the King. Having passed this important test the Hada Guruju brings
her to the palace where the King offers her a coin.

She now returns to her home where she stays until the final tests
occur and the formal rites of installation are performed. During this
interregnum the spirit of Kumari is believed to be already slowly ent·ering
the girl so that if she is in any way unsuitable her body is certain to
react negatively during the three or four week period.

Maha astami. the 'great eighth' day of Dasain, celebrates the slay-
ing o~ Mahisasura by Durga. On kalratri (see pp. 20-21) the
'black night' hundreds of buffaloes. goats, sheep, chickens and ducks are
sacrificed at Bhagawati, Durga, Taleju and other mother goddess temples
throughout the country. It is, however, most especially in Mulchowk,
(plates 5) the small inner courtyard in Hanuman Dhoka that leads to the
adjacent Taleju temple, that Durga' s triumph is re-enacted. At nightfall
eight buffaloes representing the demon are tied to poles around the edge
of the courtyard and killed by having their throats slit so that the
blood jets high towards the Bhagawati shrine. A few hours later at
about midnight a further one hundred and eight buffaloes together with
goats are killed in Mulchowk. A short while later the little Kumari-
elect is brought to the entrance for her final test and installation.
The buffalo heads, with lighted wicks between the horns, have been placed
in rows across the courtyard, and the selection committee waits on an
upstairs verandah. The girl then enters, supposedly by herself, but
~robably with someone to guide her, and is required to walk clockwise
around the raised edge of the courtyard until she reaches the shrine of
the terrible eight-armed goddess. She must enter this shrine, still
maintaining a perfectly calm demeanour, and if all is well the Taleju
Acahju and his assistant priests take her to the first floor where they
enter the !8!!!!!. for the installation ceremony. The .!.E!!!!. deity is in
the form of a sacred water pot (kalasa) with the female triangular sign
painted on its top.

I could not obtain a description of the ritual of installation,

though there are good reasons to believe that it must be similar to
that performed at the installation of the Patan Kumari- which I describe
 11

on pp. 22-23. If so, then it essentially consists of a removal of all

past experience from the girl's body so that i t becomes a perfectly pure
vessel for the spirit of the goddess to enter. This occurs slowly
throughout the ritual, but does not reach its climax until the girl is
fully made-up as Kumari with appropriate hair-do, tika mark, third-eye,
red clothes, red-painted toes, and elaborate jewelry, and then finally
takes her seat on her throne. The ritual must take a long time for the
new Kumar! does not leave Hanuman Dhoka until about four or five in the
morning. A big crowd greets her and she then walks on a white cloth
across the public square to her official residence.

Thus far proceedings have been entirely in the hands of the Hindu
Acahju priests. The girl has become Taleju (~) in the fom of Kumari
and as a sign she carries Taleju's sword of power. When she reaches her
house she is met by the Pancha Buddha who conduct her to the first floor
!&!!!_ where they worship her as Vajradevi 0 the chief female Tantric
divinity of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Once installed the girl remains as Kumar! until she shows some clear
sign that she is human rather than divine. The most certain indication
is loss of blood• which may be provoked by loss of tooth, first
menstruation, a wound, or internal haemorrhage. Serious illnesses,
especially smallpox, also result in disqualification. The girls mostly
remain in office about five or six years with loss of tooth the most
commonly mentioned disqualification. Though some informants spoke as
though the loss of the tooth was itself the causative factor, others
stressed that i t could be overlooked if there was little or no bleeding.

One ex-Kumar!, a 56 year old grandmother who was in office for ten
years from the ages of three to thirteen, told me that in her case no
negative sign appeared while still Kumar!. She was finally dismissed,
falsely she claims, on the grounds of suspected menstruation. She
admitted that she had lost most of her first teeth, but in each case the
new tooth was already well advanced so that there was neither loss of
blood nor noticeable gap. This was deemed to be in keeping with her
divine nature. Another Kathmandu ex-royal Kumsri, now aged about 45,
stayed in office until she was 16, and the present Patan incumbent is
about 20. (See p. 26)

After the installation of a new Kumari, the old is required to remain

indoors in her parents' home for four days during which people may come to
worship her. The members of her family look after her and on the fourth
day two Jyapu women come to take down her hair and do a last J?!!i!.· She
then removes all of her Kumari clothing and jewelry. She keeps a few of
the simpler garments but all of the valuable items must be returned to
the care of the Kumarima. She is now regarded as an ordinary member of
the family and can commence school and other routine activities.
12

There were. and to a degree still are, superstitions as re2ards the

marriage prospects of ex-Kumaris. The girls are helieved to retain
something of the divine power of the goddess and some believe that this
can prove dangerous, perhaps even fatal, to their husbands. F.ven those
who do not credit the girls with any unusual or supernatural power are
quick to point out that their husbands may have trouble coping with wives
who have been so powerful as children. Indeed, there can be little doubt
that a girl who has spent some years as the focus of male veneration and
fear, and who has come to expect her every whim satisfied, must experience
considerable difficulty in accepting the role of the humble wife who daily
worships her husband. Clearly, the older the girl when she ceases to be
Kumari, the greater the likelihood of nLSrital difficulties. Though I
have little data on the subsequent careers of ex-royal Kumaris, there ie
general belief that they experience some difficulty. Some are said to
have become prostitutes in India, others widowed at an early ape with
subsequent ill-fame, and some too have married men of castes lower than
themselves, On the recommendation of the present Kumarima, the government
recently instituted a monthly payment of 60 rupees ($6) to ex-Kumaris
until such time that they marry and then a down payment of 1,500 rupees
($150). This action is based on the belief that the marriage prospects
of the girls are not as good as they might be. According to Moaven all
ex-Kumaris, together with their parents, gather each year during Indra
J.!!!.!. at Basantapur where a feast is prepared for them by members of the
Kumar! .I!!!!:!!·

During her period in office the little girl is continuously regarded

and treated as a goddess, She leaves her family home and takes up
residence in Kumari che - an imposing building constructed in the
courtyard style of the baha but without a pagoda roof over the main
shrine (plate 6). It i8'8three-storied building with the shrine of the
deity located on the south side. On the ground floor is the baha-type
Sakyamuni Buddha together with some storage areas; the second""""fi'Oor
consists of Kumari's private quarters and public reception and worshipping
areas (diagram 1). Her imposing chariot (ratha) is stored in a separate
building adjacent to the main structure, much as garages are located
beside modern suburban dwellings, Kumari does not normally enter the
!&!!!!!.• When one of the Pancha Buddha enters each morning to do ~
~ to Vajradevi, Kumar! remains outside. She only ente't'S on special
occasions as when a highly Tantric form of Kumar! £!!.i!. is pedoTI'l.ed.
An important !I!!!.~ which she is required to attend is disi ~
which is pe't'formed twice a year at the suumer and winter solstices.

As noted previously, the Vamsavalis credit Jayaprakasa Malla with

the building of Kumari che. It is a beautiful huildinl! with lavisli wood-·
carving on its windows,balconies and doorways. There are numerous
carvings of Durga on the tympanums (torana), which is alone sufficient
to establish the equivalence between the young p't'e·-mc.nstrual virgin and
 /
Kumari

Vajradevi

Buddha

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. .! -
Buddha
0 DVajradevi ;l D~ioly
worship 5.

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4ramily:J
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•
•
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....

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Stat~--~~~ ~fficial
t1
0
0

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QI

First floor Second floor Third floor

Diagram 1. Kumari's house, Kathmandu.
 13

the beautiful and mature mother-goddess. Another notable feature is some

very fine peacock windows - the bird has for long been recognised as the
mount both of Kumari the virgin and Kumara the warrior bachelor prince.

Indramaya, the present Kumarima, has been in office for some fifty
years, a position which she inherited from her husband's father who in
turn succeeded his sister Beti Maya and her mother Pane.ha Lakshmi. Up to
the time of Pane.ha Lakshmi there had been no fixed rule as to who should
look after Kumari and i t seems that the mother of one of the girls lodged
a petition with the government claiming that she should have rbe right to
look after her daughter. She lost the case and the Rana Maharaja gave
Pane.ha Lakshmi a lal mohar (a legal document from the palace) making the
job hereditary in~ly.

Indramaya has a large family - four married sons, their wives and a
large number of grandchildren. They all live in Kumari che and they
assist the old lady in looking after and entertaining the-goddess, F.ach
morning one of the women must wash and dress Kumari, fix her hair in the
top-knot style, paint her big .ti.ls!. on her forehead, attach her third-eye,
paint her eye surrounds with black lines, and then take her to her lion
throne (.!.!!!&!:!. ~ for daily worship (~ ~). This is done by the
Acahju priest of Taleju Temple, He performs a simple purificatory rite
called panchabahara .P.!:!1!. which consists of an offering of five things
each of which cleanses one of the five sensory organs, flour C!!!_) for
the ear, rice (J!..Ig} for the mouth, a lamp (!!!!!!) for the eye, incense
C!!m) for the nose and red powder ~) for touch. The priest is
accompanied by a female palace worker Clakhini) who gives K.umari her
first food (rice, egg and curd) of the day. She had previously offered
the same food to Taleju Bhavani. The Kumarima herself and perhaps some
other members of her family may then worship her in a simple manner by
offering sweets and flowers. The Ra.i Gubhaju may also come ahout this
time, but though he too is likely to worship Kumari in some simple
manner, his chief duty is to enter the .!&!!!!!. and worship the image of
Cakra Samvara and Vajradevi. In the evening the Raj Gubha.1u makes a
simple lamp offering to the Buddha on the ground floor, Vajradevi in
the .!&!!!!!. and Kumari on her throne.

The Kumarima is responsible for all of the arrangements that are

required in connection with the goddess' formal co111111itments, She makes
appointments for private clients who wish to worship her, either in
their own homes or in Kumari che, and prior to all such events she must
ensure that the girl is wearing-the correct clothes, jewelry that are
insignia. Her reward is substantial for she has a right to everything
offered to the goddess other than such durable items as clothes or
jewelry that are intended to become part of the inherited assets of the
institution. In addition to the flow of offerings from worshippers there
are today additional contributions made by tourists hoping to gain a
glir:tpse of the beautiful little girl in ti.er window.
14

Kumari 1 s daily routine consists of some two to three hours sitti.•. ~

on her throne for visitors to worship her, playing with the grandchildre.
of her caretaker, and standing at her window for the benefit of foreign
tourists. Ten to twelve devotees worship her each day. There are no
formal requirements for the method of worship; some come with a simple
plate of offerings in the normal manner of worshipping a temple deity,
others make more elaborate offerings and recite texts and yet others
employ a priest to conduct a major ceremony. Devotees come from a wide
spectrum of Nepalese society ranging from peasants to prominent government
members. Though all living Kumaris are selected from Newar Buddhist
castes, the worshippers of the royal Kumari include large numbers of
Parbatiya Hindus, especially Chetris and Brahmans.

When Kumari sits on her throne for worship she may be offered and
accept any kind of food or drink, including meat, spices or alcohol. By
sitting on the divine seat with its powerful sri x_antra mandala drawn on
it she is fully identified with the goddess and hence has great power.
But in the ordinary routine of daily life something of this power deserts
her - though still the goddess sJi,e is also in part just her own human
self with accompanying weaknesses. Hence in her daily eating she is,
especially if young, likely to be protected from possible danger by
restricting her diet to only unspiced food (satwik bho1an) - special care
being taken to avoid garlic, onion, spices and alcohol. She is not
permitted to risk pollution by walking on the ground, a requirement which
is usually met by carrying her whenever she goes outside the house. But
on the grand occasion of her annual festival she is especially honoured
by having a sheet of white cloth on which to walk from her house to her
chariot. She must always wear red clothes, simple cotton for everyday
and brocade for special events, her hair must be brushed up in a bundle
on top of her head in a style called fakhe sanpho • and she has the third
eye ~ chakchht!_ or 'fire eye') on her forehead, and wears a gold
bracelet. These things are sufficient for ordinarv daily worship, but
for any special ~ performed in her house and also for all outside
appointments she wears a selection from her large collection of jewelry
and decorations (see Moaven for a detailed list), When she sits on her
throne she should not speak though she can indicate assent or dissent by
head movements.

Because she is a goddess she is expected to act in accordance with

her own wishes, and there can be little doubt that her attendants are at
times obliged to cope with a fair degree of capricious behaviour. When
a private individual wishes to do £!!.i!_ he must first seek audience, then
after making an offering ask her permission. If she refuses there is
nothing he can do other than perhaps try again some other day. I was
also told that if her playmates do not obey her they are punished. There
are, however, fairly narrow limits of permissible caprice for if the girl
should consistently act in a manner that might be regarded as inap-
propriate for a goddess then either the !.<umarima or one of the priests
 15

might declare her unfit and begin to search for a new incumbent. A
further consequence of her status as a goddess is that she is expected
to be omniscient and cannot therefore be given any kind of formal
instruction or training. Though perhaps traditionally this was no great
disadvantage to the girl in her later life, it is today recognised that
it can be a serious handicap. 1 was told that she does, in fact, get
a certain amount of instruction in reading and writing. She is called
deo ~ (goddess lady) and never by her personal name. It is also said
that if one should look into either her eyes or the window of her house
which is kept especially for her, then one can expect either vomiting or
bleeding. Women suffering from either excessive menstrual bleeding or
from a miscarriage are said to have had the evil eye of Kumari and must
make offerings to her,

The belief that Kumari is really Taleju and hence the chief
;irotectress of the State ensures that both King and politicians are
foremost amongst her worshippers. The King, in order to show that he
owes his power to the goddess, comes to worship her on the last day of
Indra .1!!r.!.• The importance of this act of symbolic legitimation is
evident in the many tales in which some irregularity is said to have been
followed by a change of ruler or even dynasty, Anderson (1971:135)
recounts how it is widely told that in 1955 the goddess, who seemed to be
dozing, wrongly placed the tika on the Crown Prince rather than the King-
eight months later King Tribhuvan died and the Crown 'Prince Mahendra
became King. When a new King comes to the throne he should pay homage
to Kumari during the coronation.

Politicians worship the goddess in the hope that their careers will
prosper. But foremost amongst her daily worshippers are those who suffer
from haemorrhage, especially when there is any bleeding from the mouth or
nose. A third category consists of those who have recently participated
in a ceremony in which it is regarded as desirable to conclude with
Kumari .E!!.i.!_. This is especially true of such pre-marital rites as the
Hindu brata bhanda (first hair cutting); the Buddhist bare .£!!!.8!!.
(initiation into symbolic monkhood) and marrhge itself. In this cont:ext
Kumari ~ has the important function of freeing participants frcm
ritual restrictions and taboos. A somewhat different category are those
who wish to perform a complex Hindu or Buddhist tantric ritual in which
Kumari worship is a required component. However, because such rituals
normally require the girl to be absent from her house for long periods,
only a few of the wealthiest and most influential persons succeed in
gaining the assent of the royal Kumari. The lesser Kumaris, especially
those of Vajracharya caste, are those most comm.only asked to attend
private functions outside their own homes or temples,
16

The presence of the royal Kumari is required at a number of important

festivals during the year.

1. On the evening of the eighth day of the waxing moon in late December
or early January, Seto Matsyendranath, the highly popular small white god
of compassion, is taken from his shrine in a central Kathmandu bahs (Jana
Baba or Kanakacaityamahavihara), stripped of all his clothes and""jewelry,
and then washed by having large vases of water emptied over his head.
This impressive purificatory rite takes place on a raised platform in a
corner of the baha courtyard with a large and excited crowd of onlookers.
Shortly before the god is carried from shrine to platform the royal Kumar!
is carried into the courtyard on the shoulder of a male attendant and
placed on a seat at the corner of the temple verandah. From here she
can view the washing of Hatsyendranath and also receive the offerings and
homage of those who choose to take the opportunity, Though most of the
crowd ignore her through their interest in the main action, a steady
stream of individuals worship her during the half hour or so that she is
present, She is brought from her house to Jana Baba and back again on the
streets for no more than a few minutes with few onlookers even aware of
what is happening.

2. On Mila Punhi, the beginning full-moon day of Magh (the 15th day of
Magh which is also known as Swastani Purnima and usually occurs about
mid-January) the god Narayan is carried from his ancient and famous
hilltop temple of Changu about two miles north of Bhaktapur to
Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu. He is carried about the neck of his bearers
in the form of a carved silver water vase, and by the time he reaches
Kathmandu at dusk he is followed by a large procession of devotees and
preceeded by a military contingent of the royal priest of HantDDan Dhoka,
waiting to be greeted by Kumari the living Goddess whose house is near
by. People press about, fervently whispering, 'Narayan, Narayan, Narayan,'
while certain religious ceremonies are conducted in the light of flaming
torches. Soon a small band of musicians arrives with Kumar! in its midst,
carried in the arms of an attendant. He seats her on a low bench near the
Narayan image, whence she gazes with round, exotic eyes at the crowd of
worshipping onlookers.

Finally, the Taleju temple gate is opened, Narayan is carried quickly

inside, guns crack in salute, Kumari is whisked back to her home and the
priestly military band marches through the Hanuman Dhok.u gate. 11 (Anderson,
229).

3. Ghoda ~. the festival of horses, is held on Aunsi, the 15th day

of the dark lunar fortnight of Chaitra (late March or early April). The
festival consists of horse races, bicycle races and such military
spectacles as parades and parachute jLDD.ping held on the Tundikhel. Puge
multi-ethnic crowds attend with the King and foreign dignitaries in the
 17

royal stand at one end of the ground and Kumari at the other end on her
own small stand. One informant suggested that the oresence of Kumari was
a survival from an earlier period, presumably that of the Malla Kings,
when the principal feature of Aunsi was a visit to the nearby BhadraKali
temple by the Raj Kumari mounted on a horse9 and followed by the King and
his retainers. Another suggested that Kumari attended the races in her
role as Taleju Bhavani. In the popular origin tale of Ghode Jatra the
Tundikhel is said to have once been fertile farming land, but people
became afraid when farmers began to disappear, The King was disturbed
and after appealing to Taleju she came to him in a dream and told him
that the field ~ was the abode of a demon called Tundi and it was he
who was killing the farmers. When the demon met his death the people
raced over his chest on horseback. The contemporary horse races are run
in order to keep Tundi in his place and Kumari as Taleju attends because
it was she who advised the King how to get rid of the demon. {See Anderson.
266-7 and Sayami, 1972:39).

