The Living Goddess: Sign and Significance of Bhaktapur’s Kumari Culture

This study aims to explore the semiotic aspects of the Kumari tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal. In the lively cultural practice of the Kumari tradition in Bhaktapur, a young Newar girl is regarded as the goddess Taleju, representing divine feminine force. This study examines the denotative, connotative, and mythological aspects of Kumari culture as a system of signs in Bhaktapur's Newar community employing Roland Barthes' semiological framework. This study investigates how rituals and symbols—like the Kumari's red and gold clothing, third eye, and palanquin—serve as signs using a qualitative narrative research design that includes semi-structured interviews with the devotee and the Kumari's caretaker as well as field observations during festivals like Dashain. Denotatively, these elements depict a young girl and her ritualistic roles. Connotatively, they represent purity, divine power, and communal harmony, which strengthens spiritual and social solidarity. At the mythical level, the Kumari naturalizes ideas about divine power and gender roles, presenting her divinity as an intrinsic fact in Newar faith. The study highlights Ekanta Kumari's unique position in Bhaktapur, where she has greater freedom than her peers in Kathmandu and Patan while remaining crucial to rituals that preserve traditional identities. The findings help to better understand the Kumari as a dynamic cultural symbol that bridges the divine and human realms, as well as the interplay of religion, identity, and power in South Asian communities.