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.
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."
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.