4, She again meets Seto Matsyendranath when his chariot {rat ha) festival
is held from the eighth to the eleventh day of the bright half of Chaitra
(April). On the first day she is brought to Jamal or Tindhara near Tri-
Chandra College to see the start of the chariot-pulling when the god is
brought to Asan tol. The next day Matsyendranath is brought to the Kala
Bhairava temple in the palace area. but Kumari remains at home, though
possibly viewing some of the proceedings from the window of her house.
On the third day the chariot is brought through downtown ~) Kathmandu
to Lagan tol where Kumari is also brought to watch and receive homage from
a throne placed beneath a tree, On the fourth and final day Matsyendranath
is dragged back to his divine abode at Jana Baba.

5. On the second day of the waxing moon in Gunla (late August) when the
Kathmandu bahas and bahis exhibit their sacred :Images, texts and banners.
Kumari is t8keri" on a viewing tour sitting on her decorated platfonn.

6. On the 12th day of the waxing moon in Bhadra {September), the day of
the pole-raising outside Hanuman Dhoka that marks the beginning of Indra
.i!!!!_, Kumari, accompanied by Ganesa and Bhairava, is taken to Mulchowk
to be worshipped by the Acahju priest in charge of Taleju.

7. Two days later. on Ananta Chaturdashi (the 14th day of Bhadra) Kumari
1!!!!_ begins when thousands gather in the square before her house. Three
huge and ancient chariots (plate 8) one for Kumari and the other two for
her male attendants Ganesa and Bhairava. wait in the street outside, bands
play• masked dancers prance about and the foreign and Nepalese dignitaries
line the balcony of the old administration building which faces Kumari
che. Shortly after the appearance of the King and Queen on the balcony
a male attendant carries Kumari from her house to her chariot admidst
tremendous excitement (plate 9). Wearing all her most splendid jewelry and
18

aurrounded by male members of her ~ she sits in a beautifully

decorated miniature temple. She is followed by Ganesa (plate 11) and
Bhairava - only slightly less lavishly costumed and decorated - who are
installed in their own chariots.

After the sacrifice of a goat on the yoke of her chariot (to pacify
the dangerous Bhairava plate 10) the procession begins slowly with the
firing of guns. As she pauses beneath the dignitaries' balcony the King
bows to her while she gazes back solemnly. The procession then moves off
through the streets of downtown Kathmandu, where further large crowds wait
to greet the three deities. The next day, the day of the full-moon, the
procession comes out again to go through the streets of north Kathmandu.
In the evening when they are returning to Hanuman Dhoka they pause near
the great blue figure of Akash Bhairava and also before the huge mask of
Seto Bhairava recessed in the wall of the palace. Beer flows from the
mouths of the two masks and after Kumari and her attendants have been
offered a glass and a plate of food ~ ~), the crowd struggles to
get a taste of the holy liquor.

Three days later, the last day of Indra J!!!.!. known as nainicha J!!!.!.,
the chariots are taken around the Kilagar area of Kathmandu. It is
popularly believed that this is an extra day added by Jayaprakasa Malla
to enable one of his concubines living in this district to see the
goddess, When the procession returns to Kumari che the three deities are
taken from their chariots and standing just in front of the house they
are welcomed back by the Taleju priest with the performance of the lase
kaso J2!!.i.!.• They are then taken inside to prepare for the coming of the
King. Kumari retires to her lion throne in the state reception room
where attendants fan her with peacock feather fans. Ganesa and Bhairava
are taken to an ad.1acent room where they sit by the window and are also
fanned. When the King arrives a short while later, usually about 7 p.m,
he first worships Kumari by touching his forehead to her red-painted toes
and by offering her a gold coin. She in return gives him prasad by
placing a red tika mark on his forehead and a garland of flowers around
his neck. He theti worships the two male deities in a similar manner by
offering ordinary coins but without bowing. The moment he has left,
which is a mere seven or eight minutes after his arrival, a huge crowd
rushes to the door of Kumar! 1 s house struggling to get inside to make
their offerings and to also receive her prasad in the form of a tika. A
long queue continues until late at night when the festival finally ends
with the lowering of Indra's pole outside the palace.

8, On the fifth day of the waxing moon of Aswin she comes out to meet
Pachali Bhairava at the gate of Hanuman Dhoka. Pachali is one of the
most powerful and popular of the many Bhairavas and his outdoor temple is
near the Bagmati river between Tripureswar and Kali.mat!, just south of
old Kathmandu, On the fourth day of Aswin, which actually occurs during
Dasain, a sacred kalasa which represents the god is brought from the home
.
"
1
.
~

"
0

!.-
0

~
~

"
0

"
.
0
~
Plate 11. Canesa. 1970
 19
of the Jyapu peasant caring for him that year to his riverside temple.
Until late the following night he remains here to receive the offerings of
a constant flow of devotees. They come in musical gr.oups and with gifts
of all kinds, including meat, ricebeer and the blood of countless goat and
fowl. Then at about midnight a large and excited crowd greets first Ganesa
brought as a small image on a Khasai drum and then Aj ima as a silver bowl
held by a Jyapu. Both the men bearing these sacred representations are
themselves believed to be possessed by the spirits of Ganesa and Ajima.
The crowd greets Ganesa as the son and Ajima as the wife of Pachali
Bhairava, though Aj ima is recognised as Ganesa' s step-mother, not real
mother. After a great deal of wild swaying and shouting the large Pachali
Bhairava vessel finally emerges from the temple pit held aloft by some ten
reeling men. A procession then forms to take Pachali and Aj ima through old
Kathmandu to Hanuman Dhaka square in front of the old palace. According to
Anderson and indeed confirmed by my informants as the usual procedure, a
great ~ is then performed in which "several goats and buffaloes are
sacrificed and their blood drunk by performers costumed as Bhairava,
Kumari and other bloodthirsty deities. The sacrificial animals are fur-
nished by the Government in the name of the King of Nepal, complying with
the ancient tradition by which Nepalese Kings themselves formerly attended
such ceremoni.es". (Anderson, 163) When 1 attended in 1973 events were
much simpler with no sacrifices at all; I was told that this was because
the state was still in official mourning over Mahendra's death. About five
minutes before the procession reached the square at 1.20 a.m. Kumari's
young male attendant ~ ...erged from her house bearing her on his shoulder
and followed by two young girl attendants. He brought her over to the
covered terrace just outside the Hanuman Dhaka and placed her on a simple
wooden chair. No one witnessed her arrival - indeed the deserted and
quiet courtyard gave no indication that an important event was about to
take place. Kumar! (plate 1) was made up with her usual hair-do and third
eye and wore her golden snake necklet and some other ornaments - though
far less than on her festival day. The two girls, aged about 13 and 8,
stood behind her chair and the young man placed a beautiful silver kalasa
and small bowl before fer feet, Then over the next five minutes ab~
fifty people assembled near the palace gate to welcome Pachali Bhairava.
About half of these, mostly elderly men, paid their respects to Kumari by
placing a few coins in her hands and then touching their foreheads to her
feet. The youth periodically took the coins from her hands and placed
them in the bowl at her feet, Then suddenly in came Ajima and Pachali
Bhairava careering wildly across the square and up to the palace doors
where they swayed about, circled in, and swayed out again a few times just
a few feet below Kumari and without any apparent contact or recognition on
either's Part. Just before they moved off again a musket sounded loudly
and I noticed the male attendant quickly covered Kumari • s ears so that the
should not be startled. When Pachali and his retinue had left to rei:urn
to the Jyapu homes the youth picked Kumari up and carried her back. to her
house, a mere fifty yards away, followed by the two girl attendants
carrying the chair, Kalasa and bowl. Four elderly men followed the little
procession playing trumpets.
20

Informants are far from clear as to why Kumari should be present at

this particular ceremony. Some suggested that as the living form of
Taleju and hence the confidante of Kings she is required to be present
whenever deities are brought to the palace gates - another instance of
this being her greeting of Changu Narayan. Another and more specific
possibility, however, is that she attends as the daughter of Pachali
Bhairava and Taleju Bhavani - a relationship which is dramatized in a
Kathmandu dance (Sayami, 14-15). A similar close link between Kumari,
Bhairava and Ganesa is also evident in that in the Kumari J.!!!.!. all three
parade toeether in their chariots, Certainly Pachali is locally repre-
sented as the father of Ganesa and in classic Hindu mythology Siva, whose
Tantric form is Bhairava, is again Ganesa 1 s father.

9. On ,!talratri, the 'black night 1 of the great eighth day (!!13ha ~-tami)
of Dasain, 108 buffaloes and 108 goats are slaughtered under state
auspices in Mulchowk in the old Hanuman Dhoka palace in central r-atlunandu.
Mulchowk is immediately adjacent to the Taleju temple, and it is here
that the sri yantra mandapa of the goddess is kept for the four impor-
tant sacrificial days from saptami to dasami. The animals are
killed by Kasai, untouchable Newar Buddhists, while tethered to stone
pillars placed around the edge of the courtyard. They slit the throat
so that the animal dies slowly with prolonged body spasms and a steady
small stream of blood from the jugular vein. Tliey then sever the heads
and after dragging them around the courtyard take them to the !I!!!! on
the first floor as offerings to Taleju.

The following evening (navami) nine young Sakya girls and two Sak.ya
boys are prepared at Kumari's house to take the parts of the Gana K1Dllari
and Ganesa and Bhairava. They have a few simple pieces of jewelry and the
girls'hair and faces are made-up in the Kumari style. They are brought
in a procession across Darbar square to Mulchowk where they are worshipped
in an upstairs room by the Acahju priests. They are then taken back to
Kumari che and a short while later the royal goddess walks on a cloth t:o
Mulchowk where she is taken to the .!&!!!_ and placed on a seat in the
midst of the buffalo heads where she is worshipped by the Acahju priest.
I could not, however, obtain any details regarding the rites performed,
for the .!&!!!!! is closed to all other than the Taleju priests.

Once again the ambivalent nature of the goddess is made evident.

As Kwnari the virgin no blood sacrifice should be made to her, a prohibi-
tion which applies most especially when she is worshipped as a Buddhist
deity. But in her 'inner' role as a living form of the powerful mother-
goddess, she can only be satisfied with the warm blood of animals killed
in her name. This is equally true whether she is identified with such
essentially Hindu deities as Taleju, Durga, Kali, Kaumari or Bala Kumari,
or with the Buddhist Vajradevi or Vajrayogini. They are all, in Newar
terms, mwahi ~ - deities who can only be satisfied with blood (.!!!_) that
is alive (mwa). On kalratri night Kumari is brought to the scene of
mass. sacrifice and is seated in the centre of a ring of gory animal heads
 21

':llhile worshipped by the Acahju··the lower caste priests who often officiate
at sacrificial rites. The animals are not, however, directly sacrificed
in her name but rather for the enigmatic and fonnless Taleju; nor is she
?resent during the killing.

On the morning of the following day (navami) a horse, which is said

to be Kumari 's, is worshipped by a group o"f"'WOlnen (lakhuni) who live in
the palace. Throughout the year the horse is allowed to wander freely in
::i.e palace courtyards and i t is fed daily from funds supplied by the
government ~office. It is worshipped on navami in conformity with
the general practice whereby everyone makes offerings to vehicles, tools,
instruments and other practical aids. In a similar manner, offerings are
ill.a.de to Kumari 's chariot and portable throne.

None of my informants could provide any ex;>lanation as to why Kumari

should have a horse, The son of an ex-Raj Gubhaju suggested that it may
"'ell pre-date the establishment of a living Kumari and in fact have
belonged to Taleju when she was first brought to Nepal. There is only one
other occasion when the horse appears in public; when Kumari is taken to
the 1·undikhel for Ghoda l!!!.!, it accompanies her and stands nearby during
the races.

The Patao Kumari

This Kumari, who was once the tutelary divinity of the Halla Kines
of Patan, is still of considerable importance, especially in her own town.
Indeed, if ~fright's Vamsavali is correct, she is by far the oldest dating
back to the time of Lakshmikamadeva in the 11th century. My informants
did not, howe'ver, refer to this monarch and instead attributed the origin
of her worship to Siddhinarasingh, tb.e 17th centuTy ruler who built the
first Taleju temple. The widely-known story recounts how Kumari as
Taleju used to come to speak to Siddhinarasingh in his .!S!!!. in the
palace. He ruled the kingdom in accordance with her advice. Then Ont!
day when they were playing tripasa his queen saw them through the
keyhole. She complained to the King and when the goddess heard this she:
told him that she could not come any more to a place where she was
regarded with suspicion. Siddhinarasingh was worried and asked her if
they could not perhaps continue to meet if she took some other form. She
told him she would enter into the body of a young girl whose parents
were of a degraded and low profession. Siddhinarasingh himself looked
for such a family and he selected the Doosah, a section of the Vajracharya
caste whose members gather gold·-dust from rubbish and melt i t down for
re-working.

In most of the many versions of this tale as told in the three

capital cities the goddess is presented as having chosen the Sakya caste
because from the point of view of orthodox Hinduism. its members are of
22

low and degraded status. As melters of gold, symbolically the god Vishnu,
they should theoretically be classed amongst the untouchables. Indeed,
the work of the Doosah is exceptionally polluting because they disturb
the elements by separating gold from copper by using salt and sulphur,
The intent of the Taleju Kumari tale would therefore seem to be to
represent the King as being penalised for his lust towards the goddess
by having to worship her in the form of an untouchable girl. Yet amongst
the Newars, the Sakya and Vajracharya are accorded high status as the top·
ranking Buddhist castes. The conundrum is resolved by the convenient
contradiction in Sakya status - the King meets the goddess' demand but is
saved from the pollution risk. Why the goddess should have made such a
demand cannot be so easily answered. It may be that the King's dilemma
reflects the difficulty experienced by an orthodox Hindu ruler in gaining
the allegiance of a !)redominantly Buddhist population. However, I suspect
that the King's difficulty is also, and perhaps more importantly another
of the many contradictions inherent in the Kumari cult - the mature And
sexually-attractive Taleju who becomes a young virgin, the blood-lusting
Durga who as Kumari must never have sacrifices made to her, the young
premenstrual girl who has a full set of second teeth and the King who
must worship a living goddess of low caste.

The Doosah of Pa tan are all members of Hawbaha in Gahbaha locality,

The baha used to be located in the palace area of Mangal Bazaar, "iut when
Siddhinarasingh wanted the site to extend his palace, he granted the
members a new ?lot of land in Gahbaha. The baha currently has about 170
initiated male members, and with the except1on of a single Sakya family
resident in Dharan in the east terai, all are Vajracharya. 'Doosah' is
the hereditary occupation of the Vajracharya, and even today more men
follow this profession than any other.

The Patan Kumari is chosen from the daughters of the Hawbaha men.
I was given the following description of the selection orocedure by the
father of the girl who was in office from 1946 to 1951. When the previous
incumbent, who was then about 12, li'as seen to be no longer fit because of
some strange signs of ugliness on her face, a report was sent to the
Hakim of the Chebhadel section of the Patan administrative system. The
Hakim was one of the surviving officers of the old l<lalla regime and
until the position was abolished in recent years, the hereditary incumbent
carried out a number of ceremonial tasks. In Malla times he would have
been one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom. He came to Hawbaha
and after looking at the girl declared her unfit, whereupon a man
immediately went around the locality announcing that all eligible girls
should be brought to the ~.!:!!.· Twenty girls came and sat on the raised
platform. (phalcha) just to the right of the entrance where the Mulpujari
('Chief priest') of Taleju, a Dec Brahman hy caste, examined them ,..ith
the Hakim acting as witness. Partly by interrogation of the g1rJ.s'
mothers and partly by physical examination he reduced the field to just
 23

four. The criteria of selection, both in theory and in f'ractice, are the
same as for the Kathmandu KumarL The Mulpujari then took them to the
Bada Guruju (Royal Priest) in Kathmandu for final selection. The wife of
the Bada Guruju first examined them :1hysically and as a result two more
were disoualified. Now the Bada Guruiu asked two IP8le assistants wl>at
they thought and after some consultation, they recommendP.d my informant's
daughter. The Bada Guruju, after a hrief examination, declared her to be
the next Kumari.

Though !!!!.h.!. .!!._t.,!.111,! of Dasain is regarded as the ideal occasion for

the installation of a new Patan Kumari, some other ausricious day may be
named by the royal astrologer if this should prove necessary in order to
avoid the disaster of no Kumar! to attend the Matsyendranath festival in
April or May. After selection by the Bada Guru ju she is 1-rought to the
King who pays brief homage, and then returns to Patan in a procession.
A short while later, when the auspicious day arrives, she is brought to
the home of the MulpujarilU in Hangal Bazaar who performs the long and
complicated rituals in which she literally becomes the goddess. The only
people who attend are the Mulpujari and those melllbers of his family who
wish to, the Jyoshi Jyoti (Newar astrologer) and the g.irl herself. The
whole ceremony is called Kumari sthapana .P!!1!. ('Kumari foundation worship')
rhe girl sits naked in front of the priest and his assistant for the
introductory purification ceremony (sachaielasnan pu1a) in which her
body is sprinkled with water from a holy vessel (kalasa). Then follows
the main p~in which her body is cleansed of all Pi:-eV"ious life experi-
ence so that the spirit of the goddess may enter a perfectly pure being.
lt is called !lngasodha~<!_ l!!!J.!. (.!_n.!!_ means 'parts of body' and sodtiana is
a form of purification) or .!!!_ ~ sodhana. 2!!.l!• The girl continues
to sit naked while the priest purifies each of the six sensitive parts
of her body by reciting a mantra and by touching each with a bundle of
sanctiiied items such as long grass (kus), a dry twig (.!illQ) • tree bark
and various leaves. The six sensitive parts (chakra or kamal) to1tether
with the number of sanctified items for each area&"follo;s:-

1. :Y..l!.: eyes - two

2. adhar: vulva - four
3. swadisthan: vagina - six
4. !!_anipuraka: navel -· ten
5. anahata: breasts - twelve
6. .!?,isuddhi: throat - sixteen.

