On Monday October 9, the students at Green Peace Co-ed School in Kathmandu, Nepal gathered outside, playing music and waving flags, to welcome a new classmate.
Dressed in a green uniform and without the heavy make-up she used to wear, 12-year-old Matina Shakya looked like any other student.
But Matina is a former "living goddess", who has spent the last nine years in isolation, AFP reports.
Matina was anointed as a “Kumari”, a living embodiment of the Hindu goddess Taleju, when she was just three years old.
The name Kumari originates from a word meaning princess in Sanskrit.
With her parents' consent, she was taken from them to go and live as the Royal Kumari in a temple palace in Kathmandu.
Nepal's former living goddess Matina Shakya (centre) sits in a classroom on her first day of school in Kathmandu on October 9, 2017. Source: Gopen Rai/AFP/Getty Images
As Royal Kumari, she was only allowed to leave the palace 13 times a year, on special feast days, where huge crowds would gather to worship her.
Dressed up with elaborate make-up and clothing, she was always carried in public, as tradition dictates that her feet must not touch the ground.
When a Kumari nears puberty, she rejoins society as a former Kumari and another pre-pubescent girl takes her place in the palace.
Matina was replaced at the end of September by Trishna Shakya, 3.
Hemant Kumar Yonjan, director at the Green Peace Co-Ed School, told Xinhua: "We are very proud to have the retired living goddess studying at our school. We are committed to providing her the best education in a proper way."
Nepal's 'living goddess' also known as Kumari Matina Shakya, 4, is carried by her caretaker to perform special rituals at a temple in Kathmandu in 2009. Source: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images
As she was unable to attend school as Royal Kumari, Matina received private tutoring for three hours a day.
"She calls me miss but I still call her goddess. I feel very special and fortunate to be the teacher of a living goddess,” her tutor, Laxmi Maharjan tells Xinhau.
“I found her always eager to learn new things and she was very active in extra-curricular activities like drawing, painting, weaving and cooking. She also taught me so many things.”
There are around a dozen Kumaris across the Kathmandu region, but only the most important ones are isolated from society.
Matina Shakya walks with her father to school on her first day on Monday, October 09, 2017. Source: NurPhoto/Getty Images
