Kumari Devi, the living goddess, a photo from Bagmati, Central

Photographer's Note

I wonder why this subject, one of the more fascinating ones of the fascinating country that is Nepal, is so rare here in TE. I have done a quick search and I only found these photos (1, 2, 3), so I found myself a good excuse to post this one, in spite of its poor technical quality.

That little girl you see on the veranda, is the Kumari Devi, also known as Royal Kumari, a young girl that is considered and revered as a living goddess, the incarnation of the Hindu goddess Taleju, who seems to be an important goddess to the Nepali Hindus, considering that largest Hindu temple in Kathmandu is dedicated to her. Some sources mention that she incarnates Durga, another popular Hindu goddess (in fact more known than Taleju, at least outside Nepal). In my almost complete ignorance of the Hindu mythology, I guess that maybe Durga and Taleju are just different names or avatars of the same entity.

The girl is chosen through an intricate selection process somehow reminiscent of that used to find the Dalai Lama in Tibet. Once they find the right girl, she is taken from her family and goes living in the palace where this photo was shot, the Kumari Ghar, which lies next to the old Royal Palace, in the main square of the old part of Kathmandu. Once a year, there is a big festival, the Indra Jatra, during which she is shown around on a ceremonial chariot and she blesses the King of Nepal. That lasts until she reaches puberty; as soon as she has the first menstruation she is no longer the Kumari.

Interestingly, the girl always comes from an ethnic group, the Newari Shakya, who are Buddhists, not Hindu, like those who then will adore her as goddess.

According to some excited Nepalis that were with us on the yard of the palace, we were very lucky (and blessed) for having been able to see her, as she rarely appears and when she does, it is considered to bring much good luck to whom sees her. Well, let me be kind enough to believe that it brings good luck, but about she appearing rarely...

Web links to more info:
* Wikipedia
* visitnepal.com
* puellula.com
* kantipuronline.com - 'Kumari: Living goddess or victim of tradition?' (newspaper article).

Location (latitude, longitude): 27.703778,85.306674

jmcl, Wanda1, vincz, riclopes, salvator, luiscar, lucasgalodoido, diguina, xuaxo, pboehringer, adores, axiotea, feather, sufi, sadeik, nivaldo, saikotic, Flavia has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

dvlazar (6662) 2007-06-06 23:42

Jose - thats amazing you got to capture her like that - Im amazed she stayed around long enough for you to take the picture. While focus isnt 100 percent, its still a great shot with nice composition, colors, and architecture (and the kumari, of course).
Cheers,
Dave.

vagabondtravels (6511) 2007-06-07 0:18

Hi Jose

Great TE image and note. Lucky you were able to glimpse the Kumari and take her picture. Nice comp and colors. A little soft but maybe it is just the scan. Anyhow well done.
Ben

jmcl (14535) 2007-06-07 0:27

Hi Jose

The young girl against the old building is thoughtful and evocative by itself .. then add your note .. wow .. you know I wonder if it would be worth it to do a version cropped down to the top of the window pillars to crop out the most damaged bits .. I am not sure.

take care,

John

Wanda1 (15142) 2007-06-07 1:42

Hi Jose,
A beautiful shot with wonderful details on the wooden carving. It sounds like you were very fortunate to see this girl, and she adds a lot of interest to your shot. The pigeons are great too.
Regards
Wanda

deblink (2548) 2007-06-07 2:08

Hello Jose,
Well I hope seeing the little girl achieved bringing you lots of lucky. I think you were actually lucky to capture a glimpse of her. The image is wonderful and it shows us some very nice architecture. The pigeons make a bit of a mess don't they.
Cheers,
Debbie

vincz (19113) 2007-06-07 3:28

This evidently suffered from the time and from the scan. But what a great scene, what a true atmosphere. I fell as being right in Kathmandu in this courtyard with all bricks and pigeons all around. You were lucky to see the living goddess! I never got this chance.

riclopes (35577) 2007-06-07 3:50

Se eu n鉶 tivesse lido a nota, era s� uma m韚da � janela de um palacete espectacular, que me faz lembrar muitos edif韈ios de Jaisalmer, mas j� percebi que � muito mais do que isso. Coitada da m韚da! De repente lembrei-me do filme 'sete anos no tibete' ou 'o 鷏timo imperador', com a inf鈔cia enclausurada dentro de paredes. A imagem est� um pouco escura, mas a m韚da est� mais clara e sobressai bem l� em cima. S� aquela coisa branca ao lado � que perturba um bocado - parece uma calha de uma l鈓pada fluorescente. De facto n鉶 se percebe porque n鉶 h� mais posts deste edif韈io. Excelente post!
Um abra鏾,
ricardo

UnTrained (0) 2007-06-07 5:44

Ol� Jos�,
lot of thoughts here, sorry that I can not write them down at the moment. Great way of capturing the structure, good contrasts in that bad light.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

luiscar (3286) 2007-06-07 6:22

hola Jose, si que parece por el ambiente de la imagen lo que expones en tu comentario, la casa es funebre y la ni馻 parece sacada de las peliculas de exorcismo, me gusta la composicion general de la fotografia.
buen trabajo, un saludo

batalay (41261) 2007-06-07 8:32

Hello Jos�,

Very good image, where the mystique lies in the darkness, and the child in the window is essential to the photo's success. I wonder how a modern digital camera would have depicted this very scene. The scan, however, is of good quality, revealing a great deal of detail in the brickwork.

