Hostess： In Nepal， there is a young girl whos selected as a living goddess. Shes worshipped， yet she lives a sheltered life. What do you mean by “a living goddess”？

Reporter： Well， the living goddess， whos actually referred to as a “Kumari Baby，” is a young girl whos chosen as young as three or four years of age， and she lives a lifestyle of seclusion. Shes actually revered as a goddess. The Nepali Hindus and Buddhas believe her to actually have the incarnation of the Hindu God Durga within her body， so she is considered an actual goddess. Therere actually a number of Kumaris in Nepal， the most famous of which is in Katmandu， the capital city. And each community has their own living goddess， and the locals in the community will come out and seek her blessings and come to her and pay their respects， so shes sort of given this role as a divine being.

Hostess： So how is she chosen？

Reporter： Well， actually， thats a good question. The selection process is said to be quite intense. What happens is the highest caste girls from the community of the Shakka clan， which is the clan where most of the Kumaris come from， are all assembled， when its time to choose a new living goddess， and the temple priests put them through a series of tests， and they make sure their neck is shaped perfectly. Some say they have to have a neck shaped like a conch shell， they have to have a strong body， they have to have perfect teeth， so theyre evaluated for their looks and also for their fearlessness. Its said that they are put in a dark room with severed animal heads in front of them， and theyre told to go in this room and act…

Hostess： Spend the night there or something？

Reporter：. …spend…spend maybe an hour or two， and the fearless girl is said to actually be divine， so thats how they actually choose these goddesses.

Hostess： Tough criteria. So， once youre chosen as a Kumari， are you a Kamari for your whole life？

Reporter： No， youre not. Youre actually a Kumari until you hit puberty， so these girls will end their term when theyre 12 or 13， and then theyre cast back into society and they revert back to a normal life， and they become a mortal again， at which point a new Kumari is selected. And while she is a Kumari， though， she is not allowed to go outside and play with her friends. She is confined to her house. She is allowed a tutor. In recent years theyve educated the Kumaris. In old times they were not even allowed to get educated. But she lives a very isolated life， so when she returns to her mortal status， its very difficult for her to interact with society.

Hostess： So is a Kumari able to get married？

Reporter： Well， its actually considered bad luck for a man to marry a Kumari， so many men believe they would die young if they married a former Kumari， but， in recent years， the Kumaris have been getting married. Some husbands have actually lived a long life， so Kumaris are now able to get married because they dont worry about it as much as they did in the past.

主持人：在尼泊爾，人們會(huì)挑選一位女孩當(dāng)活女神，她會(huì)受到眾人的頂禮膜拜;不過(guò)，她也過(guò)著與世隔絕的生活?！盎钆瘛本烤故鞘裁匆馑迹?/p>

記者：嗯，活女神被人們稱(chēng)為“庫(kù)瑪麗女孩兒”。她是一名年幼的女孩子，會(huì)在三、四歲的時(shí)候被挑選出來(lái)，并過(guò)著與世隔絕的生活。她確實(shí)被人們敬為女神。尼泊爾的印度教徒和佛教徒認(rèn)為她事實(shí)上就是印度教杜爾加女神的化身，因此她被視為真正的女神。實(shí)際上尼泊爾有不少活女神，最有名的要數(shù)首都加德滿(mǎn)都的活女神。尼泊爾的每個(gè)社區(qū)都有自己的活女神，在各地社區(qū)生活的人們都會(huì)尋求女神的祝福，會(huì)向女神朝拜，向她表達(dá)敬意。因此，她擁有神一樣的地位。

主持人：她是怎么被挑選出來(lái)的呢？

記者：嗯，問(wèn)得好。挑選過(guò)程據(jù)說(shuō)相當(dāng)嚴(yán)格。尼泊爾大部分庫(kù)瑪麗都出自釋迦部族。在挑選活女神的時(shí)候，部族所有出身最高貴的女孩子全部集中在一起，族里的神職人員讓她們經(jīng)受一系列考驗(yàn)，包括要確保她們脖子的形狀十分完美。有些人說(shuō)她們的脖子形狀必須像海螺殼一樣，她們必須有強(qiáng)壯的身體，她們得有無(wú)缺陷的牙齒，她們的相貌外表要經(jīng)過(guò)評(píng)估，同時(shí)她們還必須具有無(wú)畏無(wú)懼的品質(zhì)。據(jù)說(shuō)，她們會(huì)被關(guān)在一間放著被砍下的動(dòng)物頭顱的黑房子里，她們要走進(jìn)房間，然后……

主持人：在那里過(guò)夜之類(lèi)的？

記者：……在里面呆上一兩個(gè)小時(shí)。勇敢的女孩子據(jù)說(shuō)是確有神性的。這就是他們挑選女神的過(guò)程。

主持人：標(biāo)準(zhǔn)好苛刻啊。那么，一個(gè)女孩子一旦被選中成為庫(kù)瑪麗，那她會(huì)終生都是庫(kù)瑪麗嗎？

記者：不是的。庫(kù)瑪麗的生活到青春期就會(huì)結(jié)束，所以這些女孩子的庫(kù)瑪麗任期到了十二、三歲就會(huì)終止，她們會(huì)回到社會(huì)，重新過(guò)正常人的生活，她們又變成了凡人。這個(gè)時(shí)候，下一位活女神的挑選過(guò)程又開(kāi)始了。不過(guò)，女孩子在任庫(kù)瑪麗期間是不能外出與朋友一起玩耍的。她的活動(dòng)范圍就是自己居住的地方。她可以有一名家教。近年來(lái)，他們會(huì)讓庫(kù)瑪麗接受教育。以前，她們連這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)也被剝奪了。但她依然過(guò)著孤獨(dú)的生活，所以當(dāng)她重新再過(guò)上凡人生活后，要與社會(huì)交流就會(huì)非常困難。

主持人：她們可以結(jié)婚嗎？

記者：呃，男人娶庫(kù)瑪麗會(huì)被看成是一件晦氣的事，所以許多男人認(rèn)為如果娶了曾經(jīng)是庫(kù)瑪麗的女孩，他們就會(huì)早死。不過(guò)近年來(lái)，不少庫(kù)瑪麗漸漸地也結(jié)婚了，有些庫(kù)瑪麗的丈夫活得還挺長(zhǎng)。所以今天的庫(kù)瑪麗結(jié)婚是沒(méi)有問(wèn)題的，因?yàn)槿藗儾辉儆幸郧澳菢拥膿?dān)心了。