Twilight Blue Mahavidya Tara

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Each of the Dasamahavidyas, the ten (‘dasa’) devis of great (‘maha’) awareness (‘vidya’), are a manifestation of a singular aspect of Devi Kali. In other words, none other than the great Kali has been resolved into the ten Mahavidya devis, one of which, the Devi Tara, is portrayed in this miniature. In striking similarities to the mother iconography of Kali, Devi Tara is seated upon the supine body of Her husband, Lord Shiva, and in one of Her hands is the severed head of a punished adharmee.

Her complexion is the colour of the inky blue twilight. In Her anterior hands (She is chaturbhujadhari, one possessed of four arms) are the sword and the flaying knife, which distinguish the iconography of Tara from Kali. In the mouth of a blue-coloured lotus they are poised, which blooms in the pristine streams flowing through a snatch of lower Himalayan verdure. Note the expressive brushstrokes that have gone into the green and the azure of the serene background. In contrast to the same is the intense presence of the haloed Mahavidya Tara in the foreground.