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Chapter – 1 Kumari Tradition and Bhaktapur-Newar Culture The Chapter – 1 Kumari Tradition and Bhaktapur-Newar Culture The Ekanta Kumari tradition of Bhaktapur reflects the organized way of life style of the newar community of Bhaktapur. It reflects that the community beholds an individual as unalienable part and the individual contributes to form the unity of the community. In the Ekanta Kumari tradition, the transitions in the pre-Kumari to Kumari and Kumari to post- Kumari position are harmoniously solved by the role of communitas. This research work attempts to explore how a young Shakya-Bajracharya girl, especially Sajani Shakya (ex-Ekanta Kumari), in the form of Ekanta Kumari, goes through different transitional conditioning of EkantaKumari life – from pre-Kumari to Kumari and from Kumari to post-Kumari state of her life.Along with that, this workalso analyzes on how community comes to participate in the journey that Ekanta Kumari goes through. As a result, her journey is dramatized through various rituals and performances of spiritual order. The indigenous Newar people are rich in culture, rituals and tradition. They celebrate different jatras and people from all level participate together in the celebration. All these jatras, festivals and traditions are rooted long time back to the ancient Lichchhavi and Malla courts. Moreover, Guthi system was put into practice as one of the important components to carry on such culture, rituals and tradition; and it plays the vital role for celebration which facilitates to integrate the community people at the same place. It has also created the strong bonding among the community people. Newar people from different communities celebrate festivals of the local importance. Such festivals become the identity of the local Newars – such as Bisket-jatra of Bhaktapur, Bhoto-jatra of Lalitpur, Indra-jatra of Kathmandu Newars. Along with these, there are 1 different other festivals that they celebrate – such as Gaijatra, Ghantakarna, Nag-panchmi, Shivaratri, etc. One fascinating thing at the time of festival is feast, where different food items are prepared and served. Along with that, different traditional Bhajan groups, musical groups and dance groups also involve to mark the festivals. The role of Guthis is to facilitate to celebrate the festivals, to protect the local heritage and public property, and to assist the member of family in both joyous as well as mourning period of life. Premshanti Tuladhar, et. al., in Newar Jatiko Chinari, writes: From the very beginning time of the history of Nepal, various Guthis had been operated to make the society managed and simple. Organizations like Bihar, Bahil in Buddhist religion and Math, Ashram in Hinduism have played the organizational role. Guthi has seemed to be given the responsibilities of cultural work, social management, and judicial work to declare the punishment. (59) It means that Guthi has been playing very crucial role in managing the society for long time. It has been evident in both Hindu and Buddhist sects. In the past, because of its judicial responsibility, it seems that it used to be the state mechanism. In the same way, Dapha Bhajans, musical bands and dance groups belonging to Guthi make the celebration more joyous. Such bhajan, musical bands and dance groups also have the responsibilities of transmitting the ancient music and songs, and traditional dances from generation to generation. That is how the tradition has been maintained and continued. In this regard, it is to be said that the practices of Newar ritual, culture and traditions have survived for ages. Among the various rituals and traditions of Newar culture, Kumari tradition is one of the most dominantand common features. In each Newar community, Kumari stands as one of 2 the strongest symbols. Kumari is the ritual of living goddess tradition, where young pre- pubescent girl around two years from Shakya or Bajracharya caste is chosen. In the Kumari tradition, people from every strata along participate and celebrate together. One interesting feature of the tradition is that people from both Hindu and Buddhist background celebrate together and worship the goddesses in their own name. In this tradition, Hindu people worship her as the goddess Taleju, the powerful goddess Bhagwati or Durga who is regarded as the patron goddess of Malla kings; whereas the Buddhist people worship her as the goddess Vajradevi or Vajrayogini. With the same instance, Chunda Bajracharya in “Sarbochcha Adalatle Gathan Gareko Kumari Sambandhi Samitiko Byaktigat Pratibedan” states, “In Mahayani Buddhist tradition, Kumari is regarded to worship as the goddess like Bajradevi, Bajrayogini, Ugratara, Saraswoti, Basundhara, Ajima, etc.; Whereas in ‘Hindu’ tradition, she is worshiped as the form of goddess Taleju” (17). Picture 1: Goddess Taleju of Golden Gate Tympanum, Bhaktapur 3 Regarding the initiation of Kumari tradition, it is mentioned in thyasaphu