Court claim stirs strong emotions in the country that worships 11 young goddesses. The lawyer insists her only goal is to modernise the tradition and protect the girls.

Patan (AsiaNews/SCMP) – Pundevi Mahajan, a young Nepalese lawyer, has provoked protests and controversy by filing a case in the Supreme Court claiming that the human rights of the Kumaris, Nepal's living goddesses, are being violated.

"They are like prisoners," she said. "In my case I demand to give them equality, freedom. They have to spend their lives with dignity."

The cult of the living goddess is immensely popular in Kathmandu and neighbouring towns, but the court case has stirred strong emotions in the population. Critics have attacked the lawyer in internet chat rooms and suggested she is a tool of shadowy political and religious interests.

Ms Mahajan insists that all she wants is for the tradition to be "modernised" to prevent child abuse.

According to some sources, even King Gyanendra has become interested in the case, whilst at the other end of the political spectrum a prominent former Maoist rebel recently wrote an article denouncing the action.

The cult is a feature of the unique mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism that exists in Kathmandu. Although Kumaris are selected from the Buddhist Shakya caste, they are regarded as Hindu goddesses. The criteria for selection are rigorous: the child supposedly must have the body of a banyan tree, the chest of a lion and the voice of a duck, besides 29 other "bodily perfections". In practice, these qualities are attributed on the basis of a horoscope.

Anup Singh Suwal is a community leader who initially opposed the Supreme Court case. He changed his mind when he realised that the court case did not aim to abolish the tradition but was designed to protect the girls.

"I met one former Kumari and she was so innocent that she could not speak her own mother tongue well. How can a girl become like that?" he said.

Of the 11 Kumaris in the area today, Chanira Bajracharya, the Kumari of Patan, is one of the most important—and one of the most confined. She has been a living goddess for five years in Nepal. In her elaborate dress and makeup, the 10-year-old spends her days in her throne room, receiving a trickle of worshippers.

Sometimes she leaves the house to preside at festivals, but she does not attend school and she is not allowed out to play.

Her friends are allowed to visit, but according to her mother, "they might be afraid because she has special power. They don't come at all".

When she reaches puberty her life will abruptly return to normal, whilst priests and astrologers set about selecting her successor. 

• nepal
• kathmandu
• patan
• kumaris
• living
• goddesses
• supreme
• court
• claim
• child
• abuse