After touring the US to promote a documentary about the Kumari goddesses of Nepal, the divine status of ten-year-old goddess Sajani Shakya has been revoked.

A 10-year-old girl who is worshipped as a living goddess in Nepal has been stripped of her title for defying tradition and visiting the US.

Sajani Shakya was one of the three most-revered Kumaris, who are honoured by Hindus and Buddhists alike.

Chosen after undergoing tests at the age of two, she had been expected to bless devotees and attend festivals until she reached puberty.

Her offence?  Visiting the United States.  The three top ranking goddesses are forbidden to leave the country.

Elders said the visit had tainted her purity, adding that they would now begin the search for a successor.

Only last week, Ms Sajani told an American reporter that being a divinity was the bee’s knees.

"There's nothing I don't like about being a goddess," Sajani said through an interpreter. Then, thinking about her typical day, when she has to rise early for her family and others to pray to her, she added, "It was difficult when I was younger to get up at 4 to bathe for the morning prayers."

Now maybe she can sleep in.

The whole child goddess business is under scrutiny in Nepal.  Many believe that the Kumari custom exploits girls and deprives them of a normal childhood.  Some former goddesses lament their years of isolation and reject the tradition as “inhuman superstition”.

Former Kumari Rashmila Shakya, now 24 years old, recently spoke with AsiaNews.

At the age of 4 she was taken from her family to become a divinity.  “During childhood I was confined within a Kumari Ghar (the temple dedicated to the living deities) without any formal education and now I am young but why I can’t marry?”. The girl remembers: “There was no formal education system then. An old tutor used to come everyday to teach me for an hour. But that wasn't sufficient in any way”.

Kumari goddesses are pensioned off at first menstruation.  As a final insult, the tradition holds that men who marry former Kumaris will die within six months.

h/t for Chicago Tribune: TitusOneNine