The Origin and Cult of Tara (No-20, An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

While notice a few sculptures which were added to the Provincial Museum at Lucknow when I was in charge of that Institution, in an article of mine that has appeared as memoir No.XI of the Archaeological Survey Department, I incidentally made some observation regarding the question of the origin of Tara, the well-know goddness in the Buddhist and Hindu mythologies. That observation led me to develop the question further and the results of my further studies embodied in this paper. My chief object is to find out whether Tara had a Buddhist or Brahmanical origin, whether her cult arose in India or elsewhere, and what her chief function was originally. In connexion with these problems the dhyanas of the chief bhedas or varieties of the goddnes mentioned in Buddhist text have given at the end of the memoir in the form of an appendix.