Nine-year-old Chandra Shila Bajracharya is just like any other Patan girl. She plays gotti by herself in the Gabahal courtyard. Her entire family had gone off for the Machhendranath Chariot jatra and Chandra Shila was home alone.

You would never guess that Chandra Shila is actually Patan\'s Kumari, the living goddess. She does not go to school a tutor comes home every day to teach her English, Nepali, Mathematics and Science.

But last week, Chandra Shila had to make the annual obligatory trip to the Bhoto jatra festival where King Birendra came to pay homage according to a tradition dating back to the Malla Dynasty. Her face painted with the third eye on her forehead and gajal on both eyes, Chandra Shila dressed up in her traditional finery: gold-brocaded cholo, a profusion of silver bangles and necklaces including an intricately carved snake, and a garland of skulls. She sat confidently in her special throne, protected by the multi-headed Karkot Nag.

It is the Kathmandu Kumari who gets most media coverage at the annual Indra Jatra fesitval. Thousands of tourists visit her official residence at Hanuman Dhoka. In contrast, Chandra Shila is out of the limelight, and she seems to prefer it that way. She was declared the Kumari when she was only one-and-half years old, and she will remain goddess until she reaches puberty.

The selection of the Kumari is an elaborate tantric rite, during which the candidate has to spend a dark night in a temple courtyard surrounded by decapitated heads of water buffalos. Scary, masked men scream and shout: If she shows no fear then she is declared a Kumari. Even touching a Kumari\'s feet, it is believed, will cleanse the souls of the devout.