Marshmallow reviews From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari by Rashmila Shakya

Today Marshmallow reviews From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari, written by Rashmila Shakya (as told to Scott Berry) and published in 2005.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books that reveal unique and fascinating cultures through an up-close, never-seen-before lens, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): In her first year of preschool, Rashmila was selected to become the Kumari of her Nepali valley. Essentially, this means that she became a living goddess. Since ancient times, her people have selected a new young girl to hold this position after the previous one ages out. After passing tests that checked whether her horoscopes aligned well with the current kings, Rashmila was determined to have the “32 perfections” in a physical examination; she remains committed to the exam’s innocence and maintains that there was no personal violation.

Rashmila was confirmed as the Royal Kumari at age four and sent away from her family to live in Kumari Che, the palace dedicated to the child embodying the goddess. There she lived for eight years as a literal deity, waited on almost constantly with carers and playmates who always obeyed her every whim. She woke up early every day to play with her dolls and often performed duties at festivals. She was never allowed to touch the bare ground; whenever there was anywhere to go, she was either carried by men, brought by carriage or palanquin, or a white cloth was laid before her if she had to walk a couple steps. Back at the palace, she received visitors both foreign and domestic. As she was a deity of children, mothers would often visit her with their own children and pray for healing. And she would heal them.

It is truly fascinating to hear a former Kumari – a former child deity – reveal what it was like to be a goddess, from what she remembers. This tradition is ingrained in her culture and she truly believes / ed herself to be a deity who healed illness and channelled the soul of her land. 

Her term ended when she turned twelve though. She was brought back to her real family home, but felt out of place. Though her own autonomy was limited at Kumari Che, she was loved and loved it there. So coming back to a life where she must walk on her own, eat at a table with others, and pull her own weight was a bit of a difficult transition. Rashmila admits that she did not react in a very admirable way. But it is necessary to give her some grace since she spent most of her life (at that point) living as a literal goddess.

The rest of the book covers Rashmila’s experiences as she becomes a mere mortal and discovers that life for former deities does exist if you are surrounded by a loving family and driven by the desire to make something more of yourself. 

Marshmallow’s Review: From Goddess to Mortal is such a fascinating book! I had not heard of the Nepali tradition of the Kumari until Sprinkles read this book and recommended I read it too. Learning about this Nepali way of life and just the culture, peoples, and traditions there in general was amazing. I would highly recommend it to all because so many distinct and wonderful things are going up in those mountains that many of us have never heard of. Reading is a perfect way to discover more about the worlds in our world that we’ve never seen or experienced.

The book is written rather simplistically (sometimes the wording is a teensy bit clunky but it is a translation, making this an overly critical comment) so it is definitely accessible to everyone. There are eight chapters and one can read it in nicely sized chunks if one wants.

I think any curious-minded individual would love From Goddess to Mortal. It is interesting from an anthropological sense as well as a psychological sense too. Reading about Rashmila’s transformation and evolution as a person is fascinating. She is sometimes very insufferable to her genetic family early on, but you have to really think about things in context because of how different her life is and was from every other human or bunny to ever exist. Her experiences are truly unique and I do not think there are really many others who have lived what she has besides other former Kumari. This is just really fascinating to me and I am sure it will equally fascinate and educate others who pick up this book!

Marshmallow’s Rating: 96%.