當女神的日子

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，人們會挑選一位女孩當活女神，她會受到眾人的頂禮膜拜;不過，她也過著與世隔絕的生活。“活女神”究竟是什么意思？

記者：嗯，活女神被人們稱為“庫瑪麗女孩兒”。她是一名年幼的女孩子，會在三、四歲的時候被挑選出來，并過著與世隔絕的生活。她確實被人們敬為女神。尼泊爾的印度教徒和佛教徒認為她事實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。實際上尼泊爾有不少活女神，最有名的要數首都加德滿都的活女神。尼泊爾的每個社區都有自己的活女神，在各地社區生活的人們都會尋求女神的祝福，會向女神朝拜，向她表達敬意。因此，她擁有神一樣的地位。

主持人：她是怎么被挑選出來的呢？

記者：嗯，問得好。挑選過程據說相當嚴格。尼泊爾大部分庫瑪麗都出自釋迦部族。在挑選活女神的時候，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受一系列考驗，包括要確保她們脖子的形狀十分完美。有些人說她們的脖子形狀必須像海螺殼一樣，她們必須有強壯的身體，她們得有無缺陷的牙齒，她們的相貌外表要經過評估，同時她們還必須具有無畏無懼的品質。據說，她們會被關在一間放著被砍下的動物頭顱的黑房子里，她們要走進房間，然后……

主持人：在那里過夜之類的？

記者：……在里面呆上一兩個小時。勇敢的女孩子據說是確有神性的。這就是他們挑選女神的過程。

主持人：標準好苛刻啊。那么，一個女孩子一旦被選中成為庫瑪麗，那她會終生都是庫瑪麗嗎？

記者：不是的。庫瑪麗的生活到青春期就會結束，所以這些女孩子的庫瑪麗任期到了十二、三歲就會終止，她們會回到社會，重新過正常人的生活，她們又變成了凡人。這個時候，下一位活女神的挑選過程又開始了。不過，女孩子在任庫瑪麗期間是不能外出與朋友一起玩耍的。她的活動范圍就是自己居住的地方。她可以有一名家教。近年來，他們會讓庫瑪麗接受教育。以前，她們連這個機會也被剝奪了。但她依然過著孤獨的生活，所以當她重新再過上凡人生活后，要與社會交流就會非常困難。

主持人：她們可以結婚嗎？

記者：呃，男人娶庫瑪麗會被看成是一件晦氣的事，所以許多男人認為如果娶了曾經是庫瑪麗的女孩，他們就會早死。不過近年來，不少庫瑪麗漸漸地也結婚了，有些庫瑪麗的丈夫活得還挺長。所以今天的庫瑪麗結婚是沒有問題的，因為人們不再有以前那樣的擔心了。