Who is Aryatara Shakya, 2-year-old chosen Nepal’s ‘living goddess’?

Aryatara Shakya, a 2-year-old girl from Kathmandu, has been chosen as Nepal’s new Kumari, the revered “living goddess”, in a ceremony held during the country’s longest and most significant Hindu festival, Dashain.

Kumaris are young girls selected from the Shakya clans of the Newar community, indigenous to the Kathmandu Valley. Both Hindus and Buddhists worship these girls as living goddesses. The chosen girls are typically between 2 and 4 years old and must meet strict criteria, including having unblemished skin, hair, eyes, and teeth, and must not fear the dark.

Aryatara replaces the former Kumari, Trishna Shakya, who steps down as she reaches puberty — a traditional mark when the goddess returns to mortal life. During festivals, the Kumari wears red, dons hair in topknots, and has a painted “third eye” on her forehead, symbolising divine power.

As part of her new role, Aryatara will live in the temple palace, receiving education through private tutors and rarely venturing outside except during important festivals. Devotees flock to seek her blessings, showing deep respect by touching her feet to their foreheads.

Her family, especially her father Ananta Shakya, expressed pride, recalling dreams that foretold her special destiny.

“She was just my daughter yesterday, but today she is a goddess,” her father Ananta Shakya said, adding that there were already signs she would be the goddess before her birth. “My wife during pregnancy dreamed that she was a goddess and we knew she was going to be someone very special.”

The government also offers retired Kumaris a small monthly pension of about $110, which is slightly above the minimum wage fixed by the government.