Nepal's Government Presses For Change In Traditions for Hindu Child-Goddess

The AP reported on Saturday that a nearly 400-year old religious tradition in Nepal is coming under challenge from government officials as well as others. Traditionally, a young girl around the age of 4 is chosen from the goldsmith caste to live as the incarnation of the Hindu deity Taleju. (Background). The chosen girl-- at least until recent changes-- has been largely isolated in a Katmandu palace, and is worshipped as a goddess, until she reaches puberty and is sent back to her family, unprepared to adjust to a normal life. Now however activists charge that this practice violates Nepalese law. The Supreme Court began an investigation, and the country's new democratic government refused to allow King Gyanendra to receive the goddess's annual blessing. Apparently the prime minister, rather than the king, is to receive the blessing. The king, however, went to the goddess without permission, a step that led the government to retaliate by reducing the number of royal bodyguards.