Kumari-The Living Goddess of the only Hindu Kingdom

Indra Jatra as celebrated on September 27 by both Hindus and Buddhists with great enthusiasm. It is also believed that Indra Jatra is a festival of classical dances. It is on this very day when one is able to observe numerous varieties of traditional dances. The festival is named after Lord Indra who is known as the god of rain and also as the king of heaven.

The festival of Indra Jatra continues for eight days with much rejoicing singing
dancing and feasting. People from all over Nepal mostly those who live within the Kathmandu Valley gather at the Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu.

On the third day of the festival of Indra Jatra the living goddess Kumari is taken out in a procession in a chariot. Indra Jatra Festival was celebrated on September 27 this year. "Kumari" the "living goddess" is considered to be an incarnation of the goddess "Taleju". Chariots of Kumari Ganesha and Bhairav are taken around the city for three days. The king of Nepal the only Hindu king in the world also pays homage to the Kumari during this period. The festival's many interesting dances including the Procession of Living Goddess-Mahakali Mahalaxmi and Dasha Avatara masked dances are staged in Kathmandu Durbar Square near the Kumari Temple. The "Dasha Avatara" refers to the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu who is one of the Hindu's Holy trinity.
Whilst the veneration of a living Kumari in Nepal is relatively recent, dating only from the 17th century, the tradition of Kumari-Puja, or virgin worship, has been around for much longer.
There are several legends circulating about how the current cult of the Kumari began. Most of the legends, however, lead back to King Jayaprakash Malla, the last Nepalese king of the Malla dynasty. According to the most popular legend, a red serpent approaches the King's chambers late one night as he plays tripasa a dice game with the goddess Taleju. The King begins to admire the surpassing beauty of Taleju, the patroness of his royal lineage, realizing that her beauty surpasses that of his own wife. His amorous thoughts, however, are found out as the goddess is able to read his thoughts.
Standing abruptly, Taleju rebukes the king for his lustful thoughts and declares that if he is ever to see her again, it will be in the form of a young girl from a low caste. Hoping to make amends with his patroness, the King left the palace in search of the young girl who was possessed by Taleju's spirit. Even today, a mother's dream of a red serpent is believed to portend the elevation of her daughter to the position of Royal Kumari. And each year, the Nepalese King seeks the blessing of the Royal Kumari at the festival of Indra Jatra.
The selection of the Living Goddess is a highly elaborate tantric ritual. Kumars are chosen from a large number of contestants from the Shakya clan at the age of four and five. The parents of the contestants are asked for their consent because the contestants are so young. The Royal Kumari is always a Buddhist girl of the Sakya caste because the Goddess Taleju is said to have belong form the same clan. She is a Buddhist girl, but is worshipped as both a Hindu and a Buddhist goddess. Five senior priests choose the girl from the Newar Shakya caste.
In order to be the Royal Kumari, one must pass through several tests. The girl must possess 32 attributes of perfection of the goddess. She must be free from any disfigurement; she must have a perfect health and no serious illnesses (especially small pox). She must be a virgin with an unblemished body. She must have white teeth without any gaps. She must have a sonorous voice, long slender arms, delicate and soft hands and feet, and straight hair curled towards the right side. The most important requirement is that the girl has never menstruated. When a Kumari has her first menstruation, she loses her divine power and is returned back to life as an ordinary girl. Menstruation is seen as a mark of impurity in the Nepalese society. This is a tradition that has been continued for centuries. At the end of the two weeks, the girls have to perform certain rituals with priests, which are specific to the pubescent girls, before she can lead an ordinary life.
Finally, the girls horoscope must match with that of the King of Nepal to ensure compatibility. People believe that a Kumari has the power to confirm the King's rule. In addition, the selection committee considers her family s general reputation for piety and looks for calmness and fearlessness in the girl.
During the great festival of Indra Jatra the god of rain is worshiped for good weather and good crops. The Kumari festival is a part of the Indra Jatra festival in which the primary purpose is to worship the God Indra. During Indra Jatra, occurring in September, the Living Goddess in all her jeweled splendor travels through the older part of Kathmandu city in a three-tiered chariot made of wood accompanied by Lord Ganesha and Bhairab for three days. According to Hindu beliefs, Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva, has the head of an elephant; Bhairav is the incarnation of Lord Shiva. The three gods and goddess are worshipped together because worshiping them this way is believed to bring luck to the society as well as any households. Therefore, in most of the Hindu houses, before worshipping any other gods and goddesses, the worship of these three gods is a must. Before the start of the chariot festival, a goat is sacrificed for each wheel of the chariot and special rituals are offered. It is believed that after performing this special ritual and sacrifices, the chariots will become immune to any untoward incident that may occur during the procession. Three separate chariots containing Kumari, Ganesh, and Bhairav are pulled in Kathmandu to observe the main day of Indra Jatra. It is a grand gala in which people throng into and around the temple of the goddess by the thousands to pay their homage to the Living Goddess.

During this festival she also blesses the King, keeping with the tradition in which the first king of the Shah dynasty, who annexed Katmandu in 1768, received a blessing from the Living Goddess. The Goddess Kumari is regarded as so powerful that her annual blessing on the festival of Indra Jatra to the King, the royal family, and the officials is considered essential to the successful reign of the sovereigns.
During another important Hindu festival, Dashain on the "black night" or kalratri, 108 buffaloes and 108 goats are brought to the courtyard of the Taleju temple and tethered to stone pillars. The heads are then severed and taken up to the temple as offerings to Goddess Taleju. The following night the royal goddess walks on a cloth to the temple because she cannot touch the ground with her feet. Inside, she is seated in the midst of all the severed heads and is worshipped by a priest.