Nepal has chosen a 2-year-old girl as the new living goddess following the Himalayan country’s old tradition. Aryatara Shakya was chosen as the new Kumari, or "virgin goddess," replacing the incumbent during the country’s longest and most imperative Hindu festival --Indra Jatra.

Visuals of Shakya - dressed in a red dress with a bindi on her forehead and bangles in her hands, being wheeled around on a chariot pulled by devotees - are now doing the rounds on social media. The Kumaris are required to wear red, pin up their hair in topknots, and have a “third eye” painted on their forehead.

Who are the Kumaris?

Kumaris are chosen from the Shakya clans of the Newar community, indigenous to the Kathmandu Valley, and are revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in the predominantly Hindu nation.

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