Kathmandu's 'living goddess' survives quake

Yahoo – AFP, Paavan Mathema, 2 May 2015

The Kumari, considered a living goddess, attends festivities on the last day of

 the 2014 Rato Machindranath chariot festival on the outskirts of Kathmandu (AFP

Photo/Prakash Mathema)

When a devastating quake hit Nepal last week, a nine-year-old girl worshipped as a living goddess was preparing to receive devotees at her home in the heart of Kathmandu's Durbar Square.

As the earth shook, the ancient temples and statues that packed the square collapsed, sending a massive cloud of rubble and dust into the air. But the home of the living goddess, or Kumari, escaped with just a few cracks.

"She protected us," said Durga Shakya, the 55-year-old caretaker of the Kumari house, who like all her entourage is from the Newar community indigenous to the Kathmandu valley.

More than 6,621 people were killed by

the massive eathquake which devastated

 Kathmandu's Durbar Square, a UNESCO

 world heritage site damaged by the 

earthquake in Kathmandu (AFP Photo/

Matthieu Alexandre)

"Look around, the Kumari home is intact. There is a little crack on the other side, but otherwise nothing has happened," she told AFP in Kathmandu.

"Even inside, nothing has fallen down, everything is fine."

The Kumari, a pre-pubescent Newar girl, lives in isolation in her small palace and emerges only on feast days when she is paraded through Kathmandu in ceremonial dress.

The popular tradition combines elements of Hinduism and Buddhism and selection criteria are strict.

Priests say that to become a Kumari, a girl must have a number of specific physical attributes including an unblemished body, a chest like a lion and thighs like a deer.

Even if they fulfil all the physical requirements, aspiring Kumaris must then prove their bravery by not crying at the sight of a sacrificed buffalo.

'Fearless goddess'

Kamal Tara Shakya, a 48-year-old Newar woman who looks after the young girl in her palace, said she appeared unafraid when the quake hit.

"I was in the kitchen, after the quake struck I ran towards her, it (the house) was shaking so badly," Shakya told AFP.

"I took her on my lap. All of us huddled around her and prayed. She didn't say anything. She didn't seem scared."

Once the shaking subsided, Shakya took the young girl to the courtyard of the house where they have remained ever since for fear of aftershocks causing further destruction.

A Hindu devotee offers prayers in front of a statue of Hindu diety Kaal Bhairab

 in the Durbar Square neighbourhood of Kathmandu, on May 2, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Roberto Schmidt)

When AFP visited the house early on Saturday a priest was performing a blessing in the courtyard as staff chopped vegetables in the corner.

Mattresses and blankets lay on the floor, but the house appeared intact.

"I believe in her, she has protected us," said Anupa Shrestha, a 28-year-old housewife who had come to pay her respects.

"It is amazing to see the house okay, it shows her power... I was hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but I was very happy that her house is not damaged."

Durga Shakya believes the quake was a punishment from the gods, and that the Kumari knew it was coming.

"We will have to do an apology puja (blessing), she said.

"This has happened because people have disrespected the gods. This is a religious site, but people were holding all sorts of concerts and gatherings here. They should have been more respectful."

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How a Hunch Led to Stunning Claim on Buddha Birth Date

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Ammu Kannampilly, January 5, 2014

Monks chant under the Bodhi tree, adjacent to the Maya Devi Temple, in Lumbini,
some 200 km west of Kathmandu, on April 18, 2013. (AFP Photo/Kyle Knight)

Kathmandu. The two archaeologists had a hunch that the Buddha’s birthplace in southern Nepal held secrets that could transform how the world understood the emergence and spread of Buddhism.

Their pursuit would eventually see them excavate the sacred site of Lumbini as monks prayed nearby, leading to the stunning claim that the Buddha was born in the sixth century BC, two centuries earlier than thought.

Veteran Nepalese archaeologist Kosh Prasad Acharya had carried out excavations in Lumbini before in the early 1990s, when Nepal was still ruled by a king and a Maoist insurgency had yet to kick off.

The project ended in 1996 but Acharya remained unsatisfied with the results.

“My belief was that there was another cultural deposit below, which we had not uncovered,” the 62-year-old told AFP.

He headed back to his government job in the capital Kathmandu and waited to retire, restless to return to Lumbini.

The Buddha’s birthplace was lost and overgrown by jungle before its rediscovery in 1896, when the presence of a third century BC pillar bearing inscriptions allowed historians to identify it as Lumbini.

Since then, it has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site, visited by millions of Buddhists every year, with numbers expected to rise exponentially in the following decades.

Acharya had just retired from his last job, as the director general of the department of archaeology, when UNESCO asked him to co-direct an investigation of Lumbini’s foundations.

The cultural organization asked Acharya and his longtime collaborator, Robin Coningham, Britain’s leading South Asian archaeologist, to head a team that would examine the site so conservators could develop it for growing numbers of visitors.