As the priest removes from the girl's spiritual body all her past
experience of the world, she gradually begins to get redder and redder
as the spirit of Kumari enters into her. My informant, a Dec· ·Brahman
who had attended the rite as an assistant, assured me that he saw this
colour transformation.
24

When the rite is finished the Mulpujari gives the girl .!!&!!!. (ritual
food consisting of boiled egg, flattened rice, curd, dried fish, boiled
meat and rice wine) a betel nut and a new set of Kumari clothes. He then
sends word to her family asking them to send someone, usually the girl's
mother, to dress her, do her hair and facial make-up in the Kumari manner,
and to decorate her with jewelry. Meanwhile, he himself prel?ares her
throne, which is a simple low stool, by drawing the Sri Yantra mandapa on
it with lime powder. This triangle-based mandaoa has for long heen
regarded as the powerful emblem of the Sak~evi of Tantricism. A!'l
he chants the appropriate mantra he covers the stool with a clean cloth
and white cushion. The gitlSI'ts on her throne and it is at this mOUlent
that she is said to have become Kumari - the combined power of the
mandapa and the mantra effect the final and complete transformation.

The Mulpujari worships her for the first time w!th a full-scale
Kumari ~ - a complex of ritual actions that lasts about three hours,
She is then brought from the .P!:!1!. room to a larger chamber where she is
feasted in company with the rest of the Mulpujari's agnatic kin plus
spouses. A procession is then formed in which she is carried from Mangal
Bazaar to her parents' home. She sits here in a reception room for many
hours while members of the public come to worship her and to receive her
tika.

The Kumar! che, which is very small and without any decorative wood-
carvings, is part.Of the corporate property of Hawbaha. It contains little
other than a throne for the goddess and the building is rarely used other
than during Dasain. When seen from the courtyard there is only one
indication that the building is anything other than an ordinary simple
dwelling - a small carved stone insert on the wall which contains three
emblems which can be collectively worshipped as Kuamri when she is not
physically present. They are from left to right a karti patra, dhalbar
and karuna. The first consists of a karti on top and .P.!!r!. below; a
k.arti in turn consists of a shristi and a samhar, symbols of creation and
destruction, and the£!.!!!. is a footprint.~whole thing is a symbol
of the basic philosophical notion of an endless cycle of creation and
destruction. The dhalbar stands for wisdom and the karuna, which one
informant describediS"i)e'ing in the form of a feather from a peacock
(the mount of Kumar!) signifies compassion.

The 'Patan Kumari, unlike her royal counterpart in Kathmandu, lives

at home with her family. However, unlike most of the lesser Kumaris
described below, she is constantly treated as a goddess and hence lives
a most unusual life of restriction and veneration. Her family must set
aside three rooms - a small private one in which she sleeps and eats,
another small one which contains her throne and is used for daily and
other small-scale .2!!1!!_, and a larger one which is used for post-worship
feasts, large-scale .2!!.1!!. and formal receptions. A member of her fami'.y,
most co11D110nly her father, acts as pu1ari and he must perform~ .2.'!i.!.
Plate 12. The Patan Kumari, October, 1974
Plate 13. Kumari standing on her peacock mount on the wooden~~
over the> door in }!at..·haha that lP-ads to her hnuse.
'?late 14. The Pa tan Kumari 's apron(l!£hj)
Plate 15. One of the Patan Kumari 's necklaces(narasilamala)
 25

each morning. About 8 a.m. she enters the p.!!J!:. room and sits on her throne
while her pujari worships her for at.><·ut fa.lf an ~our with incense, burning
lights, flowers, grain, cooked eggs, meat and rice wine. She should as a
minimum requirement wear red clothes, have on her forehead the third eye
and her hair done up in the Kumar! style. Members of the public may come
to worship her also at nitya pu1a: some just have offerings, others may
wish to bow to her feet, recite~ etc. The~ wait outside the open
room until the pu1ari has finished has devotions and then make their own
offerings. Those who wish to perform a full Kumar!~. of which there
are a number of different kinds, must first si?ek .audience with the goddess
and ask her permission. If she gives her assent a suitable day will be
selected after consultation with the family astrologer. On such occasions
it is usual for the client to bring his own priest to perform the p.fil.
I was informed that other than during Dasain, when perhaps 30'1··400 people
come to worship her, only about five or six a 1Jeek make offerings. They
include the following categories:

l, Those who have been placed under food or other restrictions through
participation in one of the ~ (life-cycle rituals) commonly
perform Kumari ~ as a means of release from the taboo.

2. Individuals who have bleeding prohlems - especially women with

menstrual difficulties, but including cases of haemorrhage and
chronic vomiting.

3. Government officials fearing demotion.

4. She is also credited with the power of foreseeing future events, so

those with ambitious plans, such as the openin~ of s new shop, may
seek advice.

Though the father or some other male member of the family looks
after the girl's ritual requirements, i t is the mother 1¥'ho cares for her
daily needs, looks after her clothes and jewelry, arranges special ~
or interviews and in general exercises a great influence in her life.
Providing the girl conforms in such matters as J!!!J.!_ attendance, .dress,
daily purification, food taboos, sleeping arrangements, and a prohibition
against going outside the house other than on fixed special occasions,
she may do whatever she wishes. If she so desires she may take part in
ordinary domestic tasks, but she must never be asked to ::lo so. IndeP.d,
even ~may only be performed providing she assents, and l.f she
objects to certain kinds of rituals, such as long ones, they must be
avoided. As a goddess she should not need any formal aducat Lon and
certainly she does not attend school. However, the present Incumbent,
who has been in office for some 17 years and ls now over 19 years old,
has received private tuition from her mother and other family members.
26

The age of the present Kumari {plate 12) is l'IOSt unusual and 1.s the
cause of considerable comment and unease amongst Patan residents. The
formal signs of disqualification are the same as for the Kathmandu Kumari·-
bleeding, especially first menstruation, loss of tooth, bad illness and
any kind of skin disfigurement, especially smallpox. The tas\.: of reporting
the presence of any disqualifying sign is in the hands of those who look
after her, above all her mother, and until such a report is made no formal
action can be taken. Though it is theoretically possible that the girl
may not have experienced menstrual bleeding and may have lost her first
teeth without noticeable loss of blood, most of my informants were inclin'!!d
to be sceptical. They assl.Dlled that some signs must have ap9eared but
they have been either ignored or overlooked for various reasons. Though
a few might suspect the girl's mother of wishing to prolong the faID.ily's
social prominence and perhaps even the small financial reward of having a
Kumari in the family, most are of the opinion that the situation is the
result of difficulty in finding a girl whose parents would agree to her
becoming KlDDari, Despite the modest wealth that goes to the girl's family
from offerings and from the Kumar! !!:!!h!.. few wish to see their daup,hter
miss school-going years. Meanwhile, the size of the present incumhent
creates a few embarrassments and difficulties. When she goes out of t"ie
house to attend a special function she must be carried, and because she
is now so heavy she needs two men to hear her on a palanquin or four on
a throne. Small Ku:maris can be carried in the arms of their fathers or
other male relatives,

Her jewelry, though less valuable than that of her Kathmandu counter-
part, nevertheless constitutes an impressive collection. I was shown the
following:

l. ~ (or cakri): a silver headdress with 13 petals (~imkimba).

2, ~: a red cloth-apron decorated with carved silver-plated metal

strips. (plate 14).
3. basukinagmala: a silver-plated necklace named after the king of the
water serpents and supposedly the oldest piece of jewelry in her
collection. It was sent from Guyheswori to protect her,
4. bi1banta tava: a gold-plated necklace always worn by brides at the
marriage ceremony.
5. !.!I!= a simpler gold-plated necklace with plated red threads for the
band part and said to represent seven .!l!I!.!. or serpents.
6. narasilamala: a necklace with 24 silver-plated heads. (plate 15).
7. sikrimala: a necklace made of silver-plated chain links.
8. banmala: a necklace with 20 silver-plated six-petalled flowers.
9. suchephu: cloth armbands with silver-plated decorations.
 27

10. ~= silver-plated bracelets. (plate 16).

11. pveka angu: four plain silver rings worn on the third and first
fingers of each hand.
12. bhanju: silver-plated anklets of linked squares.
13. tutibage: silver-plated anklets with bells.

Members of Hawbaha who wish to perform either one of the more complex
Kumari ~ or some other ~ in which the presence of the goddess is
desirable, may, providing she gives her assent, do so in their ovn homes.
Such privately-arranged engagements are, however, rare events, and her
contact with the outside world is mostly restricted to those few annual
events at which her presence is mandatory. They are as follows:

1. The festival of Red Matsyendranath

There are five separate occasions when she is brought out to sit on
her throne (kha) to view the passing procession and to accept the offerings
of devotees.The first occurs on the fourth day of the bright fortnight
of Baisakh when the two chariots of Minnath and Matsyendranath begin their
long journey through Patan to Lagankhel. The second occurs a day or two
later at Gahbaha close to her own Hawbaha, and the third near Thatibaha on
the edge of Lagankhel where a huge crowd gathers to witness the dropping
of a coconut and seven other auspicious objects from the top of Matsyen-
dranath' s spire. The two chariots remain for some time at Lagankhel
waiting for the auspicious day for the final stage of the journey to
Jawalakhel. On that day Matsyendranath stops briefly in front of a
resthouse about half way to Jawalakhel where Kumari sits enthroned.
Finally, she is brought out to attend the dramatic concluding ceremony
at Jawalakhel when the ancient sacred waist-coat (bhoto), is displayed
to an enormous crowd which includes the royal fami~overnment officials
and military officers. For this occasion she is enthroned in a dharmasala
in front of the chariot and beside the royal stand. On each of ~
outings she is, if small enough, carried by her father or brother, or if
too big then a number of Jyapus carry her in a palanquin. Though the
formal aim is to enable her to witness events, an additional motive is to
provide an opportunity for large numbers of persons to make offerings to
Kumari herself. The only reason my informants could give for her special
interest in Matsyendranath is that his is by far the biggest and most
important festival of Patan. lt may well be that she also attends because
her own patron, the King, is present. In the days of the Mallas, the
King of Patao, often accompanied by the Kings of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur,
joined the procession on foot for the last stage from Chukabaha to
Lagankhel. (Locke, 1973: 29).
28

2, pasain

On navami the ninth night of Dasain, 11 children of Rawhaha, nine of

them girl.S""""Srid two boys, are prepared to take the parts of tli.e Gana
( 1 group') Kumari, together with Ganesa and Bhairava. Preparation is
fairly simple. consistine: of face make-up with third-eye, hair preparation
in usual Kumari style with some simple head ornaments and a shawl. The
sama (make-up boy of powders for tika mark etc.) and the samhahr (cos-
metics) are supplied by the goverTiiiieilt. The names of the Gana Kumari are.
those of the Asta Matrika plus Ugrachandi; in effect, the Nava Durga who
are individually worshipped on the first nine days of Dasain at their
reilsect:lve £!!E!.. The criteria of selection for the p:irls· are technically
the same as for the chief Kumari with emphasis placed on no loss of teeth
anC: no smallpox scars. It is also regarded as desirable that all of the
bahs girls who conform to these criteria should be selected at least
·once, so first choice is given to those who have not yet had a turn. "The
Ganesa and Bhairava boys should be beautiful and without any kind of
physical imperfection. Meanwhile, the Mulpujari and his assistants
perform sodhana pu1a_ at Taleju temple for the Gana Kumad. 1·'hen finished
he walks to Hawbahs carrying a tray of blessings (prasad) for the Kumar!
part~'. In order to ensure that no one touc;ies him, two Mahans, one in
front and the other behind, accompany him. (There are altogether five
Mahan whc are maintained by the government as caretakers at Mangal Bazaar)
On arrival he touches eac:1 of the girls and boys on the forehead and
gives them the prasad of Tale ju. A procession is then formed to bring
the party back again to Mulchowk in Mangal Bazaar. The Mahan womenfolk,
whc normally live in the palace and do such work as cleaning its many
shrines and bringine water and daily offerings to its resident deities,
carry the nine youne; Kumaris to Mulchowk, The procession also includes
a small musical group sent by the government. On arr:lval at Hulchowk
the Mulpujar:i and his assistants take the girle to a first floor room
where he. worshipe them in a brief ceremony that focusses on the presen-
tatior.. of rice, fruit ancl boiled ege;s. When the girls leave. the roou;
by its western door they are each presented with a clay stove, 2 oots
(one for rice and the other for pul sea), a clay lid ~) for a bread
pan, a steaming pot (£.o.!.!!!J with holes in the bottom and some fruit.
The pots, which are presented by the government, are all of toy size and
intended to be used as such by the girls. Finally, they are carried
back in procession to Hawbaha.

Some time later in the same evening, a sword, token of Malla royalt·f,
is sent from the palace to Kumar! che to sunmon her to Taleju temple.
Carried on a palanquin by Jyapu attendants she is brought in a formal
procession with accompanying bands, including one sent by the government,
She is placed in the shrine on the west side of Mulchowk where the Deo-
Brahmins perform long and complex~ in her honour. These should
take from five to six hours? but because the present Kum.ari dislikes
 ,.
such long ses:'!!ions all but the l'lOSt important are performP.d 9rior to her
arrival. The shrine in which these rites are performed is without an
image other than during the main four dayl'! of Dasain ,.,hen it contains t'ie
sri yantra ~andapa of Taleju. The simultaneous presence of the t1"•o deiteis
in the one shrine once again indicates their cannon 'f.dentity.

Some hours later, when i t is past midnight and hence already vi1aya
dasami, Kumari is carried back to her parents' home 11here she 1'egins the
day's rejoicings hy giving her own Dasain Jih: first to her puiari, (at
present her elder hrotl1er) 1 then to tile Taleju Dea-Brahmans, the various
hereditary functionaries still maintainl'!d in tlie old Malla palace, and
finally to members of the general public.

Two days later on the twelfth day of Dasain she is takr.n out again
on her portablP. throne to be worshipped hy t~e members of two ~rivate
endowments (~ a11d to give prasad to the pole on w11ich Narendra Malla
(King of Patan from 168/i to 17115) stands outside his palace. s~~e first
goes to Dhaubaha where just one family remains in a ~ which was
established to Horship her in the time of Siddhinarasingh (early seven-
teenth century). The J!!.lli supplies all t\.ie l'..!!J.!. items, but ,.the r:ltual
is performed by her own pu1ari. She is then ta~en to tli.e home of two
Shrestha families in Sota locality _1ust north of t!le palace. Here tli.e
Shresthas themselves perform a brief and simple .2!!.i!_ in 1'>'hic:h they offer
Kumari S!·•eets, fruit and flowers. Fi.nally she is carried on her t"trone
to the base of Narendra 1 s pole where she placPs a betel nut and a coin,
By so doing she is giving notification that in two days t:lme she w:l.11
come to be worshipped - just as she once did long ago 1r•hen Narendra him-
self worshipped her in the palace. Hence on t11e fourteenth da~• s'.•e is
again carried to Mulchowk courtyard where the Tale.1u Dea-Brahman offers
her betel, rice, butter and sugar.

3, During the month of Gunla when bahas and bahis exhihit som.P. of their-
oldest and most precious images, manuscripts and paintings, Kt.DD.art sits
in Hawbaha courtyard on three separate occasions - on Panchadan (eight-
day of bright lunar fortnight) Dhanjaliya (the day after the full moon)
and on Mataya, On each occasion she sits for shout two hours on her
decorated throne (singhasana - 'lion's seat') just to t!-ie right of thf'
main Sakyamuni Buddha shrine in the open courtyard. On tli.e first two
occasions, as the visitors pour in to make offerings to the baha gods and
sacra, they do likewise to the seated Kumari. flowever, on Mata-Ya no
offerings are made to Kumari for this day is devoted to the worshfo of
chaityas; she simply sits on her throne to witness proceedings.

ii. In the month of Ehadra on Gatila fasting day a l?!!.1.! is performed in

each locality to three famous goddesses, Basundhara K.umar1 and Ma~a
lakshmi, in order to ensure a good harvest. In Gahhaha, flanked hy paint-
ing of Vasundhara and Ma~slakshmi, the living Kum.ad is worshipped in her
.!!!?.! in her official residence by the Tha,-.a.1u and Peta1u of P.awhatia.
30

Vasundhara is the Mahayana Buddhist equivalent of Mahalakshrni, the F.indu

goddess of wealth and good fortune. She is represented as the beautiful
16 year old consort of Jambhala, the Buddhist god of WP.alth, and her chief
symbol is an ear of corn. A lParned Vajracharya Pandit of Patan informed
me that these t!iree deities, together 1·ith Va1ra yogin:I, are all forms of
a single goddess but each is associated with a particular .I!:!lil. or 'age'.
In Krita or Satyayuga the goddess was Vajra yogini and of fiery colour, in
Tretayuga she was 'Tasundhara and yellow, in Dwaparayuga she was Mahalaksh:ni
and orange, and in the present Kaliyuga she is Kumar! and red.

When a Kumari falls ill a doctor can only be summoned i f t1te illness
is so serious that she is first declared to be unfit and therefore no
longer Kumari. In the time of Chandra Shamshere (Pr~.me Minister 1901-29)
a Kumar! died while in office. The government arranged and paid for her
funeral which was carried out with considerable pomp and splendour. She
was taken to Bagmati Ghat in a big procession with many bands. Should· a
member of Kumari 's family die whilst res~.dent in the same building she
must immediately leave and stay with some other relative - preferably her
maternal uncle (~). Because her own pu1ari, usually her father or
brother, is in mourning and hence cannot worship her the family priest
takes over daily owrship. She herself does not enter mourning and after
seven days she returns to her father's home.

W:.1en the girl is declared unfit for office she i11111ediiltely ceases to
be regarded as a goddess, and unlike her Kathmandu counterpart 1 is not
required for any final de-fusing or transfer ceremony. She resumes the
normal life of a girl of her age and it seems that her parents do not
experience any difficulty in finding a suitable husband of Sakya or
Vajracharya caste. My informants were of the opinion that though there
is always an element of risk in marrying a girl who was once a goddess,
there is also added prestige. The risk is that if some of the rules and
regulations concerning Kumar!, especially as regards her daily worshi!J,
were not properly observed, then she and her husband may well experience
some kind of trouble, especially financial.

