TIBET, 18TH CENTURY

This painting is from a set of possibly nine paintings depicting Tara protecting from the Eight Fears. The Eight Fears are described as fire, water, lions, elephants, snakes, chains or false imprisonment, demons or ghosts, and thieves. These are often depicted literally in painting and represent very real fears of the day, inner meanings related to ego and emotions, and deeper secret meanings representing specific tantric philosophies. In this painting, the scene in the foreground refers to water or the fear of drowning, a common concern of seafaring traders in ancient India.

Once she achieved complete enlightenment, Tara promised to return in a female form to benefit all beings. Meditational practices and visual descriptions of Tara appear in all schools of Buddhist tantra, and there are close to two hundred different meditational forms of Tara varying in color, number of faces and limbs, and in peaceful or wrathful countenances. In most respects, she is depicted as a beautiful young woman, commonly either green (for all types of meditation), white for longevity, or red for power.