Tara , originally uploaded by Swami Stream.

We brought this Bronze Tara wall mounting statue as gift for our anniversary.

Tara (Sanskrit: तारा, tārā) or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma (Tibetan language:rje btsun sgrol ma) in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the “mother of liberation”, and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. In Japan she is known as Tarani Bosatsu, and little-known as Tuoluo in Chinese Buddhism.

ārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in samsara.
The Tārā figure originated not in Buddhism but in Hinduism, where she, Tārā, was one of a number of Mother Goddess figures alongside Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Parvati, and Shakti. In the 6th century C.E., during the era of the Pala Empire, Tārā was adopted into the Buddhist pantheon as an important bodhisattva figure just a few centuries after the Prajnaparamita Sutra had been introduced into what was becoming the Mahayana Buddhism of India. It would seem that the feminine principle makes its first appearance in Buddhism as the “Mother of Perfected Wisdom” and then later Tārā comes to be seen as an expression of the compassion of perfected wisdom. However, sometimes Tārā is also known as “the Mother of the Buddhas”, which usually refers to the enlightened wisdom of the Buddhas, so in approaching Buddhist deities, one learns not to impose totally strict boundaries about what one deity covers, as opposed to another deity.
They all can be seen as expressions of the play of the energies of manifested form dancing out of vast emptiness. Be that as it may, Tārā began to be associated with the motherly qualities of compassion and mercy. Undoubtedly for the common folk who were Buddhists in India of that time, Tārā was a more approachable deity. It is one thing to stare into the eyes of a deity who represents wisdom as void. It is perhaps easier to worship a goddess whose eyes look out with infinite compassion and who has a sweet smile.
Tārā then became very popular as an object of worship and was becoming an object of Tantric worship and practice by the 7th century C.E. With the movement and cross-pollination of Indian Buddhism into Tibet, the worship and practices of Tārā became incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism. Independent of whether she is classified as a deity, a Buddha or a bodhisattva, Tārā remains very popular in Tibet and Mongolia. And as Ms. Getty notes, one other reason for her popularity was that Tārā became to be known as a Buddhist deity who could be appealed to directly by lay folk without the necessity or intervention of a lama or monk. Thus, as Tārā was accepted into the ranks of Buddhist bodhisattvas, she became popular to both common folk as one to appeal to in daily life, and for monastics, as an entry way into understanding compassion and mercy as part of one’s evolving path within Buddhism.

More on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Buddhism)

Uploaded by Swami Stream on 5 Apr 10, 7.50AM IST.