Tara (Mahavidya)

Tara (Mahavidya)

Tārā is the second of the 10 Mahāvidyās — the wisdom-goddess of the "other shore" (pāramitā). Her principal shrine is at Tārāpīṭh (Birbhum district, West Bengal), where 19th-century saint Bāmākhepā practised. She is worshipped in three forms: Tārā, Ugratārā, and Nīlasarasvatī.

Tārā bridges Hindu Shakta and Buddhist Vajrayana — the goddess has mirror-image cults in both. In Tibetan Buddhism, Green Tārā and White Tārā are the same deity transliterated through Mahayana lineage. At Tārāpīṭh, the saint Bāmākhepā (1837–1911) lived in the cremation-ground, practised aghorī tantra, and is said to have received Tārā's darshan daily.