The fathers of two previous Patan Kumaris t>oth told me of unusual

events which they regarded as clear evidence of the presence of divinity
in their families. The first, whose daughter held office from 1951 to
1956 when aged two to seven, sa~ a pile of charcoal in li:l.s house burst
spontaneously into flam.es the day prior to the disqualification of the
previous Kumari. After his initial surprise he managed to put i t out
with water, but only with s019e difficulty. He and his wife then went
upstairs where they saw a red snake on the steps - a sure sign that some
god or goddess had come to the house. Late that evening they found yet
another snake in the family prayer room (agama) and then the following
day the Bada Guruju selected his daughter to be the next Kumar!. NotliinH
unusual occurred during her tenure of office, though t'ie father suspects
that some financial ti·ouhle he has since experienced may be due to
Plate 17. The Ekanta Kumari, Bhadgaon during Dasain, October, 197/i
Plate 18. The Ekanta Kumari, Bhadgaon on her thY.one for worship hy an
Acahju priest ~uring Dasain, October, 1974
 31

mistakes or 0to.issions on his part in his role as nu1ari. He first sus-

pected her approaching unfitness when she developed some facial pimples,
and observing the rule of good skin he immediately ref!orted the matter to
the Chebhadel office in Mangal Bazaar. However, after examination the
officer declared her to be still Kumari. About three weeks later &be. lost
her first tooth by spitting it onto her hand and this :Immediately led to
her disqualification. She is now a young woman of 26 and apparently
happily married to a man of Vajracharya caste employed in government
service. They have three small children.

The father of the !Wmari who held office from 1946-51 when aged five
to ten is a much-respected and prosperous owner of a shop which 1-oth makes
and sells gold jewelry. He is a man of ahout 55 and he takes a prominent
part in community and baha affairs. I have already provided his descrip-
tion of how his daughter was selected. He also told me that he had pre-
monition of the impending event. One night some weeks prior to selection
she cried out in her sleep saying that a fox had come. Then the next
morning he saw a large snake coiled up on the ledge of her window. He
was very worried by these events, but those who understand such matters
told him not to worry for they certainly indicated some good news. T"10
minor events of some note occurred during her period as Kumari. He him-
self usually did daily .l?!!i!. to her in the morninp: and on one occasion he
became senseless while sitting in front of her. He thinks that he sat
for about half an hour in some kind of trance and when he recovered he
felt most alarmed. He assumed that it must have been t1le result of some
error he had made 1.n the performance of the ritual, The girl's mother
did the brief evening 2.!!.1.!. in which light offerings are made, and she
too once fainted after the performance. The girl is now a pretty and
contented..,looking mother of six daughters. Her husband is a Sakya and
he owns a shop near the old Newar palace. According to the father they
are happily married, She never speaks to anyone of her period as Kumari.

Bhadgaon Kumaris

Bhadgaon, formerly Bhaktapur, is a Newar city of about 40,ll2 persons

located nine miles east of Kathmandu. It was reputedly founded by King
Ananda Deva in 899 AD and for much of the period up to the Gorkha conquest
some 850 years later the reigning King either ruled the valley alone or
maintained a clear ascendancy over the two principalities of Patan and
Kathmandu. Predictably, the Kumari cult was of great importance and
closely linked with the royal worship of Taleju. Even today, though the
cult has suffered through lack of royal patronage for over 200 years, it
is still a prominent and integral part of the worship of Taleju and the
Nava Durga during Dasain.

There are three individual living Kumaris as well as a Gana (p:roup}

Kumari recognised today in Bhadgaon. The Gana Kumari is made up of eight
young girls uho take the parts of the Asta Matrika plus three .,ovs as
32

Ganesa, Bhairava and Mahadeva. All of these girls are selec::ted from the
Vajracharya/Sakya community in Bhadr.aon. There are altogether ahout 5'"10
Vajracharya and 701} Sakya divided amongst five !?ahas.

The three living Kumaris are known as Ekanta (plates 17 and 18),
Wala Lakhu, and Tebuk. The EXanta {'alone' or 'isolated') is by far the
most important and is Bhadgaon' s equivalent to the Royal Kumar is of
Kathmandu and Patan. Though she lives at home wit11 her parents she has
an official residencE' (Kumar! ~, a large but sim?le and undecorated
building in the courtyard of Di~ankara Ba ha (Adibuddhav:I hara or DPon:i.ni)
in north-east Bhadgaon. The building is permanently occu31ied by a family
that has for some generations held an hereditary rig!lt to act as dyapala
to all of Bhadgaon' s Kumar is and as caretaker of Kumar! che and i - , . - -
contents. The family at present consists of two men age'dabout 51"1 and
35 who are related as uncle and nephew and who share the work together
with their wives and children. In addition to the living quarters of thb
family the building contains two rooms used as the agamas of the Ekanta
ancl. Wala Lakhu Kumaris. I t also contains two thrones for the Ekanta
Kumar! - one kept downstairs, the other outside her !.&!!!!. on the first
floor - and a storeroom for her clothes and jewelry.

All three Kumaris are closely linked on a number of grounds: they

are selected by a single committee using identical criteria from a common
pool of candidates, they are all recognised as forms of Taleju, they have
the same ~. and they come together durin11: Dasain, One informant
explained the connection between the three by ohserving that when Taleju
first came to Bhadgaon she emerged from a hole in a tree and then sat
down at the three localities of Wela Lakhu, Tebulc and Bache. This is
why she wanted to take the form of a Sakya Vajracharya girl in each of
these localities,

The Ekanta Kumari is selected initially by the dyapala on the basis

of the usual criteria. He then summons the three seniormost men (thaJrali)
of the Joshi, Acahju and Dec-Brahman who have hereditary ritual du"tie;---
at the Tale ju temple in the old Malla palace, These three men, together
with the Sakya dyapala, must be present at all important Kumari ~.
and together they constitute the formal selection committee. She must
undergo a number of tests to ensure that she has a steady nerve and so
is suitable as a vehicle for the blood-lusting Taleju. The Dea-Brahman
is made up in a frightening manner and the girl is required to sit on his
knee without showing alarm. She must then s:l.t on the Kumari throne with
its canopy of nine serpents carved in wood and again she must remain calm.
These tests, which I understand are carried out in a perfunctory manner,
are conducted in Kumari che and it is here also that the installation
rites are performed by t~three palace functionaries. Unlike Kathmandu,
where these rites should occur on maha astami, and also unlike Patan
where any auspicious day is suitabie,""""in Bhadgaon they must be performed
 33

a few days prior to ghatasthapana, the first day of Dasain, and preferably
on either a Thursday or Sunday. The aim of this arrangement is to ensure
that they have a Kumar! for Dasain.

A Vajracharya informant told me that once during the time of the

Mallas the orthodox Hindu King took such exception to bowing down to a
Sakya K.umari that a girl was chosen from the Dec-Brahman coDDDUnity to
take her place. However, when she uas brought to Taleju at Dasa:!.n for
the buffalo sacrifice she became afraid and cried. A report of this was
sent to t!ie King who immediately re-established the tradition of selecting
the goddess from the Sakya co11111t1nity. The chief signs of disqualification
are smallpox, loss of teeth and menses, but whereas in Patao and Kathmandu
the emphasis is on menses, in Bhadgaon the tooth criterion is the most
important. Because of this the girls seldom remain in office beyond
about 7 or 8 years of age. The present incumbent was installed in 1974
when aged about 5.

The girl lives at !1ome with her family, and other than during Dasain
or when required for some individual ~ she lives a life that differs
little from that of other children. She must avoid death-pollution
(M!!Q,), and must always wear her third eye. The Kumari hair-do and red
clothes are regarded as desirable, but no one minds too much if they
are ignored. She may play in the neighbourhood just like other children
and may also attend sc~ool if old enougl1, Her family need not nerform
daily ~because the dyapala does it in her name at her official
residence. She has some silver jewelry which is kept in Mulchowk in
the palace compound and wears it only at Dasain and for especially grand
individual ~ii.• The Gana Kumar! also have a certain amount of jewelry,
but the two lesser goddesses possess only simple red clothes.

When a client wishes to do Kumari ~ he first approaches the

dyapala who then goes to her family home and arranges for her to come
to her official residence on a suitable and auspicious occasion. Her
mother fixes her :1air do and third eye and dresses her in red clothes
and s:1e then either walks or if too small is carried by some member of
her family. If the occasion is sufficiently important the dyapala will
add some or all of her formal jewelry. She may only get a few such
requests for individual -~ each year and most come from Kathmandu
government officials anxious about the security of their positions.

The big occasion for Ekanta, indeed for all the Rhadgaon Kumaris,
is during Dasain. 1'he first important event occurs on the full ..-moon
day 15 days prior to t!i.e beginning of Dasain The Sa!{ya dxa::>ah selects
a suitable baby to be the new Tebuk Kumari, and also examines both the
Wala Lakhu and Ekanta girls for any signs of disqual:f.f'ication. The
Tebuk Kumari is a small bahy still suclding at its mother's breast and
a new infant must be found each year. Though the haby must be chosen
34

from the Sakya,.'Vajracharya community it is c~iefly worshipped by the many

Jyapus who live in the vicinity of Tebuk .£!!._~. On navami. the principal
day for blood sacrifices to Durga and Taleju, Tebuk K.umari is brought to
her Jyapu home to be worshipped by the people of t~t locality in company
with the Ekanta and Gana Kumari. The Gana Kumari are given seats in a
small downstairs room which when I saw it was being used as a straw
storehouse by the farmer residents of the courtyard. The Ekanta Kumari
sits alone on a balcony in an even smaller neighbouring courtyard, and
for some hours local Jyapu residents come to make offerings. The tiny
Tebuk Kumar! is worship<>ed inside the building in her ..!&!.!!!!. by mmbers
of her .s!!lli who are mostly senior Jyapu residents of the locality, hut
include also the girl's Sakya parents and an Acahju (Karmacharya) priest.
M!_ can be performed by either the Acahju or the Jy4pu thakali (lineap:e
elder), and I was told that if anyone other than the members of her ~
should see this Kumari then some kind of misfortune would befall the
locality.

The Wala Lakhu is regarded as the next most important after the
Ekanta. These two have their agamas in the official Ktmari ~-• and both
stay there for ll days at Dasain. Wala Lakhu, however, also has an.!&!!!!!.
in a courtyard in the big square that conta~-ns the famous Dattatreya
temple. The courtyard is similar to those found in bahas and on the
ground floor opposite the entrance there is a shrine containing a female
deity called Devi. The surrounding building b called Wala Lakhu (~
means 1 palace') and informants were of the opinion that it was once
owned by the Malla kings. The importance of the building is evident in
that Bhadgaonts most famous deities, the Nava Durga, also have their
~ here. 'fhe Wala Lakhu Kumari is said to have been established when
the concubine of a Malla King uho lived in Wala wanted to worship and
see Kumari during Dasain. The Ekanta Kumari is so sacred that only
those witho-.ot pollution can worship her - certainly a concubine would be
quite out of order. So the King began this Wala Lakhu Kumari especially
for his concubine.

Each morning during the main period of Dasain (from the morning
after ghatasthapana to dasami) two Acahju priests come from Taleju to
Kumari 9..h.!. where they worship the Ekanta Kumari in her !S!!!!!.· A little
later she is taken in a formal procession, preceeded by two men holding
her silver staffs and followed by another carrying her big ceremonial
umbrella over her head, to Catuvarnamahavihara (Sankhota Baba) - a
beautiful baha located close to the palace and which still has a substan·-
tial membership. If big enough the girl will walk all the way with her
bare feet directly touching the ground, but if very small then she will
be carried some or all of the way by her dyapala. All along the route
passers-by stop and briefly worship her by offering a coin and by touching
their foreheads to her red-painted toes. At Sankhota she is taken
upstairs to the !!!!!!!. where she is first worshipped by the seniormost
female palace attendant, who alsc brings her the~~ of Tale.1u, and
 35

then by anyone else of the baha or locality who wishes to do so, On her
return to Kumari che she is..a88in worshipped by many of those who pass
her along the road_--- On her return she first sits on her impressive
downstairs throne where she is briefly worshipped by a local Acahiu
priest (plate 18) and then goes upstairs to her .!S!!!!I_ where she is worship-
ped by her dyapala.

On navami the people of Wala Lakhu come and take their Kumari to her
local .!&!!!!!. where she remains for some hours to receive homage - I was
told that originally she went there to be seen and worshipped by the
King 1 s concubine. Also on navami, usually late afternoon or early evening,
the Gana Kumar! and the Ekaata Kumar! are taken from Kumar! che to Tebuk
che. When the locals have finished their offerings a group Ofpalace
officials, accompanied by a band, arrive to take the Gana Kumari to
Mulchowk. Thi!!y are brought to an upstairs room where they are worshipped
by the current dyapalas of the Acahju, Joshi and Dea-Brahman families who
still share important hereditary duties connected with the worship of
Tale.ju and other palace deities. A fe>P hours later the officials and
band return to Tebuk che where they collect the Ekanta Kumari and bring
her through Mulchowk tOthe inner Kumari chow~. She is seated on a large
throne placed in the centre of the courtyard, and as in Kathmandu she is
surrounded with the heads of many of the animals that had been killed in
Mulchowk earlier the same day, She is here worshipped in a secret and
lengthy manner by the three Tale.ju dyapalas. Tale.ju herself, possibly in
the form. of a metal sri yantra, is brought down to Mulchowk on the two
previous days (saptami and astami) - she does not appear during the
visits of Ekanta and Ga11a Kum.aris on navami,

There is an interesting connection between the Gana Kumari and the

more famous Nava Durga of Bhadgaon. The eight female members of the
Gana Kumari are the same Asta Matrika who appear together with Ugra-
chandi, in the Nava Durga. However, whereas the Gana Kumari take the
form of young girls, the Nava Durga are represented by mature males
temporarily possessed by the spirits of the mother goddesses. The nine
days of Dasain culminating in navami are devoted to the separate
worship of each of these goCM.esses, with devotees visiting their nine
shrines (pithas) located around Bhadgaon on each day in turn Then on
dasami, the concluding tenth day of re.1oicing, the Nava Durga dancers go
to Tale.ju temple at midnight. After the J?!!1!. the dancers set out on a
long route through much of Bhadgaon and out to the surrounding small
towns of Bane.pa, Thimi and Nala. They do not at any stage meet their
Kumari counterparts, though a further connection holds between the two
groups in that the Nava Durga and the Wala Lakhu Kumari share the same
~ in Wala Lakhu.
36

3. The Kathmandu Vajracharya Kumari..s

The Royal Kumaris, though :ielected from the Newar Buddhist community
are closely identified with the worship of such Hindu deities as Tale.;u,
')urga and the Asta Matrika. In each instance their priests are Hindus,
either Dec-Brahman or the Karmacharya section of the Acahju. In Katl:unandu,
however, th.e Vajracharya community has its own Kumaris who are worsh:f.rioed
by priests usir.g Buddhist texts, and are commonly identified with such
lluddhist deities as Tara, Vajradevi or Vajravarahi. The 18 main bahas .
of Kathmandu have for long been divided into three secti.ons (.2!!!.!) based
on locality: the north. (T!lam or 1"hane), central (Datuthe,.•a - from Asan to
~ru !2!) and southern (Yan or Kone). F.ach. se.ction 111ain.tains its 01-'fl
separate membership and organisation as well as comhininr. into a single
inclusive achary~ ~ that meets annually at Swayamb!iu. T!ioup,li. today
there is only one Vajrac:'\8.rya Kumari left in tli.e city, she is S!lecificall•T
1ssocinted with the north (Thane), and only a few years ago a.nether 1•as
resident at Mubaha in t?1e central zone. Vajracharyas of downtown or south
.(athmandu did not kno11 of any similar exclusive Kumarl for their. area,
though some pointed out that the royal Sakya Kumari has a part:f.cularly
close connection with their area of Kathmandu.

The Mubaha Kumari is of soecial interest because for Va i rayana ?.ud--

dhists she is by far the most important. By this I mean that for any in-·
dividual or group that wishes to perform a spectfically "airayana ceremonv
that includes the worship of a living Kumari the first choice would he th'!!
:-tuba~a girl. It is she who provides the most {lerfect representation of
such female Tantric divinities as Vajradevi, Va.1ravarahi, or Trailokyadevi_.
:..<'urthermore, she may even be regarded as superior to the royal Kumari in
that if the latter should bee.om.a ill !ler attendants are required to send
.>fferings to her Mubaha counterpart.

The fame and prestige of this Kumari is, however, largely confined
to the small world of Kathmandu Newar Buddhists. W.1en the last incumbent
finally gave up office in 1972 it was only after a considerahle i>eriod had
elapsed since the loss of her first tooth. T~is delay was caused hy t~e
lack of any willing successor. 'lver a year later th~ oosition was still
vacant and looked as thourh it would remain so.

A member of Hubaha ('<la.lasrimahnvihara) told me that the first

'lajracharya settlement in t'le valley had heen in a town called Batisputali
near Pashupatinath where they all stayed in a monastery called Pimbaha.
At this time the dyapala at Pashupatinath ·~as a Va.1racharya wtio led the
community in the performance of powerful Tantric ~ui!!_. One day the
secret goddess Guhyeswori told them to found a new haha. 'rhey made 'lne
out of tlie wood ol a single tree and as the first t'O""""be bull t in Kat'imandu
 37

it was known as Mu (chief) baha. Guhyeswori also told them to introduce

the tantric form of .E.U..i!. witlithe Saktj_ or Devi represented by a living
Kumari.

Mubaha is closely linked with another o{ the central !<attunandu bahas

called Tahsibaha (Suratsrimahavihara.). Both have Guhyeswori as tl1ei-r-
ancestral deity (~ ~), a circumstance which is attril:>uted to a common
origin from the Guhyes'"°ri area, and together they are unique amongst
Kathmandu bahas in performing J!ill. or khadga (sword) i!!E!. on the eleventh
rather than the tenth day of Dasain. Though the living Kumari resides at
'.1uhaba and is often selected from its membership, the chakreswor
(seniormost Vajracharya responsible for importcmt :ir.amas duties) and five
other elders (!i!:!_) of Tahs!baha act as the selection committee. Tl-e
candidates, after initial pre-!'\election hy t.tuhaha members in accordance
with the usual physical criteria, are brought to the official Kumari
!&!!!. located on the first floor directly over the baha entrance. The
Chakreswor puts small rolls of paper in a ritual bowl (~) and his vtfo
then gives one to each candidate. The girl who takes the piece with a
thunderbolt (Y!1!:!) drawn on it becomes the next Kumari - the living
manifestation of Vajradevi, The girl selected is t1len placed heside the
old Kumari on her throne or seat Casana) and the Chakreswor transfers the
various items of jewelry and other insignia from one to another. He make-;
offerings of nuts to the old Kumari, then after she has left thP. seat h.P
does likewise to the new one. Though associated rituals are performed the
~irl is believed to have become Kwnari at the moment the lottery result
is made known.

