A 10-year-old Nepalese girl has lost her title as a Hindu living goddess because she left the country to promote a film

A 10-year-old Nepalese girl has lost her title as a Hindu living goddess because she left the country to promote a film. Sajani Shakya was the first living goddess, or kumari, ever to leave the country. Her June visit to Washington served as a publicity tour for a British documentary that explores the centuries-old kumari tradition.

Officials from Sajani's temple in the town of Bhaktapur announced July 3 that they would revoke her title. In the kumari tradition, very young girls are selected for their "perfect" characteristics and are believed to be reincarnations of the Hindu goddess Taleju--yet they must come from the Shakya Buddhist caste, the same caste to which the Buddha belonged. Both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal revere kumaris and bring requests to their feet. Once the girl-goddess reaches puberty, Taleju is believed to leave her body, and temple officials search for another girl to worship. According to Nepalese folklore, men who wed a former kumari will face an early death, so many of the girls never marry, and they face a life of hardship as a result.

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