July 04, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 18, 1428

KATHMANDU: A young girl worshipped in Nepal as a living goddess will be replaced because she travelled to the United States to promote a documentary about her, officials said on Tuesday.

Nepalese tradition does not allow its “Kumaris,” or living goddesses, to leave the country.

“We have already begun looking for a new girl to replace the current Kumari. Our tradition does not allow the living goddess to travel to other countries,” said Jaya Prasad Regmi, head of the committee in charge of the living goddess in Bhaktapur, a town close to Nepal's capital Kathmandu.

In a practice dating back hundreds of years, several towns in the Kathmandu valley choose a girl to be worshipped as a living incarnation of the Hindu goddess Taleju.

The best known of the living goddesses is the “Royal Kumari” who blesses Nepal's king once a year and is confined to a decrepit palace in the historic heart of old Kathmandu.

Ten-year-old Sajani Shakya was selected as Bhaktapur's Kumari eight years ago, and would usually have remained in the job until puberty.

Last month she travelled to the United States to promote a documentary made about her life as a Kumari. She is due back from abroad on Wednesday.—AFP