Mahashri-Tara - "Tara of Great Fortune"
See it in the Museum
Room 1: India and Nepal
Orientation 3
Display 4
ABS 024
Code: ABS 024
Country: India (north-east)
Style: Late Pala Style
Date: 1100 - 1200
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 6.8 x 11.3 x 5.3
Materials: Brass; inlaid with silver and copper
Mahashri-Tara - “Tara of Great Fortune”
The goddess is seated in the attitude of ease (lalitasana) on double lotus pedestal, and rests her right foot on a lotus flower (padma). She displays the “gesture of setting in motion the wheel of the law” (dharmachakra-mudra) and holds with the left hand the stalk of a lily (utpala) that blooms over her left, while a lotus blossom rests on her right shoulder.
Tara is a bodhisattva who vowed to manifest as a female until all beings are liberated from samsara. She is one with her mantra: OM TA RE TU TARE TURE SOHA. Lay people can call upon her for help in times of need by simply uttering her name with devotion.
The devotion for Tara was popularised in Tibet by the Indian scholar Atisha (982-1054) from VikramashilaMonastery, who taught in Tibet from 1045 until his death.
Tara is a generic name for an Indian deity described in Tibetan Buddhism under 21 different forms, each with a different appearance and function, and the Green Tara (literally the “dark Tara”) is the source of them all. She is the consort of the Buddha Amoghasiddhi and thus belongs to family of activity, but she can also be attributed to Buddha Amitabha and
The goddess is seated in the attitude of ease (lalitasana) on double lotus pedestal, and rests her right foot on a lotus flower (padma). She displays the “gesture of setting in motion the wheel of the law” (dharmachakra-mudra) and holds with the left hand the stalk of a lily (utpala) that blooms over her left, while a lotus blossom rests on her right shoulder.
Tara is a bodhisattva who vowed to manifest as a female until all beings are liberated from samsara. She is one with her mantra: OM TA RE TU TARE TURE SOHA. Lay people can call upon her for help in times of need by simply uttering her name with devotion.
The devotion for Tara was popularised in Tibet by the Indian scholar Atisha (982-1054) from VikramashilaMonastery, who taught in Tibet from 1045 until his death.
Tara is a generic name for an Indian deity described in Tibetan Buddhism under 21 different forms, each with a different appearance and function, and the Green Tara (literally the “dark Tara”) is the source of them all. She is the consort of the Buddha Amoghasiddhi and thus belongs to family of activity, but she can also be attributed to Buddha Amitabha and