Devi Tara

4. Devi Tara

Goddess as guide and protector, or who saves. Who offers the ultimate knowledge which gives salvation. She is the goddess of all sources of energy. The energy of the sun is also a grant from her. She manifested as the mother of lord shiva after the incident of samudramanthan to heal him as her child. Tara is of a light blue complexion. She has three eyes, a snake coiled comfortably around her throat, wearing the skins of tigers, and a garland of skulls. Her left foot rests on the corpse of shiva. The goddess is worshiped as guide and protector and savior. Goddess tara is worshipped in both hinduism and buddhism as the goddess of compassion and protection. In hinduism, she is a form of the female primordial energy known as shakti. The name comes from the sanskrit root tar, meaning “protection.” In other Indian languages, the name translates as “star.”

Tara’s name is derived from tri, which means “to cross.” One of her epithets is samsaratarini, “she who takes across the ocean of worldly existence. ”Tara is thus the all-gracious liberator. Tara first appeared as a deity in hinduism but was later adopted by buddhism. In fact, in some traditions, she is considered the female buddha. In tibetan buddhism, she is the most popular deity worshiped today.