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briandice's review against another edition
3.0
When I was in eighth grade, our English class read Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" (if you haven't ever read it, it's here: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html). We read the story out loud, and upon completion our teacher asked a shocked room of students for their take on what the story had to say. I've never been able to forget that first reading and the impact it's had on me: cultures that are foreign to us can do some things that seem odd, immoral or even insane to us - but to them it all a part of their "given" fabric.
In November of last year my wife and I were in Nepal and our tour guide took us to visit the temple of the Royal Kumari. We were shocked as we learned that their culture believed that a goddess indwells the body of a young girl, who is chosen and separated from her family for a period of roughly eight years (4ish to 12ish years old). This child is not allowed out of the royal building (which looked to be more of a prison) except for several festivals during the year, where she is carried around the city (her feet are never allowed to touch the ground outside of the royal grounds). My wife and I just couldn't believe it. The more we heard about this custom the more it sounded like hell for a little girl - separated from her family for 8 years, thrown back into the world as a pre-teen with little/no education and zero social skills (after all, she had been worshiped for eight years - how bad would that mess someone up?) It was the first time I had come across a real world example of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" - complete bafflement at another culture's practices which seemed inhumane and crazy.
Rashmila Shakya's book shed light on the culture and the world of the Kumari that helped me to better understand something that was almost completely mystifying to my Western mind. I still feel very sorry for the girls who become the Kumaris, but as Rashmila explains, it isn't the worst fate for a girl in such a poor country. This is why traveling the world is so important - getting to experience places and people that are so different from you helps to increase understanding, gets us out of our comfort zones and makes us appreciate how wonderful and diverse the planet is. Even if you don't ever make it to Kathmandu, this book is a nice quick read into a cultural phenomenon which helps to understand a different part of the world.
In November of last year my wife and I were in Nepal and our tour guide took us to visit the temple of the Royal Kumari. We were shocked as we learned that their culture believed that a goddess indwells the body of a young girl, who is chosen and separated from her family for a period of roughly eight years (4ish to 12ish years old). This child is not allowed out of the royal building (which looked to be more of a prison) except for several festivals during the year, where she is carried around the city (her feet are never allowed to touch the ground outside of the royal grounds). My wife and I just couldn't believe it. The more we heard about this custom the more it sounded like hell for a little girl - separated from her family for 8 years, thrown back into the world as a pre-teen with little/no education and zero social skills (after all, she had been worshiped for eight years - how bad would that mess someone up?) It was the first time I had come across a real world example of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" - complete bafflement at another culture's practices which seemed inhumane and crazy.
Rashmila Shakya's book shed light on the culture and the world of the Kumari that helped me to better understand something that was almost completely mystifying to my Western mind. I still feel very sorry for the girls who become the Kumaris, but as Rashmila explains, it isn't the worst fate for a girl in such a poor country. This is why traveling the world is so important - getting to experience places and people that are so different from you helps to increase understanding, gets us out of our comfort zones and makes us appreciate how wonderful and diverse the planet is. Even if you don't ever make it to Kathmandu, this book is a nice quick read into a cultural phenomenon which helps to understand a different part of the world.
sairius_black's review against another edition
4.0
Having just come from Kathmandu and seeing the current Kumari girl in Durbar Square, I was interested to know more about the tradition.
Luckily this book dispels many of the more disturbing rumours (108 buffalo heads to terrify the child, banned from seeing family, expelled at the first sign of blood).
In fact I was surprised (and disappointed) at how readily the false stories were told to visitors considering it would have been a good opportunity to correct the bad press.
Luckily this book dispels many of the more disturbing rumours (108 buffalo heads to terrify the child, banned from seeing family, expelled at the first sign of blood).
In fact I was surprised (and disappointed) at how readily the false stories were told to visitors considering it would have been a good opportunity to correct the bad press.
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