Warm regards,
Bulent

Gustaw (21670) 2007-06-07 10:18

Hi, my friend!
it is very interesting composition. I like your oryginal colours. I very like your girl. Very nice. Good idea and photo have good quality.
Marek

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2007-06-07 14:36

Ol� Jos�!
Bem diferente essa contru玢o, o estilo oriental � bm diferente do nosso! Gostei da crian鏰 na janela, enriquece bem a foto!
Parab閚s e Abra鏾!

diguina (430) 2007-06-07 14:42

Hola Jose
Precioso y elaborado balcon. Muy buen encuadre, colores sobrios, e interesante el detalle da la ni馻, pero el neon blanco es una lastima que lo hayan puesto ahi. Buen trabajo
Saludos
Najib

xuaxo (6854) 2007-06-07 15:41

Ol� Jos�,
Uma foto e nota extremamente interessante. Do melhor no esp韗ito do TE (conhecer o mundo atrav閟 da fotografia).
Assim, a qualidade t閏nica da imagem n鉶 tem import鈔cia. O conte鷇o � muito mais importante.
F

pboehringer (770) 2007-06-07 16:24

Jose, you know very well that TE is not only about perfect taken photographies, but also about learning something about our world. As you already pointed out in your note the shot is technically weak, but your text teaches me a lot. You see, I was in Nepal 9 years ago and didn't know about this detail. Thnaks for sharing your shot and text. It gave me an interesting aspect of a quite different culture.

adores (46979) 2007-06-07 19:37

Ol� Jos�!
Fizeste bem em mostrar porque a foto est� bem bonita. A janela � excelente e depois a menina � sem d鷙ida um bom detalhe. Gosto at� de ver os pombos.
Anabela

Stepan (27210) 2007-06-08 1:22

I regret the white light in the corner, but except that, the pic drives me straight there, away, in Asia... And that is wort posting and enjoying that old souvenir. A strong and real mood. Thanks.
St閜hane

RADEEH (2802) 2007-06-08 2:48

As you said this is a very rare shot in TE. Reading the note i felt the importance of this shot. It tells us a lot about Nepal and its culture. Thanks for sharing this wonderful moment. Hope it will bring good luck to all of us.

axiotea (21651) 2007-06-08 4:51

Ol�
What I like is the architectural details of the veranda/doors/window of the palace and even though the quality is not at its best, we are also lucky to see Kumari Devi which is a rare event :)
Just for try, I made a WS (which is not perfect) and cloned out the neon on top of the 2nd window. Hope you don't mind....
Cheers
Marilyn

[workshop] [compare] +

feather (51130) 2007-06-08 4:59

You already know my feelings about the learning aspect of TE and as such this is an excellent post. I was in Kathmandu in 02 and didn't know of this so I read your note with great interest. One of the technical things you could have changed is the tilt, but I'm not quibbling as this is a very worthy post.
Kath

Silvio1953 (223103) 2007-06-08 17:37

Hi Jose, splendid architecture of katmandu with great light, very well done, have a nice week end, ciao Silvio

emilbo (22616) 2007-06-08 19:38

Ola jose!
Belle prise de vue de cette facade d'閐ifice et superbe architecture. La petite fille � la fen阾re donne de la vie � la photo. Ta note est excellente. 莂 manque un peu de nettet� mais 鏰 reste une belle photo que j'aime bien.
Bravo!... et bonne fin de semaine,
Emilius

sufi (9588) 2007-06-09 2:19

Merhaba Jos�, my friend...
Wow... It's a perfect composition indeed... Especially the light, the atmosphere and the texture of the wall and wooden balcony are wonderful. Also wonderful point of view... The pose and look of the little girl are great... I like it so much... Congratulations!...
TFS...
Stay well..
Salim.

Bluejeans (64251) 2007-06-09 10:41

ola Jose fantastica foto , qua arquitectura interessante , coitada da crian鏰 ali dentro , a quantidade de microbios deve ter ali devido aos escrementos de pombos , deve ser uma cultura bem interessante.
Um abra鏾 Gon鏰lo

sadeik (3282) 2007-06-10 16:17

A little blurred and some light creeping into the top right but an absolutely great POV and you have got the composition of the girl and biuldings perfect.

Simon

nivaldo (15417) 2007-06-15 17:17

What for a wierd narrative, Jos�! Very interesting!
Cada terra, sua cultura e princ韕ios religiosos e assim devemos respeitar!
Um flagrante bem interessante, bem narrado e com imagem bem vis韛el.
Obrigado por compartilhar!
Um abra鏾,
Nivaldo

paura (25802) 2007-07-01 9:34

Jos�,
Os detalhes e a composi玢o est鉶 bons. Um pouco escura, n鉶? Talvez um n鷐ero ISO mais alto contribuiria para um melhor resultado.

Paulo

Steft (6109) 2007-07-27 7:19

Hi Jose,
Very interesting building. The photo has a lot of details and I like the including of the girl so that we can see how big it is. The photo maybe looks a bit unsharp/grainy.
TFS,
Stef

fkokol (1636) 2008-04-30 4:10

Great catch! very informative note. Wonderful detail of this beautiful artchitecture. I'll be travelling to Katmandu in one month and this makes me more exited to find this shot and note :)
greetings,

figen

Flavia (10352) 2009-04-04 21:29

Ola Jose,

Um tema muito interessante. A menina na janela parece curiosa, uma cuiriosidade normal em qualquer crianca, afinal apesar do seu estatuto de Deusa, ela nao deixa de ser uma crianca. A composicao esta bem mostrando a ela fachada deste cstelo, realmente a qualidade nao e das melhores, mas o interesse do sujeito compensa.

Abracos,

Flavia