“In 2010, our first year there, we were pretty much the handmaidens to the conservators,” Coningham told AFP in a phone interview from his office at Britain’s Durham University, which helped fund the UNESCO project.

“The Eureka moment came in 2011, when we came across a brick temple located below the existing Asokan temple, and below that a sort of void.

“It became clear then that there was much more to this excavation.”

Over the next two years, archaeologists, geophysicists and hired workmen from Nepal and Britain worked on the site, digging in the presence of meditating monks and nuns.

“It was a very moving, very special experience to dig for traces while pilgrims prayed and paid homage,” Acharya said.

They dug for a few weeks each year and sent the samples to laboratories for analysis.

Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques were used to date fragments of charcoal and grains of sand found at the site.

The archaeologists also found holes, apparently meant to secure posts, in the open void below the brick temple.

“The intact holes suggested that whoever had built the brick temple had taken care not to damage the ancient structure below, suggesting the site was always considered holy,” Coningham said.

Lab tests confirmed the existence of roots within the void below the brick structure, suggesting it may have been a shrine where a tree once grew, possibly the hardwood sal tree under which many believe the Buddha was born.

The discovery, revealed in November, sparked huge excitement, but some historians have urged caution, saying the ancient tree shrine could have been built by pre-Buddhist believers.

“The worship of trees, often at simple altars, was a ubiquitous feature of ancient Indian religions,” Julia Shaw, a lecturer in South Asian archaeology at University College London told National Geographic’s online edition.

“It is also possible that what is being described represents an older tree shrine quite disconnected from the worship of the historical Buddha,” Shaw added.

According to Coningham, however, if the Buddhists had appropriated the tree shrine from non-Buddhists, the site would not have survived relatively unscathed.

“Also, the inscriptions at Bodhgaya [where the Buddha achieved enlightenment] reveal a thriving culture of tree worship, which suggests continuity,” he added.

Much of what is known about the Buddha’s life has its origins in oral tradition. The earliest decipherable written records in the region, the inscriptions of India’s Buddhist emperor Asoka, are dated about 250 BC.

Prior to this discovery, most scholars said that the Buddha – who renounced material wealth to embrace and preach a life of non-attachment – lived during the fourth century BC, founding a religion that now counts 500 million followers.

Buddhists in Nepal and Sri Lanka, however, have always believed that the sage was born around 623 BC, a date that now seems more accurate.

“It’s one of the great puzzles, this discovery reveals the endurance of oral traditions,” Coningham said.

“This is one of those very rare times when tradition, belief and archaeology all come together.”

Agence France-Presse

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Hundreds cheer as Nepal holds first gay beauty pageant

Google – AFP, 2 November 2013

Shirtless participants in neckties walk the stage during the Mr. Handsome 2013

pageant for gays in Kathmandu on November 2, 2013 (AFP, Prakash Mathema)

Kathmandu — Hundreds of gays, lesbians and transgenders on Saturday cheered on shirtless contestants competing for the title of "Mr. Handsome" in Nepal's first gay beauty pageant.

Eighteen men sporting cowboy hats, lilac satin ties and tight jeans drew wild applause as they strutted across the stage in a Kathmandu auditorium, grooving to the Black Eyed Peas pop anthem "Let's Get It Started".

Nepal's Mr. Handsome 2013 Bishwo Raj

Adhikari (C), first runner up Anup Shrestha (L), 

and second Runner up Rahul Shrestha pose

onstage during the beauty pageant for gays

in Kathmandu on November 2, 2013 (AFP,

Prahask Mathema)

The event, billed as the country's first all gay male talent and courage contest saw contestants competing for a host of titles, including "Mr. Friendly", "Mr. Personality" and "Mr. Red Ribbon" for running anti-HIV campaigns.

Biswo Raj Adhikari, a 24-year-old sociology student from Makwanpur district near the capital was crowned "Mr. Handsome" and said he was thrilled to win the title.

"My family and friends will be proud of me as I will be able to inspire other gays who hesitate to come out openly," he told AFP.

Parents and well-wishers of the contestants thronged the event organised by leading LGBT rights group, The Blue Diamond Society (BDS), cheering on participants as they answered questions about discrimination against sexual minorities.

The country's only openly gay lawmaker and BDS president, Sunil Babu Pant said: "This programme has encouraged gay men to reveal their hidden talents and will create more awareness about gender and sexuality".

"Although treatment of gays has improved in recent years, many are still not willing to come out openly," he told AFP.

He said he hoped the pageant would become an annual event. BDS held South Asia's first gay sports tournament in September 2012, attended by Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis.

Nepal is a conservative Hindu country which arguably has some of the most progressive policies on homosexuality in Asia. A landmark 2007 court ruling ordered the government to enact laws guaranteeing the rights of gays.

The country's new constitution, currently being drafted by lawmakers, is expected to define marriage as a union between two adults, regardless of gender, and to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

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