Green Tara

8th century

This monumental image of Green Tara is one of the earliest known depictions of the goddess. Tara’s soft, swaying form and easy smile associate her with a tradition of mother-goddess images that has been prevalent in South Asia for millennia. This sculpture was made for a Buddhist monastery in the region of eastern India where many of the teachings that would make up esoteric Buddhism first emerged. The small figure of a four-armed goddess at the lower right is usually identified as Ekajata, or Blue Tara. Early tantric practices emphasized the importance of female energy, as embodied in this slightly fierce subsidiary figure.