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NEWAR (Nepal)
Index → Asia → Nepal → Newar
“In Nepal, selected young girls are
installed as living goddesses and worshipped as such for many years. The Kumari institution must be understood in the context of
the particular symbolic potential of virgin worship in the politics of the Newari kingdoms of Kathmandu, Patan
and Bhaktapur. In royal rituals, the deity Taleju was venerated as the source of the king’s power. The
worship of this goddess was however directed at her earthly manifestation --
a young prepuberty girl selected from the Buddha
Margi Bare jats of Sakya
or Vajracharya. The selected Kumari
stays in a special house close to the palace where she is entertained until
menstruation. The Kumari is a very apt symbol of purity
as well as of the promise of future fertility and prosperity.[…] The rites of barha(keeping the girl child in a dark
room out of sight from sunlight and the male members of the society for 12
days) and ihi(mock-marriage of the
girls to Surya Narayan “Sun
God”) for girls are performed before the girls start menstruating. So these rites
for girls also take place when they are between 5 to 9 years of age and
performed in groups to reduce the expense” (Gurung,
p64-5, 105)[1].
Janssen,
D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin:
Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology
Last
revised: Oct. 2004
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