2-757-826 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Green Tara Dispensing Boons to Ecstatic Devotees: Folio from a Manuscript of the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom), early 12th century. Tara, a bodhisattva of compassion and protection, is shown dispensing boons to the surrounding devotees, as indicated by her lower hand held in varada mudra. From the tips of her fingers she drips nectar into the mouth of the hungry ghost (preta) who sits below, his belly swollen because of starvation. Unlike the male bodhisattvas in palm-leaf illuminations, she is presented in a dynamic twisting posture that emphasizes the volumes of her body and shows clear connections with the larger pan-Indian goddess traditions.