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207 pages

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In a small medieval palace on Kathmandu s Durbar Square lives Nepal s famous Living Goddess a child chosen from the Buddhist caste of goldsmiths whose role is to watch over the country and protect its people. Once she attains puberty, another girl takes her place. To Nepalis she is the embodiment of Devi and for centuries the kings of Nepal have sought her blessing to rule. Legends swirl about her. But the facts remain shrouded in secrecy and closely guarded by the Living Goddess s priests and caretakers. Why are Buddhist girls worshipped by Hindu monarchs? Are the initiation rituals as macabre as they are rumoured to be? And what happens to Living Goddesses once they attain puberty? Using myth, religion, history and her unprecedented access to the priests, caretakers and ex-Living Godessess, Isabella Tree takes us deep into this hidden world. Through it she draws a vivid portrait of the girl-goddess, the beliefs and practices of traditional Nepal, and the uneasy journey it now makes towards modernity. Deeply felt and written over many years of travel and research, The Living Goddess is a profound, compelling and extremely moving book.

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Publié par	Penguin Books Ltd
Date de parution	15 janvier 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789351186106
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0600€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Isabella Tree

THE LIVING GODDESS
A Journey into the Heart of Kathmandu
Contents
Dedication
Timeline
Map
PART ONE
Chapter 1: A Living Goddess
Chapter 2: The Jewel of Beginnings
Chapter 3: The Newars
Chapter 4: Supreme Goddess
Chapter 5: The Glorious Ninth
Chapter 6: The Goddess s Yantra
Chapter 7: Taleju Temple
Chapter 8: Taleju s Flight from India
Chapter 9: Rashmila, ex-Kumari
PART TWO
Chapter 10: A Kingdom in Mourning
Chapter 11: Gorakhnath s Prophecy
Chapter 12: The Way of the Diamond Thunderbolt
Chapter 13: The Royal Astrologer
Chapter 14: The Royal Kumari of Patan
Chapter 15: A King Offends the Goddess
Chapter 16: The Royal Kumari of Bhaktapur
PART THREE
Chapter 17: An Empty Throne
Chapter 18: Living Goddesses under Siege
Chapter 19: The Living Goddess in the Supreme Court
Chapter 20: Sati s Yoni Falls to Earth
Chapter 21: The Hidden Goddess
Chapter 22: The Circle of Bliss
Chapter 23: The Fall of the Shah Dynasty
Chapter 24: A House for the Living Goddess
Chapter 25: A New Era
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Bibliography
Notes on Sources for the Mythical Chapters
Follow Penguin
Copyright Page
To Living Goddesses, past, present and future
Look upon a woman as a goddess
Whose special energy she is,
And honour her in that state.
-Uttara Tantra
TIMELINE
100,000 BCE
The Kathmandu Valley is formed as a huge lake drains away.
c. 563 BCE
Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, is born in Lumbini in southern Nepal.
300-879 CE
The Licchavi kings rule Nepal.
7th-13th centuries CE
Nepal s dark ages , or Transitional Period .
11th century
The Samvarodaya Tantra , the first known text recording Buddhist tantric worship of a Kumari, is composed in Nepal.
1097
King Nanyadeva founds the city of Simraongarh in Tirhut, a Hindu kingdom to the south of Nepal.
1325
Sultan Muhammed bin Tughluq sacks Simraongarh, forcing King Harisimha and his court to flee.
1326
King Harisimha dies en route to Nepal but his wife Devaldevi and son Jagatsimha find sanctuary in Bhaktapur, establishing the cult of Taleju in the city.
1349
The Muslim armies of Sultan Shams-ud-Din plunder the Kathmandu Valley, destroying the stupa at Swayambhu and many other temples.
r. 1382-1395
Devaldevi s grandson-in-law Jaya Stithi Malla unites the Valley and codifies its laws.
1428-82
Rule of Yaksha Malla, Jaya Stithi s grandson. His death results in the Valley being split between his six sons into three rival Malla kingdoms of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur.
1491
The joint kings of Bhaktapur establish the first royal Kumari.
1559-1570
Dravya Shah, prince of Lamjung, becomes first king of Gorkha, a hill kingdom 80 miles to the west of the Kathmandu Valley.
r.1560-74
Mahendra Malla establishes Taleju Temple and other temples around Kathmandu s Durbar Square.
r.1619-61
Siddhirasimha Malla establishes Taleju in Patan, where he becomes king.
1641-74
Pratap Malla, king of Kathmandu, dancer, poet and devotee of Guhyeshvari, presides over an era of artistic patronage, substantially rebuilding the palace of Hanuman Dhoka and raising devotional pillars in front of Taleju Temple.
1735
Jaya Prakasha Malla succeeds to the throne of Kathmandu.
1744
Prithvi Narayan Shah, king of Gorkha, seizes the Malla fort of Nuwakot-the first target in his campaign to conquer the Valley.
1757
Jaya Prakasha Malla builds a special temple residence for the royal Kumari of Kathmandu on Durbar Square.
1759
The strategic Malla forts of Shivapuri, Palanchok and Kabre on the Valley rim fall to Gorkhali forces.
1760
Jaya Prakasha Malla dedicates a golden temple-chariot to the Kathmandu Kumari and establishes her jatra around the city.
1762-3
Prithvi Narayan Shah secures the southern and eastern approaches to the Valley.
1765
Prithvi Narayan Shah takes the strategic Valley town of Kirtipur on his third attempt.
1767
Captain Kinloch s expedition to break Prithvi Narayan Shah s blockade of the Valley is put to rout by Gorkhali forces.
1768
Prithvi Narayan Shah storms Kathmandu during the festival of Indra Jatra forcing Jaya Prakasha Malla to flee.
1769
Prithvi Narayan Shah attacks Bhaktapur and captures the three Malla kings. Jaya Prakasha Malla dies of his wounds at Pashupati.
1768-75
Prithvi Narayan Shah moves his capital from Gorkha to Kathmandu, where he establishes the Shah dynasty. Having unified the Valley he expands the boundaries of Greater Nepal from Kashmir to Sikkim, eventually putting it on a collision course with the British Raj.
1814-16
Anglo-Nepali War ends in victory for Britain. The ensuing Treaty of Sugauli establishes Nepal s modern boundaries and gives Britain the right to recruit Gorkha soldiers in Nepal and maintain a residency in Kathmandu.
1846
The Kot Massacre eradicates the cream of the court aristocracy, ushering in the Rana era and reducing the Shah kings to puppets.
1934
A massive earthquake destroys much of the Kathmandu Valley.
1951
King Tribhuvan and the Nepal Congress Party, with Indian support, overthrow the Rana regime and establish a new coalition government. Nepal opens its doors to the outside world.
1952
Everest is conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tibetan Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
1955-72
Rule of King Mahendra sees the introduction of elections which are then declared void as the panchayat system of government is restored.
1960
Malaria eradication programme opens the Terai to industry, intensive agriculture, and rapid population growth.
1975
Birendra is crowned king in Kathmandu s Hanuman Dhoka.
1990
The mass demonstrations of the Jana Andolan, the People s Movement, force King Birendra to accept a new constitution, restoring democracy and relegating the king to the role of constitutional Hindu monarch under a multiparty democracy.
1996-2005
A decade-long Maoist insurgency brings the country to its knees and results in the death of 13,000 Nepalis. Development projects stall and tourism plummets.
2001
Prince Dipendra massacres ten members of the royal family, including his father, King Birendra, before shooting himself. Birendra s brother, Gyanendra, inherits the throne.
2005
King Gyanendra dismisses the government and assumes direct control of the country in a state of emergency, citing the need to crush the Maoist rebels.
2006
After weeks of protests involving hundreds of thousands of people, King Gyanendra reinstates Parliament, which votes to curtail his emergency powers. Maoists and government officials sign a peace agreement and the Maoist rebels enter an interim government.
2007
The 250th Sri Kumari Anniversary Celebrations mark Jaya Prakasha Malla s founding of the Living Goddess s residence in Kathmandu s Durbar Square and her first jatra around the city.
2008
Nepal abolishes the monarchy and becomes a federal democratic republic, with former Maoist guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal ( Prachanda ) as the first prime minister. Prachanda resigns a year later.