Throughout her tenure of office she is expected to live in the Kumar:!.

quarters of the ~h!.• She can play in the courtyard with other children
but should never go out of the compound other than to meet her ritual
obligations. If her playmates should be in any way disrespectful they may
be asked to bow before her and ask her pardon. She must not become impure
and should eat neither garlic nor onions. She must also avoid any contact
with leather or other impure substances. Like the 'lloyal Kumar!, she cannot
take medicines whilst still in office. She must always wear her red clothes,
Kumar! hairstyle, third eye and a pair of gold bracelets, She owns a lot
of jewelry hut according to Moaven it is mostly in very poor condition.

Each morning she must sit on her throne to receive the same baie
offerings from a family member. When she goes to houses for privat'e
worship she is either carried on her father's shoulder or on a special
travelling throne that is now but rarely used. As the chief Va1racharya
Kumari who is the first ch.otce for all important Buddhist fil!i!!.,
especially tahasinha (see pp 55-56) pandara, chatrisamamath, samyak, and
panchadan, the girl is kept fairly busy. Chatrisamamath, which is a
E!!.,i!_ to the important ~-deity Chakra Samvara, is performed annually
in every main baha in Kathmandu, and the Muha~ Kumar! should attend all
those held in "the""""central zone (.2h!!!), Her most im:portant external
18

c01n:nii:mcmt, ho..,~ver, 1$ to attend mnhabal:! j?fil on 1tsta1ui of Poush at

Ta:1sibaha. The thakali of Tahsihaha goes to Mubaha to summon her and a
?!uha~a man carries her tl1rough the streets on 11is shoulder. The l?!!1!. is
performed in a special section of Tahsihaha known as Kumar! che. AJ.so on
the full-moon of Baisakh and the chala of Dasain the thal:ali~oth of
Tahsibaha and Dagubaha come to Mubaha to make formal offerings to Y.umari.
Dagubaha is located close to Mubaha and ts most unusual in t'1at its
1nembership is exclusively Vaidya (physicians in the broad !;hrestha
category).

The reluctance of Mubaha parents to offer their daug!lters for the

µosition of Kumar! is partly because of the restrictions t'liat tlie position
imposes on the whole family, and partly because tlie material rewards are
confined to small personal offerings. Neit'1er the !'1ng nor the state takes
any interest in the girl and there is no .&!:!!!!.!. to provide assistance. The
fact that there is at present no living goddess, t!tough certainly re1>retted
by many local residents, does not mean that all those ~which she used
to attend can no longer be performed. Some private clients succeed f.n
persuadinp, the Kwabaha girl to attend their voluntary l?!!.1!.!. - others ma~e
offerings to the spirit of the goddess whose presence may be represented
by a mandapa, her throne or some other emblem sent from \fubaha.

Kwabaha (Maitripuramahavihara) is the foremost initiatory !'aha of

north Kathmandu and is frequentlv listed as seniormost for the whole city.
Its membership is wholly Vajracharya and the men retain the hereditary
right to act as priests (purohit) at two important non-Vaj racharya
centres - the Sakya baha called Sighabaha (or ~{athesimbhu) and the
Pradhan bahs called ih88awan Baba or Thambahi (Vikramasilmahavihara). The
:<wabaha Kumari, though selected from amongst the Vajracharya girls of
~wahaha, is in many ways more closely associated with 'Bhap:a'l'l'an Jlaha. The
Pradhans of this imposing and most unusual baha maintain a separate three--
tiered pagoda-type temple (plate 19) for the exclusive use of Kumar! who
comes here to be worshipped four times each year. The arrangement is in
manv respects reminiscent of that which holds at the old 'ofalla palaces,
and in fact the Pradhans of this baha claim that they are tli.e descendants
of a legendary merchant called Singha Sartha Babu (Kesar Lal, 1~71, 37-41")
who became Raja of Thamel locality in the late 11th century (1''right, 155,
167). Even today Thamel is separated from the rest of Newar Kathmandu by
Rana palaces. Furthermore, Bhagawan Baha stands in a large compound witt>
attractive gardens and cloisters which suggest something of a palace
environment.

The Pradhans are one of a group of castes collectively known as

Chautaria (or Ghatharia) - the others are the Halla, lta.1b'iandari, Joshi,
Acah1u, Amatya and Munshi. The presumed basis of their inter-relationship
is that in pre-Gorkha times they were all connected with t~e palace and
 39

royalty; the Malla were the Kings, the Pradhans were executioners and
counsellors, the Rajbhandari were storekeepers, the Joshi were astrologers,
the Acahju priests of the royal temples, the Amatya were secretaries or
ministers, and the Munshi were clerks or scribes. It is also likely that
some if not all of these castes are further connected through a common
origin in Simr'aongadh in the Terai. Both Wright's and Hasrat's Vamsavalis
note that when Bari Singha Deva came from Simraongadh to Bhadgaon in the
early 14th century, he was accompanied by seven castes, and still today
three of them, Pradhans, Rajbhandaris and Acahju, state that their fore-
bears came either with Bari Singha Deva or the earlier Karna.tic prince
:..ianya Deva. Furthermoie, four of the castes are related through Taleju -
the Mallas worship her as their tutelary deity, the Ra1bhandaris act as
cooks at her temples, and Acahju are her priests in Kathmandu and Bhadgaon
(and used to be in Patan before they were ousted by the Dea-Brahmans) and
the Joshi are astrologers with important hereditary duties at her temples.
The fact that the Pradhans of Bhagawan Baba worship her in her virginal
form as their tutelary deity must he understood as part of the same pattern.

The Pradhans, as members of a caste with a purely secular 1unction,

are dependent on the co-operation of the Buddhist priestly castes in the
maintenance of their baha and in the worship of its deities. The thakali
of Kwabaha acts as their purohit Va.1racharya. His chief duty is to go to
Bhagawan Baba daily to worship the .!&!!!!!. deity (Singl\a Sartha ~hu in the
form of a Bodhisattva and known simply as Bhagawan Dya or Garu Juju is
brought on procession around Thamel locality on PhalRUn Parewa (the day
after Phalgun full-moon). On each of these occasions he must also go to
the Kumar! temple and worship an image of the goddess.

The four days On which the living Kwabaha Kumar! is hrought to

Bhagawan Baba are the two solstices (the tenth day of Krishna Paksha in
Poush and again in Jyestha) when disi (direction) ~ is performed,
!Jasain and on Gaijatra (the day after the full-moon of the Buddhist holy
month of gunla). Each time a musical group, together with members of her
family and the Vajracharya purohit, acc~anies her on the short 1ourney
to Thamel and hack again to Kwabaha. I was told that i.n the past sh~
also used to go to Bhagawan Baha in Sraun to listen to the .l?!!lrohit va; ra-
charya chanting from the haha' s famous gold-letcered copy of the
pra1naparamita.

During the rest of the year the girl lives at home with her family.
She plays with the neighbourhood c~ildren but is not permitted to go to
school. A member of her family is supposed to worshi~ lier daily though
my informants doubted if this is in fact so. She is supposed to wear red
clothes, have her hair done in the Kumari style and have the chird eye on
her forehead. She must never cross the river, and must never meet other
Kumaris, because if their third eye saw hers she could die or become 111.
She has good though simple silvP.r jewelry, and like all other Kumaris,
formal oCCdsions has her toes painted red.
40

The present incumbent is aged about six and ltas been in office for
two years. I was told that the girls never stay as Kumari beyond about
12, and that the criteria both of selection and disaualificaticln are the
same as at Mubaha. The selection committee consist~ of t'!le Ra.1guruju, the
thakalis_ of both Kwabaha and Bhagawan Baba and the annual dyapala of
Bhagawan Baba. Usually there is simple agreement as to which is the most
suitable candidate, but if the committee should disagree they would employ
the lottery system,

The ceremony of installation takes place at Kwabaha with both the old
and the new girls present. The old one, wearing all her jewels, sits on
her throne with the new one on a mat in front of her. The Vajracharya
putohit from Kwabaha transfers supernatural powers from the old to the
new. He places a garland of flowers around the neck of the disqualified
girl who then removes her jewelry. The ex-Kumari gets up from her throne
and the father of the new one places his daughter on it. The old Kumari
is dressed in new everyday clothes while the new one is given a new set
of red clothes from the funds of the Pradhan .&!!!!.!· The old one then has
her formal hairstyle undone while the new one 1 s is made up. Finally,
after the old Kumari and her parents have been feasted the new one is
decorated in all her 1ewelry and she is worshipped by the priest,

She may be worshipped either by going to see her in her family home
or by asking· her to come to one 1 s own house. Now that she is tlte only
Vajracharya Kumari in Kathmandu she is called upon quite often. In
addition to her formal outside commitments at Bhagawan Baha, she is also
sometimes asked to attend ceremonies such as group rites de passage or
large-scale tantric .E!!lll· On one occasion I observed her attending an
;f..h!. ceremony in Kwabaha in which twenty small girls married the bel-fruit.
Her mother carried her into the courtyard and ~laced her on a saucer
chair where she sat crosslegged for a few hours observinp: event. She was
fully made up with hair-do, third eye, red clothes, painted toe nails and
silver jewelry (plates 20 and 21). Her mother stood beside her and occa-
sionally whispered to her - I noticed her once stop the girl from pickinl
her nose. When proceedings were drawing to a close with everyone making
offerings to everyone else most of the adults approached Kumari, touched
their foreheads to her feet and dropped a small offering in her bowl.
Her mother then carried her away on her shoulder,

4. Minor Local Kumaris

Jyapu Kumari of Kathmand~

There are two main groups of Pradhans in Kathmandu - those of

Bhagawan Baba who !Wrship a Vajracharya Kumari, and those of the Itumhaha.'
Kilagar area who worship a Jyapu Kumari, The two groups are closely
inter··related, a fact which is expressed in the supposed brother..-in-law
 41

relationship between their two great folk heroes - Singha Sartha

Babu of Thamel and Keshachandra of ltumbaha. My !'radhan informant of
Itumbaha told me that the King of Tham.el used to pay his respects to the
King of Itumbaha. Still today after tli.e Holi festival this link is re-
enacted by a procession with bands going from Thamel to Itum.baha.

The Pradhans claim that it was they and not the Jyapus who her.an the
Ki la gar Kumar!. Though the girl is recognised and occasionally worshipped
as Kumari by the Jyapus and other residents of Kilagar, she exists
primarily in order to fulfil the ritual needs of the Pradhans in their
~worship. The m!!.• which is called Walim and is reputed to date
back to NS 4 (873 A.D.) when the Pradhans 1:1.ved in Simraongadh, is located
iu the Kilagar area, and the Jyapus have for a long time assisted the
Pradhans in their !&!.!!!!. ~-orship. The .!&!!!!!. god is simply called Bhagawat1
and whenever she is worshipped, (about three times a year), the Jyapu
Kumari, to'ho is said to be her daug'lter, must be present. The Pradhans
also send offerings to Kumari at each of the following festivals: Mhapu,ia
(the fourth day of Tihar when the self is worshipped and long life is
sought from the god of death), Chaitra astami (little Dasain), the last
day of Indra J.!!!!., and Gai !!!.!!!!. (Bhadra). On each of these occasions
at least one male member of each of the six Pradhan U.neages must go to
her house with offerings and worship her. She also may be invited to
attend any im!_>ortant ceremonial event of the Pradhans such as a puberty
rite or marriage, at uhich she must be placed in the seniormost position
at the head of a row. Up to about six years ago when my informant became
the headman (thakali) of the ltumbaha Pradhans, they themselves usP.d to
do daily .2!ti!_ to Kumari on a rotation basis with each in turn discharging
the duty for a year. But because most of them are busy men with many out-
side couanitments he changed the arrangement so that today a Jyapu does the
.P.!:!l!.·
Three Jyapus have the hereditary right to six ropanis of land al-
lotted to them many generations ago by the Pradhans in return for their
:;ierformance of a number of ritual duties in connection with Walima,
Kumar!, Gurumapa and sraddha. Also on dasallli of Dasain these three plus
a fourth carry the offerings for Kuuri .E!!i!_, Yogini ~. Bhairavi ~
and the sword itself for khadga J.!!E!. (see Anderson, 153-4). They go on
procession to Taleju, Kilagar, Thamel, Yetkha, Kwohiti, l-1ola and Tehhaha.
On the same day the Jyapus carry their Kum.ari from her house in Kilagar
to the Pradhan .!&!!!:!. where the hereditary Acahju prieJts worship her. She
is given two sets of clothes at each Dasain, one pUrchased from the funds
of the Pradhans' own Kumar! ~ and the other supposedly purchased with
central treasury tunds. However, the treasury amount has remained
unaltered at 6.08 rupees (sixty U.S. cents) so the Pradhans in effect
have to purchase both sets.
42

The three Jyapu guthiars select suitable Kumari candidates on the

basis of the usual criteria and then bring them to the ~radhans for final
lottery selection by a COlllDittee consisting of the Thakali. his "rife and
their Acahju priest. This must take place on the final tika day of Dasain
(dasami), and the choice is confirmed by a Jyapu brandishing a khukri over
her head. This is to ensure that when similarly threatened by a leading
Jyapu during khadga .1!ll!. she will not flinch.

The criteria of disqualification are the same as for other Kumaris

with the emphasis placed on a lost tooth or menstruation - the girls
seldom exceed ten years of age. The Pradhans like to anticipate disqual-
ification by effecting a replacement before any signs appear. They do
this to avoid the possibility of a long period without any Kumar! since
she can be installed on only one day in the year. If an event that
requires Kumar! worship takes place while there is no living Kumar! they
are required to walk barefoot at night to the Indraini temple in a low-
caste cremation area near the river. This is a most dangerous and
distasteful thing to do and the Pradhans like to avoid this necessity hy
maintaining K.umari continuity.

The girl lives at home with her parents and for most of the year
lives a life that does not differ greatly from that of her fellow Jyapus
of the locality. My informant told me that the Pradhans have eased the
restrictions in recent years and she is now even permitted to attend
school. She must not touch leather and she must wear red clot'li.es and
have her hair done in the Kumar! style. She need not, howevP.r, wear her
third eye other than on formal occasions. She plays openly on the streets
and in the fields, but is excluded from any exhausting work.

Jyapu K.umaris of Patan

The Dec-Brahmans of Patan are divided into six groups which are
referred to both as lineages (~) and as castes (iat). A,. lineages
they claim descent from six Brahmans of Kanau.1 in India who first went
to Simraongadh in the terai, and subsequently were invited by the early
Mallas to come to Patan to act as their priests. Each lineage is named
by reference to the locality in which i t maintains its ~.&!!!!.and where
most of its members still live. As castes the six groups are ranked
according to the number of ordinations (dekha) that their male members
are entitled to take. Such status variations are not very great, espe-
cially between the top five lineages whose members freely interdine and
intermarry. The sixth group is somewhat set apart wit~1 only an occasional
marriage taking place into the sut:ierior lineages.
Plate 20. The Kwabaha Kumari attending an !hi ceremony, K1·iabaha, Novembe:.,
1973. -
Plate 22. The Jyapu Kumari in Mikhabaha, Patan.
 43

Lineage name

1. Bakanimha Sukula
2. Wala Pandeya
3. Thabu Agnihotri
4. Tadalibi (not known by informant)
5. Nuga (no members left)
6. Sonim.ha Misra

A senior member of Bakanimha, the largest and highest-ranking of the

groups, showed me a written genealogy in which he himself was represented
as the 23rd agnatic descendant of the founder Sakti Ram. The genE'.alogy
recorded Bidyananda, who was ten generations back from my informant, as
having died in NS 837 (AD 1717). Tl>is gives an averafte of about 25 years
per generation, a rate which would place Sakti aam in the mid-16.th century,
about the time when Hari Singha Deva brought the Taleju cult from
Simraongadh to the valley.

Each of these six Dec-Brahman groups maintains its ol-m .!..B!!!!!. where
the initiated male members meet periodically to perform tantric ~·
According to the llindu tantra every kind of religious performance should
begin with the worship Of"""'Ga'Desa and Kumari, and for this reason each of
the six groups used to have a living Jyapu !Cumari to attend their !!!!!!!.
and other group rituals. The girls were chosen from a Jyapu community
because the religious law books decree that if a Brahman should worship
Kumari she should be of Sudra varna, if a Chetri or Raja (Kshatriya) she
should be a Chandal (debased oUtCaS'te) and if a Vaishy~ she should be
Brahman.

Today only the Sonimha Deo-Brahmans continue to maintain their Jyapu

Kumari, though up to about 60 years ago another was worshipped hy the
Bakanimha group. No knowledge is retained of when the others, if they
ever existP.d, became defunct. Sonimha, or Solima as it is more commonly
called, is a locality in north-west Patan extending roughly from Pimhaha
to Patan Dhoka. About 12 Rajopadhya Deo-Brahmans live in the locality
and jointly worship at their !&!!!!!.· The thakali of the Kathmandu Pradhans
told me that Walima (their .!&!!!!!.) and Solima are both very old .!&!!!!. dating
back to Simraongadh, and that this is why living Kumaris are still
maintained in connection with their rituals.

