Nepal 12. Garden and Goddess!

My first two days, I did quite a bit. First I went to sort my indian visa, fifth time lucky and a bit quicker here than in the UK, I will hear in 3 weeks.
Coming back from the Visa Center I used google maps and it gave me a route through what looked like a walled park but, as I walked through some very imposing gates I heard a shout looked up to see a guard post high in the wall. I was then met by a soldier and made a hasty apologetic retreat. I have absolutely no idea what that was, I kept trying to look through gaps in the wall to no avail!
However another walled area that I could enter was “The garden of dreams”. Built in the early twentieth century, Neo Classical design and it was the private garden of Kaiser Sumsher Rana until his death when it became neglected. An oasis of peace in a bustling city restored to its former glory. It is a stunning place full of shaded areas, beautiful buildings and presumably because of all the nooks and crannies, a place for lovers to meet. I managed to stumble across quite a few, hidden under arbours and balconies, eek!

Here also a plaque with verses of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám one of my favourite poets (or at least Edward Fitzgerald’s translations of his verses).

I left here and wandered down to Durbar Square, where the medieval palaces of the kingdom of Kathmandu stand. Its a UNESCO world heritage site, you pay to enter but, if you provide your passport and photo to the office they give you a pass for the duration of your stay. There are temples and stupas everywhere. Stupas being a dome or mound with relics and remains of monks etc. Some of the buildings were damaged in the 2015 earthquake but much remained in tact.

Im not sure what to make of the next thing I saw. A Living Goddess! Living in an 18th century typical building. An eight year old girl comes to the window dressed in her finery and radiates blessings on belivers. To my western eyes, this seems archaic.
Since the 700AD, at the age of three a girl is chosen from a particular caste and tested by various signs and behaviours. If selected she is taken to the Kumari Ghar (house) and stays there till she menstruates. She does not touch the ground outside in that time and once or twice a year is paraded in a palanquin or a special Chariot. Once she is no longer pure (menstruating) she is sent back to her family. I was a bit shocked by this, can a child be isolated from the world in this way, in this century? Its worth reading below about the changes that have occurred in recent years to keep this tradition but also to be accepted in this day and age.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/world/asia/nepal-kumari-living-goddess.html
Anyway the young goddess looked rather bored to me. As we were not allowed to photograph her you’ll just have to look at the windows of her home/prison instead.