or chronicle. According to Durga Shakya, Harisimhadeva, the king of Simrongadh, along with his wife Devaldevi escaped to Bhaktapur in 1382 BS after being attacked by Mughal emperor and brought goddess Taleju together with him. The goddess was established in Bhaktapur palace through the tantric power. In this regard, Shakya has stated reasons why Harisimhadeva brought the goddess to Bhaktapur in ‘The arrival of Devi Tulaja Bhawani in Nepal’, For King Harisimhadeva the best option was to come to the Kathmandu Valley. First it was the place to which the Devi had asked the king to take her. Second, Harisimhadeva’s queen, Devaldevi, was a princess from Bhaktapur. She was the daughter of Tunga Malla, the King of Bhaktapur. Thus, this fortuitous relationship was an important factor in the arrival of the Sri Yantra in Nepal. Had Devaldevi not been born in the kingdom of Bhaktapur the cult of Taleju Bhawani might not have taken root here. (39-40) There is not unanimous thought about the initiator of Kumari tradition. Lila Bhakta Munankarmi and Pujari Naike Narendra Joshi are with the view that the tradition was started by the King Jagjyoti Malla. Munanakarmi sates in “Jugjyoti Malla” ofNepalko sanskritik tatha etihasik Digdashan, “The goddess Tulaja came to play dice (pasa) with the king (Jagjyoti Malla) being happy with his deeds. But as the king gave more attention to the goddess, she became disappeared forever” (154), But Durga Shakya has claimed that Kumari goddess was initiated by the King Trailokya Malla. Shakya presents her idea in ‘Shri Kumari – The Living Goddess of Nepal’, “One time a princess by the name of Ganga Devi – the daughter of king Trailokya Malla – happened to open the yantra and catch glimpse of it. But the yantra was not supposed to be seen by any female, Tulaja Bhawani became angry and disappeared into a different realm and the Malla kings from that time never saw the 4 goddessin person again” (171). Anyway the king disrespected her either by holding her hand lustily or by breaching the secrecy of their meeting. Then after, the goddess vanished forever. She denied to be visible even after the king requested a lot, but she provided an alternative way of representing that she would be present in the body of young Shakya girl. The Kumari tradition began from the time. As Isabella Tree states in The Living Goddess: ‘I shall grant you darshan,’ the Goddess continued sternly. ‘But I will reveal myself to you in a form that will teach you wisdom and humility. I shall inhabit the body of a living child, a girl who has not yet bled. This sadya kumari must come from a caste that performs some base and polluting occupation. Heed this with all your heart, for it will be your salvation and the salvation of kings to come. (157) The goddess Kumari is a living and virgin deity; and the young Shakya girl, who comes from Buddhist lineage, represents her. The Buddhist girl remains Kumari till her maturity, the starting of puberty. Thus, the transition occurs in the Kumari practice from Pre- Kumari to Kumari and Kumari to Post-Kumari. Kumari is nominated by the expert committee. To be qualified as a Kumari, the girl of two or three years should possess thirty two virtues and she must be from the Buddhist lineage of Shakya or Bajracharya caste. Her tenure is extended till she remains virgin. She would remain no more virgin after her menstruation, rather the Kumari post terminates. At this point, both the terminating goddess and the appointing newgoddess have to go through the transitional phase. Although Kumari is the dominant figure in the Newar communities, she is installed and worshipped at the local level. At present in Kathmandu valley, there are altogether twelve Kumaris – four in Kathmandu, Two in Lalitpur, four in Bhaktapur, one in Bunmati and one in Deopatan. All these Kumaris have the important role at the local level. And the rituals and 5 worshipping patterns of each Kumari is different from another. It means there are differences in the rituals for the same goddess. Particularly talking about Bhaktapur; Naredndra Joshi, Present Pujari Naike of Bhaktapur Taleju, views, “People regard four Kumaris – Ekanta Kumari, Wane-laku Kumari, Tibukchhe Kumari and Sakotha Bahal Kumari. Ekanta Kumari is the primarily important one as she is equivalent deity to ex-Royal Kumari of Patan and Royal Kumari of Basantapur” (Personal interview, Sep. 29, 2018). It means that she used to be the Royal Kumari in the then Bhaktapur Kingdom where she has been worshipped as goddess all over Bhaktapur. Wane-laku Kumari is only the important figure for the people around Dattatraya area, Picture 2: Present Ekanta Kumari sitting in the throne at the time of Dashain 6 whereas Tibukchhe Kumari is regarded deity in the Tibukchhe tole only. Tibukchhe Kumari needs to be changed every year, because she needs to be newly born baby. She is also regarded as the patron goddess for the people around Tibukchhe area.
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