The Sonimha Deo-Brahmans select their Kumari from a suh-caste of

about 30 Jyapu families who live nearby in Mikhabaha and its immediate
surroundings. The Deo-Brahman thakali or his representative chooses the
girl according to the usual criteria, and after installation in the ~
she lives at home with her parents. Her life-style, other than on formal
ritual occasions, is very much the same as that of other little Jyapu
girls. When I visited the present incumbent in Mikhabaha I found her
playing in the courtyard without any kind of make-up, SJ>E'cial clothes or
44

even hair-do. She was aged about five and had been Kumari for some fivP-
months. When I asked to take a photo her mother went into the house for
three simple and somewhat battered pieces of .iewelry made of. brass - a
headress and two necklaces. Then a clean of the face made the girl ready
for her portrait (plate 22),

A member of her family, usually her father, performs a simple daily

.l?!tl!, in the morning with rice and flowers, The Dec-Brahman thakali, either
alone or accompanied by the thakali of those Joshis who also have their
!.S!!!!!. at Solima, comes to worship her on the 14th day of the dark half of
each month, Her big day is on the 4th of the bright half of Baisakh when
many Dea-Brahmans and Jyapus of the locality come to Mikhabaha to make
offerings to her. Her principal duty, however, is to go to Solima .!8!!!!:!.
whenever the Dea-Brahmans and Joshis require her presence for Kumari ~.
generally after the marriage or initiation (brata bandha) of one of their
male members. Sometiines she goes to the~ alone, sometimes accompa-
nied by ll small friends so that together they constitute a Gana Kumari.

Bakanimha is an area in the vicinity of the famous Purnachandi temple

at Punchali. Purnachandi is a form of Durga and the goddess is t.he
ancestral deity (dewali dya) for all Patan J)eo-Brahmans. Though they no
longer come together for a common dewali pu1a, each lineage gathers
separately at the temple to worship the goddess whenever one of their
male members marries or is initiated. The Bakanimha lineage, which
-:onsists of about 25 families divided into four sub-lineages, used to
have its .!a!!!!. in a large temple in Bolima tol, and as in Solima the
local Jyapu population supplied a living Kumari (Mu or 'chief' Kumari)
as well as a Gana Kumari for their .!!!!!!!. and !1ewali ~· However, in
1908 A.D. the.!&!!!!.!. god and other images were stolen from the temple. A
few years later they abandoned the custom of living Kumaris and then in
1930 when the temple collapsed in an earthquake they did not rebuild it.
My informants attributed all of these calamities to the many quarrels
which resulted in the sub-division of the group into four sections.

The Bakanimha Dec-Brahmans have, however, continued to maintain

some important components of the Kumar! institution. Her throne is still
kept in the house of one of their members who lives in Bolima, and
whenever they wish to perform Kumari .2!!J.!. they summon the spirit of the
goddess to enter a sacred wat:er vessel (kalasa) which is placed on her
throne. As with the Solima group they do this whenever they perform
~ E!:!.1!, in connection with a marriage or initiation. On such occa-
sions the Jyapus of the locality also send twelve young children as the
Gana Kumari. There is a small building close to the temple ruins at
Bolima which is known as Kumari che, and until it partly collapsed in
1972 a Jyapu woman known as the MaKumari lived there together with her
husband and children. In the past the duty of the Ha Kumari had been to
do daily E!:!.1!, to the living Kumari, and even now she and her husband
discharge the function to her throne. The position was usually filled by
 .;
~ .
t' • ,..• . 'l
.........
'
r~~ • I
~

Plate 23. The Bungama ti Kumart i n ever yd ay attire

 45

the mother or some other close female relative of the girl, but for the
last 60 years it has remained in the family of the woman who held the
position at the time of the last incumbent.

Bunsamati Kumari

Bungamati is a 11holly Newar village of about 700 persons some four

miles south-west of Patao. Much of the social life of the settlement
centres on Matsyendranath (Karuna Maya or P.unga Dyo), the great national

~=~~!h:h~ns;:~::_rrr\~! ~~=g=~i i:~~s B:~:s:!!1~e;~~:h~:~ :~t t~:

dominant castes are the Vajracharya and Sakya who together constitute
about a quarter of the population. Seven of the Va.1racharya and 24 of
the Sakya are known as Panju and i t is they who share the many duties
associated with Matsyendranath. The seven Panju Vajracharya also provide
from amongst their families a living Kumar!. But unlike all other Kumaris
relatively little stress is placed on selection by reference to ideal
criteria. Instead, the position passes preferentially to the oldest of
the eligible girls. The current incumbent (plate 23) is aged five and has
been in office for about one year. I was told that disqualification
follows automatically after a fallen tooth, smallpox, measles or menstrua-
tion, and that the girls seldom stay in office for more than about three
years. Daily .2!U!_ is performed by the father or some other member of her
family and consists of just a simple offering of rice, flowers and red
tika mark. She should be respected by all members of her family and must
e&tfirst. She must wear her hairstyle at all times but otherwise may
live the same life as any other young girl of her age. The great ma.1ority
of Bungamati residents of all castes as well as others from surrounding
settlements, including some Chetri and Brahmans, come to make offerings
to her after a marriage, a boy's initiation (brata bandha) or first
menstruation (.!?!!!. thebu). Many also come when someone is sick,
especially if suffering from haemorrhage.

Both in origin and in contemporary worship the Bungamati Kumari is

closely associated with Matsyendranath. She is said to have first come
to Nepal as one of the many deities who accompanied Matsyendranath. The
main day on which she appears for public worship is the first of Mangsir
or Marga (mid-November), the supposed anniversary of the death of
Matsyendranath. She is dressed in red clothes and jewelry, has her hair
done in the Kumari style and the third eye and red tika on her forehead,
and then spends the day sitting on her throne Casana) on a raised though
open area beside the entrance to the Bhairava (Hayagriva) temple.
Hayagriva is said to be the leader of Patan's four Bhairavas. In more
form.al Buddhist terms he is a tutelary God of the Amitabha pantheon. He
is represented as a fierce god who wears the scalp of a horse on his head
and carries chains or fetters. Matsyendranath's temple is only a few
yards away in the same square and his image is also taken to the Bhairava
46

temple. The Vajracharya Panjus first worship Matsyendranath and Bhairava

and then offer meat, two loaves of bread and flattened rice to Kumari.
For the rest of the day offerings are made by the general population of
Bungamati.

Twenty-two days later, on the eighth day of the dark half of Mangsir,
the Gana Kumari are brought to Hayagriva 1 s temple where they are feasted
and worshipped. The Gana Kumaris, who often do not exceed seven or eight
in number, are selected from any of the Vajracharya or Sakya Panju
families.

The principal Kumari makes a public appearance on two other days,

both in honour of Matsyendranath. The first occurs at about the time of
the winter solstice when the Panjus take his image out of the Bungamati
temple and carry him to his temple in Patan. The second is some six 'Or
seven months later on the fourth day after the god's return to Bungamati.
On this occasion large crowds come from Patao and Kathmandu to see that
Matsyendranath has been reinstalled safely in his temple. Kumari, again
Clad in all her regalia, sits on her throne outside Hayagriva' s temple 'to
watch events and to receive the offerings of her admirers.

Every twelfth year when Matsyendranath is dragged all the way to

Patao and back again in his huge chariot the Bungamati Kumari accompanies
him north as far as the Nakhu river where he is met by the Patao Kumari.

Chabahi Kumari

Chabahi is a largely Newar settlement of about 2,000 persons three

miles north-east of central Kathmandu and just west of the famous stupa
called Bodhnath. It stands on the site of an ancient town called
Kirtipunya or Devapatan which was once a major centre ruled by a King.
There are the remains of many monasteries (viharas) in the vicinity,
including one called Mejubaha on the way to~th and another called
Otubaha in the centre of town. By far the most famous monument at Chabahi
is a large chaitva_ called Dando ('lump of money') which according to the
Buddhist chronicles was built by Charumati, the daughter of the great
Indian Emperor Asoka. She is said to have accompanied her father to Nepal
but decided to remain and marry a prince called Devapala. Wright's
chronicle also records that when she grew old she built a monastery
called Charumati Bihar and retired there as a nun. The chronicler notes
that the monastery still exists at Chabahi just north of Devapatan. When
I visited it, however, some senior members assured me that although it is
known as Charumati Bahi (or more commonly in the abbreviated form of
Chabahi), its true Sanskrit name is Suvarnapurnamahavihara and it was
built as late as NS 850 (1730 AD) by Ganga Maharani, a beautiful Sakya
girl of Kathmandu who became queen of Devaoatan.
Plat e 2li. The Chabahi 1<um/'lr i with her ;rnrents
 47

The bahi, which is in excellent condition with no U10dern additions,

is locat~out 70 yards west of Dando chaitya. I t has about 80 initiated
male members and as with all bahis they are Sakya without any Va.1racharya.
The bahi maintains its own living Kumari who is selected from amongst the
daught;rs of male members. About seven to ten girls usually offer them-
selves and provided they all meet the usual physical requirements of
good skin, no loss of teeth and are pre-menstrual, they are brought before
the main bahi god, a four-foot standing Padmapani also referred to as
Karuna Ma~for final selection by lottery. A young girl takes pieces
of paper from a bowl and hands them to each candidate. The girl who gets
the paper with 'yes' written on it becomes the next Kumari - she has been
chosen by Padmapani. She is installed in office in a ceremony performed
in her own room or shrine in the bahi which is on the first floor balcony
just to the left of the area directly over Padmapani 's shrine. Because
all of the bahi 's members are of Sakya caste they employ as their purohit
Vajracharya a member of Makambaha in Kathmandu - and it is he who
officiates at the Kumari installation ceremony.

The present Kumari is about five years old and has been in office
for just seven months. The previous incumbent was Kumari for about two
years from five to seven, and the one before that for a longer period
from just under one to about nine. The girls live with their families
and other than when required for ritual purposes live fairly normal
lives. When I visited the girl at her home she was playing in the garden
with friends, but was wearing red clothes. When I explained my interest
her parents inmediately insisted that I photograph her in her full
regalia (plate 24), An ll year old girl, the one who had been Kumari for
a long spell some years ago, took the dirty goddess to a tub of water,
scrubbed her face and then proceeded to do her hair in the Kumari style
(plate 25). Meanwhile her father went over to Chabahi to get her jewelry
and decorations from a storeroom. They were quite a good set of heavy
Silver items including head-dress, !!X!_, necklaces, bracelets and
earrings. Her father carefully painted her eyes and then her forehead
with the usual third eye and sat her in a saucer chair for the portrait.

Some rich men of Kathmandu and Patao come to worship her privately,
though only one such client had come in the previous year. Local people
of all castes and ethnic groups worship her after marriages, initiations
and other important domestic rituals. There are four major annual
events for which she must don all her insignia for formal worshipping:

1 & 2 Like both the royal and the Kwabaha Kumaris she is taken to
Chabahi ~ for disi 2!!1!. on both the winter and summer
solstices (the 10th of Poush and the 10th of Jyestha). The
five !1!!. (seniormost elders) of Chabahi together with the
Makambaha purohit worship the .!&!!!!!. god and make offerinys to
Kumari.
48

On the 3rd day of Baisakh 0 known as Akshaya Tritiya, shf! is

brought to the .!?!.h! where she is worshipped by the ~ and the
purohit. Akshaya Tritiya is a festival during which people
offer one another 1agari mixed with water.

On the eighth day of the light lunar fortnight in the holy

month of Gunla 1 Buddhists perform pancha dana, the ceremony of
five offerings. Five kinds of food (unhusked and polished
rice, lentil seeds, wheat and salt) are offered to the beg~ing
monks - Sakyas and Vajracharyas who so choose to represent
themselves. The beggars, together with Kumar!, line up in the
bahi to receive their alms.

5. Maternal and Beautiful Virgin

Taleju Bhavani

In all of the forms in which Kumar! is worshipped today there is a

recurrent enigma of fundamental importance: by name and in many of her
attributes she is a young virgin, yet in other respects is a sexually
mature mother-goddess. Earlier I noted how the royal Sakya Kumaris are
believed to be living representations of Taleju Bhavani, In most versions
of the dice game Taleju is portrayed as very beautiful and the King as
desirous of possessing her sexually. It is indeed because of this that
Taleju decides to leave the palace and maintain a more remote and formal
relationship with the King as a young girl of Sakya Caste. The identifi-
cation of the two goddesses is also apparent in the important rites
performed in the Taleju temple when a new Kumari is installed in office.

Taleju herself is conmonly equated with Durga in her role as protec-

tress of the state - initially of Ram Chandra's kingdom of Ayodhya, then
of the Karnatic princes of Simraongadh, and finally of the Mallas and
Shahas of Nepal. The link between the three goddesses is of particular
interest because in addition to the contrast between immature virgin
(Kumari) and sexually mature woman (Taleju and Durga) there is the
distinction between mild (Taleju) and fierce (Durga). When Kumar:!. is
directly represented as Durga, as on the carved tympanums of her house
in Basantapur, she is the gentle young virgin and also the terrifyingly
mature woman who rides on a tiger and kills male demons. All of these
Hindu goddesses are thought of as contrasting forms of the single Devi or
Mahadevi who is the Sakti of Siva. I am not certain of Taleju' s position
in India, though it is certain that wherever she is recognised she is
worshipped as a protective mother deity. There is a small town called
Tuljapur in Hyderabad state which used to contain a shrine to Bhavani
(Parvati) which was much revered by the Bhosle family of the Maratha
dynasty. Sivaji, their most famous monarch, built a new temple to
Tulja Devi at Pratapgad in AD 1658-9. The Encyclopaedia of Relidon and
Ethics (ii, 3476) also notes that Tuljadevi is worshipped by the Banjara,
Plate 25. The Chabahi Kumari
 49

wandering grain-carriers of the Deccan. The link between the goddess and
grain is further confirmed by Sastri (1916, 220) who notes that Tulaja-
Bhavani "like Annapurna holds in one hand a vessel of delicious food and
in another a spoon for distributing the same". Annapurna is the deity who
in Kathmandu presides over the grain market in Asan. Thurston (1909:
393) at the end of his entry on the Brahmans of south India, refers
to Desasthas, Marathi-speaking Brahmans who worship Ambabhavani or
Tuljabhavani. The appearance of the name Am.ha is of particular interest
for it not only makes the maternal nature of the goddess quite explicit
(Amba literally means 'mother'), but also establishes an independent link
to Kumar!. That this is so is evident in Woodroffe's (1913:110) translation
of verse 13 of a hymn to Ambika:

"Who art attended by fowl and peacock,

O faultless one!
Who boldest a sale.ti-weapon,
And existeth in the form of Kaumari -
Narayani, all reverence to Thee."

Kaumari - the mother-goddess

Kaumari, in the literal sense, simply means 'pertaining to or

concerning Kumari', though in fact the name is commonly used to refer to
one of the ma tr is or matrikas, the 'divine mothers', These are usually
represented as the female energies or counterparts of the great Hindu
gods, and in Nepal they are given as a set of eight (Asta Matrika) or
nine (Nava Durga). In each of the three capital cities their shrines are
of great importance. They are worshipped most especially during Dasain
when they are regarded as fearsome destroyers of demons. The great gods,
in order to overcome the demons, take the form of Bhairavas and their
saktis become the Bhairavis or Matrikas. This is, of course, a way of
reducing the classical Aryan gods to forms of Siva, for Bhairava is the
terrible and destructive aspect of this god. The following list was
given to me by a Vajracharya informant of Patan who is responsible for
organising the Asta Matrika dance at Dasain,

Bhairava form

1. Brahman! (yellow) Brahma Asitanga Bhairava

2. Varahi (red) Varaha or Mahakala Prachanda Bhairava
3. Indrani (Aindra) (orange) Indra Ruruk Bhairava
4. Rudrani (white) Rudra or Mahadeva Kalanka Bhairava
5. Kaumari (red) Agni Krodhaka Bhairava
6. Vaishnavi (green) Vishnu Unamatta Bhairava
7. Chamunda (red) Kuvera Kapala Bhairava
8. Mahalakshmi (red) Yamaraj Samhara Bhairava
When Ugrachandi is added they become the Nava Durga.
50

The living Kumari and the Matrika Kaumari, though very different as
the young, beautiful and calm virgin, and the mature, fierce and sometimes
ugly mother, are neve't'theless formally identified as the same goddess.
That this is so is evident in that in both forms their colour is blood
red, their mount is the peacock and their flower is the hibiscus.
Furthermore, Agni, the consort of Kaumari is referred to as Kum.ara in the
Brahmanas. Kumara is the chaste adolescent Who forever remains young and
single - and as such is the male counterpart to Kumar! the perpetual
maiden. As Skanda, 1 the spurt of semen', he is sometimes represented as
the son of Agni and Ganga, though in other versions he is said to be
conceived from Siva's seed without the intervention of a woman (Dowson,
152), Danielou (1964:28) gives Skanda as the consort of Kaumari in his
list of the ~ Matrika. Another common name of the same god is
Kartikeya, the god of war and the planet Mars, who is often depicted as
riding on a peacock with Ka1D11ari as his consort. The link be tween Kaumari
and Kumari is also evident during the annual festival of the royal Kumari
of Kathmandu when she is accompanied by two boys one of whom is Chanda
Bhairava, a form of Kumara, and the other is Ganesa. Kumara and Ganesa
are here connected as half-brothers, the sons of Mahadeva (Siva) from
Ganga and Parvati respectively.

Sastri (1916;229) writing of south India, indicated a similar

identification between the virgin and the mother when he noted that 'The
Saptamatrikas of the Tantras are also counted among village deities and
are, perhaps, the same as the "seven Kanniyamar (unmarried girls" or the
"seven sisters".'

The underlying sexuality and maternity of the virgin goddess is

paralleled amongst the Newars by the role of Kumara as the external
bachelor who is also the ideal husband. As Suvarna Kumara he is the
golden bachelor prince to whom all girls of Vajracharya and Sakya castes
are married at about six or seven in the ihi or bel-fruit ceremony. One
of my informants, a Deo-Brahman of i'atan,""told methat both Kumari and
Kumara have the peacock as their mount (vahana) because this unique bird
reproduces itself without sexual intercourse. Peahens gather around the
peacock who then fertilises their eggs with his teardrops.

