Pravira Tara, the Heroine [1/21]

༄༅། །རབ་ཏུ་དཔའ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།

ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྒྲོལ་མ་མྱུར་མ་དཔའ་མོ

།སྤྱན་ནི་སྐད་ཅིག་གློག་དང་འདྲ་མ། །

འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མགོན་ཆུ་སྐྱེས་ཞལ་གྱི།

།གེ་སར་བྱེ་བ་ལས་ནི་བྱུང་མ། །

“Homage to Tara, the Swift One, the Heroine,

whose eyes are like a flash of lightning,

who arose from the opening of a lotus,

born from the tears of the Protector of the Three Worlds.”

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The Iconography of Pravira Tara

Pravira Tara, painted on canvas. Dating to the twenty-first century. Originating from Kathmandu, Nepal. Enlightenment Thangka Studio.

Pravira Tara, known as “Tara the Heroine”, is described as “emanating like a blazing mass of fire”, seated upon her lotus within a fiery triangular dharmodaya. Alternatively, she is portrayed as “seated in the expanse of space” atop a white moon disc and a yellow lotus.

Pravira Tara is depicted as peaceful and red in color, with one face, two eyes, and eight arms. She is seated in the vajra posture upon a moon disc and yellow lotus, with a full moon serving as her backrest. Her primary pair of hands, raised or crossed above her head, makes the two-handed “Great Bliss Gesture” (Skt. mahasukha-mudra), symbolizing the proclamation of the Dharma, while holding a golden vajra and a ritual bell. Her second pair of hands holds a drawn bowstring in front of her heart, with its arrow aimed at the heart of an adversary. Her third right hand holds a golden Dharma wheel aloft, while her third left hand holds a white conch shell near her navel. In her fourth pair of hands, the right wields a flaming sword of wisdom, and the left grips a rope noose.

She is adorned in divine silk garments and jewel ornaments and crowned by the white Buddha Vairocana. Her role is to swiftly dispel obstacles and hostile forces while accomplishing a variety of enlightened activities.

Visual Documentation

Gemstone painting of the Pravira Tara from the Drukpa lineage

Painting of Pravira Tara in Indian style, by artist V.V.Sapar

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Back to the List of 21 Taras

21 Manifestations of Tara

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Curated and synthesized by

Jigme

References

1. Beer, Robert. “Twenty-One Taras (Suryagupta Tradition).” Tibetan Buddhist and Newar Tantric Art. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.tibetanart.com/Product.asp?PID=10

2. The Gyalwang Drukpa. Nghi quỹ tu trì Lục Độ Phật Mẫu, Ý Nghĩa và Hướng Dẫn Thực Hành. Hà Nội: NXB Tôn Giáo, 2021.

3. Tsem Rinpoche. “Suryagupta’s 21 Taras.” Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/suryaguptas-21-taras.html