Green Tara

This delicately modelled sculpture portrays the guardian of all life, the Green Tara. In Tibet, she is worshipped as the divine form of the second wife of King Songtsen Gampo (605–650). According to Indian tradition, Tara is the embodiment of the Buddha’s mother Maya, whose dark skin is symbolised by the colour green. The goddess sits atop a double lotus throne. Her left foot rests on a flower growing from the base of the throne. She is dressed in an Indian skirt decorated with floral patterns and adorned with Bodhisattvic jewels. Her right hand gestures “warding off evil”, and with her left she leans casually over her knee. This appears to be a more recent copy of a north-Indian sculpture from the 12th century, which would explain the characteristic braided hairstyle.