The term 'kwnari 1 literally means 'virgin girl 1 in the sense of pure
or unused or undefiled, Though marriage is usually understood to preclude
such a condition, the fact that it need not necessarily do so is evident
in at least three contexts: the goddess Kaumari is commonly represented
as having a male consort, the high incidence of child marriage amongst
orthodox Hindus ensures that brides remain virgins for some years, and a
separate term, ~. is used to refer to a young girl ready to be given
away in marriage (as in the marriage rite, known as kanyadana). The ever-
increasing importance of child marriage in Hinduism has led to a
proliferation of terms for young girls at different stages of their
 51

physical development. In most lists~ is used to refer to a young pre-

menstrual girl of about eight to ten, ra1asvala (literally 'red appearing')
to a girl just beginning her first menses and aged about ten or eleven,
rohini to a 'red' girl of about twelve, and kumari to a thirteen year old
girl (Pandey, 1969:188 and Walker, 1968:434)-.- -

The designation of Kumari as a post-menstrual girl is most interesting

in view of the emphasis placed on menstruation as a certain sign for the
disqualification of the Newar living Kumaris. In overt terms the living
Kumar! is first and foremost a pre-menstrual girl, yet perhaps in some
inner sense that parallels the underlying sexuality and maturity we have
seen in other contexts, she is really post-menstrual. The fact that her
favourite colour in clothes, tika mark and flower is red, supports such a
view, The occasional appearati'Ceof a living Kumari of a clearly post-
menstrual age, as with the present Patan Kumari and a royal Kumari of
some twenty years ago, may also indicate an underlying ambivalence as to
the goddess' true nature, The !!x!_, an essential item of jewelry worn by
a girl at her marriage ceremony is often worn by the living Kumar!.

The Royal Academy of Nepal recently produced a ballet called "Sweta

Kali's daughter (Kumari)" in which the goddess' beauty and sexual matur:!.ty
are both explicit and central to the drama. Sweta Kali is represented as
the eldest of a group of mother, or more correctly grandmother, goddesses
called Ajima (aji literally means 'grandmother' or 'midwife'). They are,
like all Kalis, fierce and ugly and they are chiefly worshipped in
connection with smallpox and infants' diseases. The author of the ballet
portrays them as the defenders of Kathmandu from demons and enemies. In
this respect, and also because they are seven in number, they display
similarities to the Tantric Matrikas. The representation of Kumari as a
daughter of Sweta Kali, though unusual, is not unique. Most of my infor-
mants rejected such a relationship as impossible on the grounds that
Kumar!, like her male counterpart Kumara, had no mother; others pointed
to corroborating evidence. For example, at Balaju Park north of Kathmandu
there is a small temple dedicated to Pyatho Aj ima and she is represented
as a mature female with an infant called Kumari suckling at her breast,

In addition to the living Kumari and the Matrika Kaumari, the virgin
goddess is worshipped in the forms of Bala Kumari and Pancha Kumari. The
Bala E.umari, of which there are four corresponding to the four cardinal
directions, are images enshrined in pagoda-type temples at Thimi (east),
Pa tan (south), Maya t i (west) and Mangalpura (north), In this version of
the goddess the immature/mature conjunction is taken even further in that
though bala literally means 'child', the image is of a beautiful and
mature woman sitting astride her peacock mount,
52

The Bala Kumari of Patan is enshrined in a three-tiered temple about

half a mile east of the town (see Bernier, 1970:104-7 for detailed
description). According to one story it was built in honour of the goddess
after she had defended the valley by spreading cholera amongst invading
Tibetans. Though the Tibetans were said to be led by Tsongkhapa (early
14th century), an inscription in the building records its foundation in
the year NS 742 (1622 AD). Nearby a small cluster of houses is occupied
by a mixed group of Salmi, Mahajan and Shrestha, with the first acting
as dyapala.

The temple is notorious as a place to which sorcerers (bokshi) from

all over the valley are believed to come at night in order to acquire the
power (siddhi) necessary to make their invocations or prayers (mantras)
powerful and effective. Further evidence of the connection between Kumar!
and sorcerers can be found at Bari Siddhi, a small Newar village about four
miles south of Patan. The presiding goddess, Hari Siddhi, is a triple
deity consisting of the union of Kumari 1 Bhairavi, and Hari Siddhi. All
there are yoginis and they must be propitiated with blood sacrifices. A
number of the men of this village, and also a few from the neghbouring
settlements of Thecho and Kena, are known as Jalami, and as such they
always wear strange clothes that are in many ways like those of women,
the main item being a one-piece pyjama-type outfit with a top like a
woman's blouse. They never cut their hair and keep it in a topknot like
a woman's, and sometimes they also wear a woman's shawl known as khasto.
Each year the Jalami stage a dance (Jala ,eyakho) on Phalgun full-moon which
is famous throughout the valley. The dancers take tne parts of angry
goddesses with Kumar! as the group leader. Once every 12 years the troup
travels all over the valley and wherever they go they must be given as
much beer as they want. They are treated with respect and apprehension
for it is said that every twelfth year they bespell a victim, preferably
a young pre-menstrual girl, in order to prepare her for sacrifice to Bari
Siddhi the following year. They keep her in the jungle where she is
carefully trained and instructed in secret Tantric rituals. After the
sacrifice her body is dried in some secret manner so that it is reduced
to a fine powder called ma.ha ~· The Jalami sell the powder at a high
price for it supposedly acts as a powerful substance in sorcery and as
protection against devils. My informants, though convinced of the truth
of the tale, nevertheless suspected that victims are on the decline for
fewer people seem to disappear in mysterious circumstances during the
wanderings of the Jalami than used to be the case:

By far the most famous Bala Kumari is the one at Thi.mi. Unlike the
Patan goddess who is located outside the town, has low-caste attendants
and is the haunt of sorcerers, the Thim! Kumari occupies an imposing
temple in the central square, has Acahju as her priests and as presiding
mother goddess is foremost amongst the town's deities, The image is said
to have come to Thimi from Tashi, an old Newar town in the south of the
valley not far from Hari Siddhi. According to the story, Bala Kumari was
 53

the lineage deity (kul devata) of a Tashi family in whic:h there was a
daughter but no son. When the girl's parents died she decided to carry
the goddess to her husband's house in Bhadgaon, but by the time she reached
Thimi the cocks were beginning to crow so she sat down to take a rest.
When she decided to continue her journey she found that the goddess was
now too heavy to lift. Kumari spoke to her saying that she wished to
remain where she was.

The Acahju do ~ to Bala Kumari on each 14th day (chare) before the
full-moon, and on each full-moon. On the Phalgun full-moon the goddess
(with accompanying bands and followers) is taken to visit Changu Narayan
at his mountaintop temple some miles away. (This god also goes to
Kathmandu once each year where he meets the Royal Kumari at Hanuman Dhaka.)
Her annual festival (1!~) takes place on the Baisakh full-moon (mid-
April) and is famous throughout the valley as one of the chief New Year
festivities. Throughout New Year's Day crowds of musicians and worshippers
come to her temple with offerings of all kinds, but especially of scarlet
ceremonial powder. They continue to come during the night and hundreds
hold aloft burning ceremonial oil torches. Bala Kumari's own torch is a
fine four-wicked structure which must be kept alight throughout the
festival, for if it should go out the King and nation would suffer some
hardship. Anderson (47) notes that "it is believed that the tremendous
accumulated heat from the massed flames will drive the winter away and
hasten the advent of crop-nourishing warm summer days".

The second day of the festival is the most spectacular with huge
crowds coming from each of the three capital cities. Early in the morning
teams of men gather in each of the 32 divisions ( tol) to take the resident
deities from their temples and carry them in procession in ceremonial
palanquins (khat). With frenzied excitement mounting throughout the town
as the teams~h here and there with onlookers throwing handfulls of
orange-red powder over the gods, temples, themselves and everything else,
they finally converge on Bala Kumar!' s square where they swirl madly
around her temple, A short while later there is a dramatic moment when
Ganesa arrives with hundreds of followers from the neighbouring village
of Nagadesh. The local deities seem to welcome him, attack him and then
to delay his departure back home. When he finally makes his escape the
local khats then try to stop Bala Kumar! from entering the old Taleju
temple, for when she succeedu the khat procession is over. It is said
that an old palace once stood in th'e"""Vicinity of the Taleju temple so
once again it seems that there was a close connection between royalty,
Taleju and Kumar!.

Throughout the rest of the day individuals and groups bring chickens
and goats to sacrifice to Bala Kumar! in her temple. I was told that in
the past there used to be a human sacrifice, but that it is now represented
by the killing of a black goat. Just outside the temple there is a tall
54

pole with a beautifully carved peacock on top. An Acahju priest used to

throw a handful of rice to the bird who then left his perch to seek out
the sacrificial victim. Today the Acahju selects the goat the day before
the sacrifice and i t is then brought like a king to the temple in a
procession with a coloured cloth on which to walk. The meat of the goat
is handed out as prasad to all these who come to worship the goddess
during the rest of the day. It is not eaten but instead kept as a medicine
supposedly effective in combating a deadly child 1 s illness (aisachagu) in
which gastro-enteritis succeeds a long period of crying and refusal to eat.
Offerings made to Bala Kumar! are thought to be efficacious in treating
children's diseases, especially those that involve discharge (diarrhoea,
eye sore, sepsis or nose-bleeding),

The Pancha Kumari

The Pancha Kumari, though sometimes located in temples, are more

often small and inconspicuous shrines. A Newar Brahman gave me the
following as the names of the Pancha Kumari: Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita,
Tara and Mandodari. Ahalya figures in the Ramayana as the chaste wife
of Rishi Gautama who was raped by Indra; Draupadi is the dark and
beautiful wife of the five Pandu princes who is also known as Nita-yauvani,
'the ever-young' (Dowson, 94-7); Sita is the famous wife of Rama; Tara
is the wife of Brihaspati (Dowson, 63); and Mandodari is Ravana's favourite
wife and mother of Indrajit (Dowson, 198). They are all beautiful and
mature women; only Ahalya is represented in a chaste form ,

The sets of five stones that are called the Pancha Kumari are also
said to be~· A ~-sthana, literally 'place of a seat' is one of
those 64 places where, according to the Tantras, the limbs of Sati fell
as she rotted on the shoulder of her husband Siva, Some pithas, like
Kalighat in Calcutta or Guheshwari in Kathmandu, are famous shrines,
others are inconspicuous and only known to a few local residents. Some
well-known Kathmandu Pancha Kumari pithas can be found at Kamal Pokhari,
near Asan Tel on the way to Indra Chowk, and on the Kings' Road.

Whenever Kumari E!!.1!, is performed, offerings should also be made to

the Pancha Kumar!. They are often represented as five girl-friends of the
main Kumar! and in some .P!U!!., as in Kumari Z!I. ratripu1a, five pre-
menstrual girls are selected to represent the Pancha Kumar!, Indeed,
whenever Kumar!, especially in her living form, is worshipped in a Tantric
ritual, extra merit is gained if the Pancha Kumari are also represented
by living girls, Sometimes the five virgins appear in marriage ceremonies
as girl-friends of the bride. Also during Dasain some families do E!!.1!,
to the Pancha Kumari in their living form. In recent years the state has
financed the appearance of five girls known as the Pancha Kumar! whenever
the King or a froeign head of state arrives at Kathmandu airport. The
teenage girls welcome the dignitaries by placing flower garlands around
their necks.
 55

One informant, a learned Newar Buddhist related the Pancha Kumari to

a five-fold division that is fundamental to both Buddhism and Hinduism.
In the Hindu Tantra the divisions are called Kula ('family') and each
has its own colour which represents one of the five elements. In certain
.2!!J.!:!. five young girls take the part of the Pancha Kula and they are said
to symbolise the five sensitive organs which lead to the five defilements
(hatred, lust, envy, delusion and malicious slander). The five girls are
used in the ritual to generate awareness based on sensations so that the
participants learn to exercise the control and restraint that leads to
happiness - as in holding back the ejaculation of semen. He gave the
names of the Pane.ha Kula as Ragavajri, Dvesavajri, Irsyavajri. Mohavajri.
and Pisunavaj ri who correspond to the five sakti of the Dhyani Buddhas.

The same informant also referred to a secret Tantric ritual in which

nine girls represent the Nava Kanya. The girls should be selected from
nine different occupational groups covering a wide range of castes: Nati -
daughters of dancers; Kapalini (Kusali) - daughters of untouchable
painters; Veshya - daughters of unmarried women. usually prostitutes;
Rajski - daughters of washermen; Naya Kangana - daughters of actresses;
Brahman! - daughters of Brahmans; Sudra Kanya - daughters of Sudra; Gopal
Kanya - daughters of cowherds; Malaka Kanya - daughters of gardeners.
The aim of the ritual is to worship the girls with a pure mind and thereby
gain enlightenment in this life, It is also said that if a King should
worship them perfect order will prevail throughout his kingdom.

The inner and outer Kumar!

A number of informants, both Hindu and Buddhist, stressed the

importance of the distinction between l!!hI!. and bahira. ~ refers to
all that is inner or secret while bahira connotes things that are outer
or open. The dichotomy is fundamental not only to all forms of Tantricism
but to the very fabric of Newar social life. Group membership is commonly
defined by ritual initiation and social boundaries are maintained by
secrecy and closure. As the individual progresses from initiation to
initiation he not only advances upwards on the social ladder but gains
access to ever increasingly effective or powerful religious practices,
doctrines and icons.

For a Newar Buddhist the most basic inner/outer dichotomy is that

between tantric and non-tantric, Non-tantric religious practices are
those that are available without initiation and in doctrinal terms may be
equated with Srawakayana or Hinayana Buddhism. Tantric. or Vajrayana
Buddhism. is characterised by secrecy and initiation and it's advocates
teach a doctrine of emancipation achieved through a positive cultivation
of experience and sensation. The difference between the two religions is
most apparent in their attitudes towards sex. Whereas orthodox non-Tantric
Buddhists stress the importance of celibacy and monasticism, the followers
of Vaj rayana worship the ecstatic. union of male and female (mahasukha).
56

The inner/outer distinction is relative. not absolute, and hence

there are gradations as regards the true identity of Kumari. The most
superficial or outer forms are as Kaumari in the Asta Matrika, as Bala"
Kumari and as Pancha Kumari. In each of these forms she is openly
available for worship by all, and will accept meat, blood and wine
offerings. Furthermore, though physically mature little stress is placed
on her sexual role, At the next two levels, which from the Buddhist point
of view correspond to the Mahayana and Vajrayana doctrines, Kumar! though
overtly a young and virginal maiden, is in her innermost being the female
principle (prafoa) in a pre-eminently sexual form. For the Mahayana
Buddhist pra1na, which connotes "wisdom", is worshipped in two forms; as
the sacred book Prajnaparamita, and as the sexual partner of the Dhyani
Buddhas. At this level, the 'true' Kumari is especially identified with
Tara, the consort of Amoghasiddhi. This goddess ( 11 The Saviouress") is
either white or green in colour and of calm disposition. Finally, for
the fully-initiated Vajrayanist, that is to say, for the one who has
gained the right to participate in the secret !I!!!!!. ritual, Kumari is
worshipped as pra1na in the form of a yogini (plates 26 and 27) or dakini,
especially as Vajradevi, the beautiful and red-coloured partner of Chakra
Samvara (Heruka). Chakra Samvara is usually depicted in paintings as
medium blue with three hideous heads, twelve weapon-bearing arms,
surrounded in flames, garlanded with skulls and embracing the naked and
ecstatic Vajradevi. Together they are trampling on the corpses of Ali
(Mabadeva) and Kali (Parvati) - the symbols of sublimated sexual desire.
Vajradevi is often identified with Vajravarahi (the partner of Mahamaya,
another of Heruka's many forms). In the Vajradevi mandala, which is
worshipped in major tantric ~. the goddess is represeiited as slim,
elegant, dancing on one foot, garlanded with skulls and bearing the
khatvanga (a thin spear transifixing three skulls). She stands at the
~=~= ~!i~~:s i:~:r:;~t~!o t~!:!1:; ~=~!eI:~Ha) with six guardian

A Vajracharya informant gave me the following description of how his

mother, assisted by her five married sons together with their wives and
children ma.de the great taha sinha .E!!1!_ (also called maha ~
abhiseka or rahasva ~ ~). The woman's husband died when her
sons were still young children and she decided to devote all her time
and energy to providing each of them. with a good education, She also
promised that when the last son had finished his education she would
perform. some .2!!1!!.• First she did ~ .P.!!1!. - over a period of time
the family visited all of the 32 pithas in the valley doing ~ at each
of them. Then she said, "Good, I am happy and now I want to do taha
sinha .E!!1!_ - as a woman I want to do the R.!!.1!. of pra1na".

About two weeks before the ceremony was due to take place the
brothers sent invitations to all those they needed for the performance -
Vajracharya horn-playing musicians, painters of religious pictures, and
a group of women helpers. They themselves, helped by their wives and
Plate 26. Vajra yogini(red-coloured body)
Plate 27. Khadga yogini(red-coloured body)
 Inner room

n
0 0

Pan:a O~ali tr 0
sukunda curd
Ganesa in mukuta on Vajradevi in
kalasa mandalR "·' ··-
Outer room

helpers musicians

Vajradevi mandala
D 0 o
sponsors • 0
spOnsors
Pancha sali

DODOO Five Vajracharya priests

Diagram 2. My informant's diagrammatic representation of the way in

which personnel and sacra were arranged for his mother's
Taha Sinha~·
 57

other relatives, spent many days preparing a room at their home. They
divided it into an inner C.&!!hz!.) and an outer (bahira) section (diagram 2)
and decors ted it with paintings of such high tantric deities as Chakra
Samvara and Yogamvara, The inner section, which could be entered only
by those who had taken their dekha (Allen, 1973), was for the performance
of the DlOSt secret tantric rituals.

