« Space Shuttle Enterprise, Panorama | Main | Kayleigh Composes Her First Song »
September 3, 2007
Interview with a Living Goddess
Earlier this summer, you may recall when I had a chance encounter with Sajani Shakya, the kumari of Bhaktapur, Nepal. Kumaris are young girls selected to serve as living goddesses to Nepal's Hindu community. Sajani was the first kumari to visit the United States, and I happened to bump into her during her visit to the SilverDocs festival in Silver Spring, MD. Some time later, Sajani made headlines again when religious authorities in Nepal decided to strip her of her kumari status because she had "polluted" herself by coming to the US. After intense negotiations, though, she was allowed to retain position as kumari by going through a purification ritual. Sajani then returned home to much fanfare and yet another round of intense media coverage.
Now that over a month has passed since her return to the Nepal, I had the chance to interview Sajani by way of email, by way of her family and the producers of the documentary that brought her to the United States. As befits a goddess (or perhaps a shy 10-year-old who isn't totally comfortable speaking in English), her responses were short and sweet:
AC: Were you upset when you found out you would no longer be the kumari of Bhaktapur?
Sajani: Yes, I'm so upset and i used to cry a lot.
AC: And when did you find out everything was going to be okay?
Sajani: After two days.
AC: What happened when you came home to Nepal?
Sajani: My parents and relatives come in Airport to take me with Newari instruments and all of them were so happy.
AC: Were you happy to be back home to Bhaktapur?
Sajani: Yes I am.
AC: Did you coming to America change you in any way?
Sajani: Its great opportunity to me because lots of people know me but in Nepal some of the people were not happy but some of people were Happy.
AC: Will you come back to America?
Sajani: Yes I like to come there.
AC: When I saw you in Silver Spring I saw you taking picture with a digital camera. Do you like taking pictures?
Sajani: Yes I like to take picture because I want to be a photographer as [documentary producer] Marc Hawker.
AC: So what do you want to do when you grow up?
Sajani: When I will grow up I want to help my parents because our economic condition is poor.
And there you have it - straight from the kumari's mouth. -andy
Tags: Bhaktapur | Hinduism | Kumari | living goddess | Nepal | Sajani Shakya | Silver Spring | Silverdocs
Posted by acarvin at September 3, 2007 7:51 PM
Listen to a computer-generated podcast of this article
