Historical PeriodEra
varies by tradition
📷 Chore Bagan Art Studio · Public domain · source
Deities
Tara (Mahavidya)
Ugra Tārā — second of the 10 Mahavidyas
Ugra Tārā — second of the 10 Mahavidyas
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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.
