A kumari is a prepubescent girl selected and venerated as a living manifestation of divine feminine power within the Newar Buddhist and Hindu syncretic tradition of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, most closely identified with the goddess Taleju, herself widely treated in scholarship as a localised form of Durga. Allen's study of Kumari worship in Nepal describes the elaborate selection process for the most prominent Kumari, the Royal Kumari of Kathmandu, which involves strict physical and astrological criteria and, according to tradition, tests intended to establish the candidate's fearlessness and composure.
Once installed, the Kumari is venerated with royal honours, her feet in particular treated as too sacred for her to touch the ground during many public appearances, and the role continues only until her first menstruation, at which point Newar tradition holds that the goddess departs her body and a new, younger Kumari must be selected to begin the cycle again. Once selected, a Kumari moves into a dedicated residence, the Kumari Ghar in Kathmandu's case, and her contact with the outside world is carefully structured around ceremonial appearances rather than ordinary daily movement, a life visibly different from that of any other child in the community around her.