NEWS LEAD OF THE DAY

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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - Religious leaders in a town near Nepal's capital
are searching for a young girl to worship as a living goddess because
the incumbent has just got married to a fruit, officials said Monday.

ELABORATION: "We have started the process to find a new Kumari for
Bhaktapur," Jaya Prasad Regmi, the head of the committee which manages
the centuries-old Hindu tradition, told AFP. . . Three medieval towns in
the Kathmandu valley worship pre-pubescent girls as the living
embodiment of the goddess Taleju. . . Eleven-year-old Sajani Shakya had
served in the post for nine years in the town of Bhaktapur, but is now
obliged to retire following her symbolic wedding.

Sajani's family caused controversy last year when they travelled with
the girl to the United States to publicise a documentary that had been
made about her role. Traditionalists were angry that her family had not
sought prior permission for the trip, arguing that a Kumari loses divine
status by leaving the country.

Nhuchhe Shakya, Sajani's father, who also works for the committee in
charge of finding a replacement for his daughter, said the trip had not
caused her to retire early. "In Bhaktapur, we have a tradition to get
our girls married to a Bael (Aegle marmelos), a fruit dedicated to Lord
Shiva, around the age of 10 or 11," Shakya said told AFP. Sajani was
symbolically married to the fruit last month and "there were no other
specific reasons for her retirement," he said from the town 15
kilometers (nine miles) east of Kathmandu.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080303/wl_sthasia_afp/nepalreligion_080303093235


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