KarmaVaani
Shakta tradition
ताराTara
Ugra Tara · Tarini · Nila Saraswati
The second of the ten Mahavidyas, the goddess who carries devotees across.
- Abode
- Tarapith
- Consort
- Shiva
- Vahana
- None
- Colour
- Blue
- Arms
- 4
Tara, 'she who carries across', is the second of the ten Mahavidya goddesses. She ferries devotees over the ocean of suffering and is especially worshipped at Tarapith in West Bengal, beside a cremation ground, where the saint Bamakhepa lived in her service. She is close in form to Kali, but blue and more compassionate.
Mantra
ॐ ह्रीं स्त्रीं हुं फट्
Om Hreem Streem Hum Phat
Tara's mantra of five seed syllables, for protection and crossing over.
How Tara is shown
A blue goddess standing on a corpse, a tiger skin at her waist, a single knot of hair, holding a sword and a skull cup.
- Scissors or sword
- Cutting the bonds of attachment.
- Blue lotus
- Compassion.
- Skull cup
- The ego emptied.
Stories
Nursing Shiva
When Shiva fell unconscious after drinking the ocean's poison, Tara took him on her lap and nursed him like a child, and the burning went out of him. Tarapith shows her suckling him.
