Kumari-devi - The Goddess You Can See

How I Searched for an Audience with the Living Goddess in Nepal

In my life, Kumari-devi appeared to me either twice or once. To this day, it remains a mystery whether the first encounter was real, but the second time I undoubtedly contemplated the deity. And this is not some figure of speech. Perhaps you haven't heard about the goddess Kumari yet? If so, let me first tell you how I first heard about her.

On the last day of my first stay in Kathmandu, I was talking with my brother Misha via video call. Directly from my hotel room.

I checked into this hotel through the patronage of Lama Tupten. The hotel, more precisely a 4-story guesthouse, amazed me with traditional Tibetan carving and painting. The owner of Maya Guesthouse Kathmandu was an elderly relative of Lama Tupten named N.

On one of the walls of my small room hung a portrait of a girl. The portrait was done in watercolor, sweepingly, as if carelessly. The work looked unfinished, but the artist managed to convey the beauty of the young face.

So, during our video conversation, Misha noticed this portrait behind my back. He actually whistled in surprise and asked if I knew whose image it was. It turned out that in Nepal there is such a deity - Kumari-devi. And this deity is embodied in the body of a human child. The "carrier" is determined by priest-astrologers. The girl must be perfect - of ideal beauty, healthy, without birthmarks and any flaws, pure and innocent. Precisely innocent. As soon as the first menstruation begins, the goddess leaves the body of the "carrier". And the search for a successor begins.

"The most amazing thing," Misha continued, "is that you can meet Kumari and even ask her questions."

After finishing the video call, I felt that I was in a state of great excitement. I knew what to ask Kumari. Where I would find a woman with whom I would have a happy family life. And how soon this would happen.

After several minutes of active internet searching, I already knew that Kumari indeed lives in Kathmandu, she has her own house in the historic center - at Durbar Square. This is at the other end of the city. It takes one to two hours to get there, depending on traffic.

I quickly took a shower, dressed in all new clothes and went out onto the street. A small bus the size of a minibus stopped in front of me as if from underground. Actually, I was going to catch a taxi, but the sudden appearance of the bus, which let out several passengers right near me, seemed like a sign to me. Learning that the bus was going towards Durbar Square, I cast aside all doubts and settled into a seat next to a young Nepali man. I checked with the navigator on my smartphone. The journey would be long.

Mentally, I was already talking with the goddess. Most likely, there would be little time for the audience. I needed to carefully formulate my couple of most important questions and memorize them by heart. So as not to forget from excitement.

Meanwhile, a funny scene was taking place on the seat in front of us. A girl was sitting there, and next to her some young man was nodding off. At some point, he began to lean slightly on this young lady. He didn't smell of alcohol and didn't look like a homeless person at all. Dressed simply, without excessive luxury, clean and neat clothes. He was probably terribly tired and terribly wanted to sleep. The girl most likely didn't like the role of a pillow, she even somehow huddled up... And then my neighbor, also a young Nepali, carefully stretched his hand forward and gently held the sleeping man in front by the shoulder. He started, mumbled something apologetic and jerked away from the girl. But then, with the swaying of the bus, he again began to lean towards the girl's shoulder. And again my neighbor chivalrously kept the guy from contact with the girl. Meanwhile, I was staring at the girl's profile. She turned out to be a young woman of indeterminate age. Very beautiful. But with some unusual beauty. Now, after four years, it's no longer possible to fully restore her face in memory. I remembered a slightly upturned nose, some special eyes and a light smile. The expressionless face radiated charming serenity. And then she slowly got up, floated to the exit and dissolved into the crowd without even turning around. My neighbor removed his hand from the sleeper's shoulder with visible relief. And I continued mentally, now from memory, to admire this unearthly creature. Soon I had to get off.

Durbar Square still had to be found. Asking passers-by and constantly checking with the navigator, I hurriedly squeezed through the crowd. Restaurants, cafes, shops of all kinds invited visitors, tourists from Nepal, India and other countries created a Babylonian pandemonium. After half an hour, already at dusk, I stood in front of a squat building with an abundance of windows, closed by black shutters with rich carving.

I was late. The next visit is tomorrow. And tomorrow I have a flight in the first half of the day. Resigned, I went to walk around the evening old city.

The next day I returned to India. In Delhi, I transferred to a domestic flight to Pune and at night I was already sleeping in the cabin of the intercity sleeper bus "Bombay-Goa".

And then, only days later, COVID-19 broke out...

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