Dhana Kumari Bajracharya, 63, is s “retired” reincarnation of the Hindu goddess Taleju Bhawani. She was enthroned in 1954 when she was two years old. Her niece Chanira was chosen as Kumari in 2001.

Lalitpur (AsiaNews) – When a massive earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, Nepal's longest-serving ‘living goddess’ was forced to walk the streets for the first time in her life. Before the 7.8 magnitude quake, which killed at least 8,700 people, Dhana Kumari Bajracharya had appeared in public only on an ornate wooden palanquin.

"I had never thought about leaving the house like that," she told Agence France-Presse in a rare interview. The earthquake shook Bajracharya's five-storey home, forcing her to leave her quarters in the historic city of Patan (Lalitpur, south of Kathmandu) for the first time in three decades.

“Perhaps the gods are angry because people don't respect traditions as much anymore,” said the 63-year-old living goddess.

Known as Kumaris (virgins), the Himalayan nation's living goddesses live in seclusion and rarely speak in public.

The divinity, who is chosen among pre-pubescent girls from the Newar community, is considered an embodiment of the Hindu goddess Taleju Bhawani, combining elements of Hinduism and Buddhism.

The criteria used to select them are strict and include a number of specific physical attributes, from an unblemished body to a “chest like a lion and thighs like a deer.”

Bajracharya was enthroned in 1954 when she was just two years old and reigned for three decades as the Kumari of Patan.

The Patan Kumari is traditionally dethroned once she begins to menstruate and, since Bajracharya never started her periods, she continued to serve.

Forced into retirement in 1984, Bajracharya decided to continue to live as a reincarnation.

Her niece Chanira was chosen as Kumari in 2001.

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