21 Manifestations of Tara

There are three main traditions depicting the 21 manifestations of Tara, the Devine Saviouress. The first and most widespread tradition originates from Nagarjuna or Atisha. In this tradition, the 21 Taras are identical in posture and appearance, but their body colors and the colors of the vases they hold in their right hands vary. The second tradition, which originates from Longchenpa, also has identical posture and appearance for all the Taras, but their body colors, facial features, and the ritual implements on the lotus differ. Finally, the third tradition, from the teachings of Suryagupta, will be described in detail below.

Painting of 21 Taras on canvas, from Tibet. 21 deities in both Suryagupta and Atisha lineage are depicted in the same thangka. On either side of the main deity are Shakyamuni Buddha and White Tara. — *Thangka* of the 21 Manifestations of Tara, painted on canvas. Dating from the fourteenth century, Tibet. Himalayan Art Resources. In this painting, two attendants stand beside Tara. The Buddha Shakyamuni and White Tara appear in the upper corners. Surrounding them are 21 manifestations of Tara according to the Suryagupta tradition (upper half) and 21 manifestations according to the Atisha tradition (lower half). At the very bottom center, the figure of the Lama and two Tibetan patrons are depicted.

21 Manifestations of Tara According to the Suryagupta Tradition

According to the great Lama Taranatha (1575–1634) of the Jonangpa lineage, Suryagupta (Tib. Ni ma sbas) was a scholar who practiced the Tara teachings in Kashmir, during the same period as two renowned Indian masters of the seventh–eighth centuries, Candrakirti and Candragomin. In Kashmir and Magadha, he established twelve Buddhist monasteries and commanded yaksha spirits to provide building materials, while also protecting practitioners from the “eight great fears”. From Nagamitra, he received the Tara empowerment and later became famous as a practitioner of the 108 Tara Tantras.

It is believed that he authored thirteen works, including the Tara mandala rituals and other sadhanas for Tara, which are still preserved in the Tengyur of Tibetan Buddhism. His great disciple, Sarvajnamitra, also became a practitioner of the Tara teachings and a holder of the lineage.

In the Suryagupta tradition, each of the 21 Tara manifestations is depicted with a unique form, displaying distinct colors, postures, facial expressions, ritual implements, and mudras. Consequently, each of these figures is typically painted independently in a separate thangka, with specific and detailed descriptions.

The Drukpa lineage’s practice of the 21 Tara is included in this tradition as well.

ཨོཾ་རྗེ་བཙུན་མ་འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏཱ་རེ་མྱུར་མ་དཔའ་མོ།

།ཏུཏྟཱ་ར་ཡིས་འཇིགས་པ་སེལ་མ། །

ཏུ་རེས་དོན་ཀུན་སྦྱིན་པས་ སྒྲོལ་མ།

།སྭཱ་ཧཱ་ཡི་གེ་ཁྱོད་ལ་འདུད་དོ། །

“OM — Homage to Venerable Arya Tara.

Homage to Tara, the fearless savioress,

the swift one who with the letters TUTTARE banishes fear,

who gives with the letters TURE all that is required,

I bow to her of the letters SOHA.”

The List of the 21 Taras

Pravira Tara
Chandrakanti Tara
Kanakavarna Tara
Ushnishavijaya Tara
Humsvaranadini Tara
Trailokyavijaya Tara
Vadipramardani Tara
Vashitottamada Tara
Khadiravani Tara or Varada Tara
Shokavinodana Tara
Jagadvasi Tara
Mangalavabhasa Tara
Paripacaka Tara
Bhrikuti Tara
Mahashanti Tara
Raganisudana Tara
Sukhasadhana Tara
Vijaya Tara
Duhkhadahana Tara
Siddhisambhava Tara
Paripurana Tara

Visual Samples

21 forms of Tara according to the Atisha (Gelug) tradition, painting on canvas. — 21 Taras *thangka* following the Atisha tradition (Gelug lineage), painted with natural mineral pigments on canvas. Dating back to the nineteenth century. Originating from Tibet. Himalayan Art Resources.

21 forms of Tara according to the Longchenpa tradition, painting on canvas. — 21 Taras *thangka* in the Longchenpa tradition, painted on canvas. Date and origin unknown. Himalayan Art Resources.

21 forms of Tara according to the Suryagupta tradition, painting on canvas. — 21 Taras *thangka* in the Suryagupta tradition, painted with natural mineral pigments on canvas. Dating back to the nineteenth century. Originating from Tibet. Hahn Cultural Foundation.

Curated and synthesized by

Jigme

References

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
The Gyalwang Drukpa. Nghi quỹ tu trì Lục Độ Phật Mẫu, Ý Nghĩa và Hướng Dẫn Thực Hành. Hà Nội: NXB Tôn Giáo, 2021.
Watt, Jeff. 2003. “21 Taras.” Himalayan Art Resources. Updated April 2017. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=140

21 Manifestations of Tara