Nepal cuts 'living goddess' funding
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
KATHMANDU, Sept 22 (AFP): Budget cuts to a Nepali festival celebrating a "living goddess" have sparked protests and prompted charges that the new Maoist government intends to launch a cultural revolution.
For centuries, Nepal's kings received blessings from Kumari, a young girl from the Buddhist Newar community revered as a living incarnation of a Hindu goddess.
Last week the government announced in its first budget that a 200-dollar allowance for the festival would be stopped, leading to protests in Kathmandu with burning tyres placed to block main roads.
On Sunday, the Kumari was supposed to have been paraded around the city's old quarter, but the protests forced security personnel to remove her from a ceremonial chariot and carry her back to her palace.
"The Maoist government is trying to stamp out cultural and religious festivals," said Rajan Maharajan, one of the officials that looks after the 11-year-old girl, who is largely confined to her ornate residence.
"It's their first step towards a cultural revolution. Because of the money cutback, rituals cannot take place in the right manner," he said.
"This is a big mishap and considered very unholy and unlucky." Nepal was the world's last Hindu kingdom until the monarchy was abolished in May, and the country is now a secular republic.
Last year King Gyanendra attended the Kumari festival as a commoner, but this year the former king -- who now lives as a virtual recluse in a palace on the outskirts of the capital -- did not make an appearance.
Finance minister Baburam Bahttarai, considered to be a Maoist ideologue, said late Sunday that the funding would be reinstated, but Newar protesters remained on the streets Monday.
For centuries, Nepal's kings received blessings from Kumari, a young girl from the Buddhist Newar community revered as a living incarnation of a Hindu goddess.
Last week the government announced in its first budget that a 200-dollar allowance for the festival would be stopped, leading to protests in Kathmandu with burning tyres placed to block main roads.
On Sunday, the Kumari was supposed to have been paraded around the city's old quarter, but the protests forced security personnel to remove her from a ceremonial chariot and carry her back to her palace.
"The Maoist government is trying to stamp out cultural and religious festivals," said Rajan Maharajan, one of the officials that looks after the 11-year-old girl, who is largely confined to her ornate residence.
"It's their first step towards a cultural revolution. Because of the money cutback, rituals cannot take place in the right manner," he said.
"This is a big mishap and considered very unholy and unlucky." Nepal was the world's last Hindu kingdom until the monarchy was abolished in May, and the country is now a secular republic.
Last year King Gyanendra attended the Kumari festival as a commoner, but this year the former king -- who now lives as a virtual recluse in a palace on the outskirts of the capital -- did not make an appearance.
Finance minister Baburam Bahttarai, considered to be a Maoist ideologue, said late Sunday that the funding would be reinstated, but Newar protesters remained on the streets Monday.