Kumari Temple

              In the Katmandu Valley different styles of temples are popular like Pagoda style, Stupa style, Krishna Temple style and Harmya style. The Harmya style looks like a residential house because it is like a Vihar where monks live. In this style, you will find a courtyard surrounded on all four sides by residential buildings. In Harmya Style generally the deity of the temple is placed straight behind the front gate .In this shrine you will see no image inside because it is the home of the Living Goddess Kumari until she reaches puberty.          To be a Kumari the girl must be from Shakya family and a chosen few are subject to further trails, including tests for the 32nd virtue, courage. The candidate children spend a night in the cellars of the Taleju temple amid bloody buffalo heads, while men in masks try to scare them. If a girl is Taleju herself she should show no sign of fright even if she is only four or five years old. If she able to do all task she will be selected and be Kumari until she reaches puberty. But accurate time of puberty cannot be predicted it may be from 10 to 14 yrs, so always there is another one standby goddess. If the Kumari reach puberty it is exchange with the new Kumari, then the retired Kumari can go back to her family and live an ordinary citizen. She can go to school and college and can even get married.
           This Kumari god is related to both Buddhists and Hindus .As Kumari come from Shakya’s family and Shakya’s believe in Buddha .In fact Lord Buddha himself was born in a Shakya family. Buddhists consider her a Buddhist goddess and call her Bajra Devi. Where as in Hindu consider Kumari the virgin goddess, a representation of Kumari goddess Taleju. In this Kumari Ghar Crafts man ship is very high standard. The large windows on the first floor have the peacock design. Peacock design is very famous in the past as peacock is very colorful and beautiful bird and is associated with Hindus as well as Buddhist’s gods. The first peacock design windows are situated in Bhaktapur.

            And only the windows even the pillars are also carved and this achieves a pleasant balance of simplicity and intricacy .Here in pillar Shiva linga and yoni (female sex organ) is intricate in the symbolic manner .Outside of the house is decorated with Hindus deities where as the inside contains many Buddhist icons like replica of Swayambhunath’s in the centre of the courtyard, Image of Pancha Buddha’s in the opposite of the main gate.
         Let us talk something about the living goddess. It is believed that the kings of Katmandu in the late middle ages had the power to meet the goddess Taleju in person and seek her advice. The Malla dynasty’s ruler used to meet mother goddess Taleju Bhawani since her inception in Katmandu hundreds of years ago. Nevertheless, the inevitable happened during the reign of king Trailokya Malla who ruled in the late 16th century .He was playing dice with the goddess when his daughter peeped into the room. This destroyed the special relationship between the king and the goddess. She stopped visiting him. The king did not know what to do or how to be back in her favors. After sometime the goddess appeared in the king’s dream and commanded him to select a young virgin from the Shakya of Newar community and install her as her representative .Thus the Goddess Kumari was introduced.