PART ONE
Chapter 1
A Living Goddess
A hush descends on the tiny stone courtyard. A footfall, a cough, the beating of a pigeon s wings resound like a thunderclap in the silence. Outside, the jangling of rickshaw bells and motorbike horns belongs to another world.
Without warning, a child appears at an ornately carved window on the second floor. She could be six, eight or nine years old. It is impossible to tell. She gazes sternly down on the assembled foreigners, pouting slightly, looking mildly inconvenienced. Her eyes are huge, exaggerated with thick lines of kohl reaching all the way to her temples. She is dressed entirely in red, her lips bright red; her hair bound up tightly in a topknot; gold ornaments around her neck and bangles on her wrists. Her tiny fingers, their nails painted red, clasp a wooden rail across the bottom of the window with the command of a captain at the ship s helm.
There are awed murmurs and even some applause. The child s expression does not falter. Lowering his voice the guide explains, She does not smile. If she did, it would be an invitation to heaven and you would die.
Just as suddenly, the child is gone, reabsorbed into the shadows, leaving only a flutter of red curtains.
The little girl is Nepal s Living Goddess , one of the sightseeing landmarks of Kathmandu, the face in every guidebook and on every tourist poster. To Nepalis she is known as Kumari -the word for a virgin or unmarried girl. She is believed to manifest a powerful Goddess who protects Kathmandu and watches over the country and all its citizens. All-seeing, all-knowing, she is said to have eyes in the past and the future, and to see everything that goes on in the present. She has the power to cure illnesses, to remove obstacles in the way of happiness, to bestow immeasurable blessings on those pure of heart. She is said to punish the wicked with a single withering stare.
I was eighteen the first time I saw her, fresh out of school, travelling with three friends on a gap year in South Asia. For several months in the summer of 1983 we rented a couple of rooms in Freak Street, a fading hippy colony in the heart of old Kathmandu. Our shutters opened on to the southern facade of the old royal palace and, on the other side of Basantpur Square, an imposing three-storey building made of red brick with a deep, clay-tiled roof and wooden lattice windows-the palace of the Living Goddess.
The Kumari Ghar , or Kumari Chen -the Kumari House-was a hive of activity, the entrance around the corner in Durbar Square guarded by a pair of magnificent stone lions. Every day devotees would climb the short flight of steps between the lions and, ducking their heads beneath the ornate wooden doorway, carry plates of offerings inside. Across the little courtyard they entered a door tucked away in a corner marked Hindus ONLY .
This was as far as we could go, the building itself being strictly closed to foreigners. But