The day before the big .P.!!J.!. a woman, carrying a painted clay vessel
(kalasa} and accompanied by a priest, walked to the nearest Ganesa temple,
in this case close to Matsyendranath Baba, The priest, with the aid of a
brief ritual, transferred the spirit of Ganesa into the pot, and the woman
carried it back to the inner room. At the same time another couple went
to the nearby Vajracharya K.umari of Mubaha. They brought a simple tray
of offerings• the kind that worshippers bring daily to temples• and asked
the goddess if she would attend their taha ~~the following day.
Kumari indicated her assent by accepting the offerings and by permitting
her mother to give the couple prasad,

The senior Vajracharya priest entered the inner room where he

performed the important ritual of summoning the spirit of Vajradevi into
a kalasa. He then proceeded, with the aid of assistants, to perform the
routine I!!!!:!. mandala and~~. followed by the swmnoning of the
Dasa Kroda or Lokapala - the ten Bhairava male guardian deities. Small
wooden pegs with carved and painted Bhairava heads were planted in the
ground around the ~ room. Only one important preparatory act now
remained - the drawing of the Vajradevi mandala in the outer room. This
was done by my informant, but only after"tiie'Senior priest had performed
the requisite .P!:!J.!. on his hand. The~. which was very large, was
painted on a raised plaster-covered platform in the centre of the room so
that everyone could see it. The basis of the mandala was the sri vantra -
a pair of intersecting triangles which together represent upav&Tera1na,

The following morning the senior priest, with four assistants, began
proceedings by chanting the whole of the Varahi Tantra while sitting in
front of the Vajradevi mandala. After the ritual 'opening' of the mandala
some men went to Hubaha~mmon the Vajracharya Kumar!. Meanwhil~
lllOther, together with her five sons and the five priests, weut to the
gate of the compound where they welcomed the goddess with trays of
offerings, burning lamps, vessels of water• rolls of red cloth and other
gifts. Her father carried her into the outer room and placed her cross-
legged at the exact centre of the Vajradevi mandala. From that moment
until the end of the J?!!J..!. some five hours lateriftimari .!!!!. Vajradevi.

The priests retired to the inner room where they worshipped a

beautiful metal crown (mukut) placed on another and smaller Vajradevi
mandala. The senior pr'i"e"S"t"then carried the mukut to the outer room and
after worshipping it on Kumari's head he placecrit briefly on the head
of each member of the sponsoring family. My informant described this as
58

the most excellent and pleasing form of prasad possible from Vajradevi/
Kumari,

A woman now offered Kumari the pancha sali, a jug containing five
kinds of rice-wine, while a man offered a tray containing five kinds of
meat, After she took a little of each they were also passed around to
the members of the worshipping family. Finally, she was offered a tray
containing 84 different varieties of food, and this too was passed on to
the worshippers.

After the~ was ended Kumari's father carried her home with her
worshippers following, and when they reached Mubaha they asked her to
forgive them for any mistakes, ommissions or displeasing features of the
~· My informant stressed i t was their duty to discover exactly what
pleased and displeased this particular Kumar!, and then to ensure that
she was fully satisfied, For example, i f she should want some particular
toy then they must search the market for it.

Another informant gave me the following list of formal signs as to

whether a living Kumari is pleased or displeased with the offerings of a
worshipper:

1. If she should only rub her hands after eating the worshipper may
become ill within a month - and the same applies i f she should
hesitate to eat.
2, If she should cry or laugh loudly during the time of worship then the
worshipper will become seriously ill and possibly even die,
3. If she should both weep and rub her eyes the worshipper will die
immediately.
4, If she should have a gloomy face and look to the left and right,
then there will be quarrelling in the worshipper's home.
5. If she should take food with her nails only (i.e. pick at her food)
the worshipper will lose money.
6. If she should pinch her lips with her nails it indicates that she is
not satisfied and that the worshipper should begin again.
7, If she should stick out her tongue it shows that she dislikes the
wine and meat offered.
8. If she should yawn it means that she is dissatisfied with the curd
and milk.
9. If she should drink without eating it means that the work of the
worshipper will go badly.
10. If she should clap her hands the worshipper will have reason to
fear the King.
11. If she should do something like beating in a drumming manner with
her hands then the worshipper may fear theft in his house.
12. If she should take the food, bite it and then place it on the floor
it indicates some impurity in its preparation.
 59

13. If she should look left and right and back and front while eating
then the worshipper will have to leave Nepal.
14. If she should drink just a little yet show signs of intoxication
then there will be ghosts or evil spirits in the worshipper's house.
15. If she should look at the worshipper's face without eating then some
mi.stake must have been made in the ~·
16. If she should talk without eating the worshipper's spouse will die.
17, If she should weep continuously the worshipper will become incurably
ill.
18. If she should kick on the ground or rub her foot on the floor the
worshipper will have to leave his home.
19. If she should tremble the worshipper will go to prison - a long
tremble indicating a long sentence and a short one a correspondingly
short period.
20. If she should look sideways at the worshipper then it shows that she
wants the~ repeated.
21. I f she should wink without speaking it shows that she is only half-
satisfied.
22. If she should keep her head bowed down and does not speak then she is
not fully satisfied.
23. If she should turn her back towards the worshipper then some dirt
or impurity is in the food,
24. If none of the above-mentioned things occur then the worshipper's
wish will be satisfied.

A Deo-Brahman attempted to explain the relationship between the

various classes of female deity by reference to the idea of progressive
power. The one great Devi may be worshipped as a pure young virgin
(Kumari) 1 as a sexually mature mother (Kaumari) or as a beautiful killer
of demons (Durga). Which of these three is the most powerful is not
entirely clear. In one context he stated that the progression is from
Kumari to Durga. The mother goddess, immensely powerful killer of demons,
must be assuaged with frequent blood-sacrifices, He also said that the
life-cycle of each living goddess ideally consists of nine annual stages
named as follows: Kumari 1 Trimurti, Kalyani 1 Rohini, Kalika, Chandika 1
Sambhavi 1 Durga, Subhadra. Though she is aged only two at the beginning
and ten at the end, Subhadra is nevertheless the mature mother-goddess
who kills demons, I t is as Subhadra that the goddess is ii.ow said to be
Atita Kumari or the real Kumari. But in another context he stated that
the mother goddesses are really ex-Kumaris whose power is of a derivative
kind. It seems that my informant, in common with most Newars, was here
vacillating between two alternative notions of cosmic power - that which
is embodied in fierce deities who kill demons and must be kept satiated
with the blood of sacrificial victims, and that much more mysterious and
calm variety which is available only to advanced practitioners of the
contemplative and ritual arts. The two modes of thought may be seen as
but one of many examples of a pervasive contrast in Newar religion between
a belief in a basic earthy kind of power embodied in such themes as
60

fertility, sexuality and maternity, and in a more rari£ied power of an

intellectual kind. It is essentially a contrast between the religious
beliefs and practices of illiterate peasants and those of learned monks
and ascetics. The belief that the true essence of Kumari is Durga may
be seen as an attempt to synthesise the two traditions.

When I asked a learned Vajracharya why the Devi should be worshipped

as Kumari he gave the following explanation:

"In Vajrayana Buddhism the main aim is to understand what is sex and
why it is that in sex we get supreme happiness. Life comes from the clash
of opposites - as in the meeting of two vital nerves, in the play of the
sun and the moon, and in the union of male and female. In order to
understand the idea of the void (sunyata) which results from this union
we need praina, the highest knowledge, But prajna is itself female - or
rather, it resides within women. It was Manjusri who first compared
pra1na with a virgin girl because he realised that it was pure and
untouched creativity, In other words, though Kumari is a virgin she is
nevertheless potentially creative - she will become the mother goddess."

The central theme in this and in similar statements made by both

Vajracharya and Dea-Brahman informants, is that the Devi or goddess is
worshipped in her virginal form because as such she represents pure and
untouched creativity, not because she is the negation of sesuality and
maternity. She is the pure unruptured vessel who nevertheless contains
within herself the full potential of creative motherhood.

This somewhat philosophical representation of the essence of Kumari

worsh1.p is in conformity with the apparent contradiction we noted earlier -
the little child presented as a beautiful girl, the two year old infant
with a full set of second teeth, the post-menstrual girl who must not
have bled, and the mother-goddess (Kaumari) who is both virgin (kumari)
and child (.!?!!!) , --

Notes
!/ The research on which this manuscript is based was carried out
in Kathmandu valley between September 1973 and January 1974 and in
October 1974. During this period my enquiries focussed on the worship of
Kumar! and related goddesses, Background data on Newar social organisa-
tion and religion was obtained during a year's visit in 1966/7. I am
grateful to Sydney University, the Australian Research Grants Committee
the Myer Foundation and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
for having financed the fieldwork. I am indebted to the Institute of
Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, especially to its Dean,
Dr. Prayag Raj Sharma, for much encouragement and practical assistance.
My thanks are also due to my informants, especially Sri Nhuchhe Bahadur
Baj racharya, Sri Manabajra Baj racharya, Sri Asakaj i Bajracharya,
 61

Sri Harkha Ratna Dhakwa and Sri Mangalananda. I am particularly grateful

to Moaven Niloufar for having so generously given me an early draft of her
valuable paper dealing with the Kumari cult.

11 I know of only one other temple in India dedicated to the virgin

goddess - that at Lagpata in the Kangra valley in the North-East Punjab.
Rose (1919,i,320) noted that 11 there ie a temple to Kaniya Devi the virgin
goddess, whose fair is held on 9th Har, Her Brahman pu3ari ie a Bhojki
and ~ is only offered and a lamp lit in the evening." He also made a
number ot most interesting references to the worship ot young unmarried
girls as Devis. Thus, 11 Dev:I is personified in a girl under ten yeare of
age twic a year and offerings are made to her as if to the goddess on
these occasions. 11 (i,327) 11The worship of youne; girls a1:1 Devis ie always
cropping up. Some years ago some enterprising people of the Kapurthala
state got two or three young unmarried girls and gav£ out that the) had
the power of Devis. The ignorant accepted thie belief anct worshipped
them as goddesses. The) visited various partE of the Jullundur District
and were looked ur to with great reverence everywhere, but ae good results
did net follow, the worship died out." (i,329). Thh exampie. comes closest
to the Kathmandu cultE - the ch:lef difference is that in Kathmandu. there
is, most probably ae a. result of royal patronage, greater cont.:inuity ancl
elaboration of office,

-:J_/ In many parts of India, but most especially in Bengel and in the
Punjab, kumari-pu1<.> acqu::l.red much popularity amongst the fc!lowers of the
Tantra. In thie ritual the aim :f.s not. so much to worship a eoddess called
Kumar! as to utilize the power oi young l ivine: vire:ins in order to invoke
the spirit of th£ far from v:frginal Sakt:I, Durga er Kal:I, Bharat:I (1965,
footnote 65,l) gives tbE. followine brief description: "Kumar!-~: e
lovely anc! impressive ceremony current all over Bengal encl in other parte
of lnc:l!s, though with lesser frequency; a girl of twelve, of e Brahmin
family, is installec! on the~ H.ke an image of Sakti, and is worshipped
accordingly after the 'pratistha' or installat:l.on ceremony; in this
particular~. the virg::ln represents the goddess Saraswati, However,
most Brahmins regard the presentation of their daughter for this ceremony
as inauspicious."

Macdonald (1903, 41-2) provided somewhat greater detail: The Kumar!

puja is well known in Cslcutta. A householder, intent on thus worshipping
the Sakti gets (from outside the membership of his own house) a girl,
sets her up as a goddess on a small board or platform surrounded with
nine or twelve other females (men not excluded), places a plate under one
of her feet, and to that foot makes the usual offerings of flowers, water,
etc. A Brahman gentleman who has himself been present at one or more of
these Kumari Pujas, tells me that in Calcutta they are not uncommon. In
the Yogini Tantra, (53) the great Hahadev says: 'Those gods ever desire
a Brahman, a virgin, Sakti, fire, Sruti and a cow for worship on their
62

sacrificial grounds. If one virgin be worshipped, it will be a second

puja. The fruit of virgin worship cannot be told by me. All this universe
movable and :immovable belongs to Kumari (virgin) and Sakti. If one young
damsel be worshipped, seen only in spirit, then actually all the high
goddesses will be worshipped without doubt • , , , Whatever is given to Kumar!
and to Sakti never perishes throughout kotis, hundreds and myriads of
kalpas (i.e. years innumerable)'. Y.T.42.

A little further on Siva returns to the subject in the words: 1 1 am

unworthy to tell the fruit of Kumar! Puja, even w:Lth 1,000 kotis (or
krores) of tongues and 100 kotis of mouths. Therefore, one should revere
Bala as born in every caste; no distinction should be made in Kumar!
(virgin) worship. By distinguishing caste one escapes not from hell.
And the mantra speaker, who is full of doubt, will certainly become a
sinner, therefore one should worship her, realizing that she is a Devi,
and with great devotion.' Observe that in the above the terms Kumari
and Bala are practically interchangeable with virgin and damsel, and
worshipped as identical with the goddess. For Kumari is identical with
all Vidya (form of Kali) beyond doubt. Bala worshipped alone will be
equal to all worship. Should a worshipper by chance get a maiden born
in a harlot's family, let him zealously adore her even with all he has -
gold, silver, etc.- joyfully. The great siddhi is produced for him •••
When endowed with all siddhi (supernatural powers) a man sports Bhairava;
assuredly he has entrance into heaven, earth and Patala (hell). On a
sudden is produced whatever occurs to his mind. Assuming the aggregate
of bodies, he can become allpervading, with his commands unobstructed
everywhere, like Purandara (Indra) .•••••• In time, by Kumari-worship,
the worshipper attains Sivahood. Where Kumari is worshipped, that
country purifies the earth; the places all round for five crores will
be most holy. There one should do Kumari-puja; there breaks forth great
light manifest in the land Bharata (India). A king named Visvambhara,
sprung from the Chaitra race, worshipped that Kumari (in the person of a
girl) born in a harlot 1 s family, named Kane hi, dark-coloured, filled with
all auspicious JDarks. At the time of worship, Kane.hi became sparklingly
bright; enveloped in the mass of that brightness, the king gained
liberation." Y.T.54. (See also abbott, 1932,63 and Chakravarti, 1963, 81).

From the above extract it is clear that the importance that the
Nepalese Kings attach to Kumari-p..!U!_ is by no means unique.

i/ I t was only 26 years later, in 1349 A.D. that Shamsuddin Ilyas

of Bengal entered the valley and sacked the three capital cities "a
disaster which brought about a devotional and iconographic transformation
similar to that which had resulted from the Hun attacks against the
Gupta empire."

(Singh, 1968, 204-5)

 63

5/ 11 Bhavani", which literally means 'giver of existence', is one of

the niilny epithets of Sakti or Devi, the consort of Siva. In those areas
where, as in the Deccan in central India, she receives special veneration
as an independent deity, her attributes are similar to those normally
associated with Durga or Kali. Though Durga is commonly represented as
beautiful and calm while Kali is ugly and frenzied, the two are alike in
that they are both powerful blood-lusting destroyers of demons and enemies.
The fearsome Kali aspect of Bhavani is that which was uppermost in the
notorious Thuggee cult, while that of beautiful protectress was stressed
in her appearance as the tutelary divinity of leading Maratha families.
By far the most important of the many Indian Bhavani temples is that at
Tuljapur, a small town in Hyderabad. Though an ancient place of pilgrim-
age, i t was not until the Bhosle family began to worship her in the late
sixteenth century that she acquired widespread fame. Sivaji, the most
famous of the Maratha rulers, regularly consulted with Tulaja Bhavani
prior to undertaking any important action, and in 1658 A.O. he built a
new and most impressive temple for her at· Pratapgad. As in Nepal, the
goddess is represented as the main source of the rulers' strength and
wisdom; (Kincaid and Parasnis, 113-5, 152, 158-9, 210-1) Indeed, the
numerous similarities between the two cults suggest a possible historical
connection.

6/ This version is most unusual in its reference to the Bandya as a

high Caste. Both in other published sources and in the many versions
that I myself collected, the goddess chose the Bandya (Sakya) because of
their debased occupation.

7/ Filrer Haimendorf (1956,25) reported that the living Kumari must

be present at such meetings as a divine witness. My informants denied
that this is so. The Gubhajus simply use this room because 1t is large
and the Raj Gubhaju has ready access to it, Meetings are also held in
Santipur at Swayambhu,

8/ The following list was given to me by a Vajracharya informant:

1. FE!et well-proportioned, 2. Spiralling lines on the soles of the
feet, 3. Nails well-proportioned, 4. Long and well-formed toes.
5. Feet and hands like those of s duck (with netlike lines), 6. Feet
and hands soft and firm. 7, The body broad at the shoulders and narrow
at the waist, 8. Thighs like those of a deer. 9. Small and well
recessed sexual organs. 10. Chest like a lion, 11. Well-spread
shoulders. 12. Long arms, 13, Pure body. 14. Neck like a conch-
shell. 15. Cheeks like lion. 16. Forty teeth, 17. Teeth white and
nicely shaped. 18. No gaps between teeth. 19, Tongue small and
sensitive. 20. Tongue moist. 21. Voice clear and soft like a duck's.
22. Eyes blue/black. 23. Eyelashes like those of a cow. 24. A
beautiful complexion with white lustre. 25. A gold-coloured complexion.
26. Skinpores small and not too open. 27, Hair-whorls stiff and
turning to the right. 28. Hair black. 29, Forehead large and well-
64

proportioned. 30. Head .round with cone-shaped top, 31. Body shaped
like a banyan tree. 32. Robust body,

j_/ A horse, which some say is Taleju's and others Kumari's, is still
kept in the Hanuman Dhoka palace, where it is fed daily from government
funds and allowed to wander freely in the courtyard. It is taken out
annually to accompany Kumari to Ghoda Jatra, when it stands near her
viewing platform. It is also worshipped on navami of Dasain by the
female palace residents (lakhuni). --

10/ As in Kathmandu, the priests in charge of the Patan Tale.ju temple

weret"raditionally members of the Karmacharya section of the Acahju caste,
However, they lost this postition when a serious theft of images took
place in Mulchowk and the Karmacharya on duty at the time was found guilty
of complicity. The Mulpujari are at present members of the Deo-Brahman
caste .

.!!/ For a good detailed account of his cult see Locke, 1973.

QI Other important ..!!.!!!!! deities together with their female partners

are as follows: Hevajra and Nairatma, Yogamvara and Gyana Dakini,
Vajradhara and Vajradhari, Trailokyavijaya Samvara and Trailokya Devi,
Hahakala Samvara and Hahakala Devi.

l]_/ Ugratara ~ (at Bijeswori) - white. Khadga ~ (above

Sankhu) - blue. Akash ¥.2.1!!!! (at Bijeswori) - black. Vidyadhari yodni
(Pharping - also known as Vajra .ru.!!!!l - red. Vajra Vilashini yodni
(Phulchowk - also known as Vajra yodni) - red. Vajra ~ (Bijeswori)-
red. ·

Kumari may be identified with any of these ..Y21!!!.!.!.• especially with

the red Vajra yodnis (plates 25 and 26).
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