Tara in Hinduism

Tara, the second Mahavidya of the Sakta pantheon, is an extremely popular goddess of the Hindus in eastern India, particularly in Assam and West Bengal. This documentation will help a researcher to make a thorough investigation into the Brahmanical cult of Tara, especially, in the background of cultural and ideological developments of India. The Ist Chapter presents a survey of the development of the concepts of the Mother Goddess in ancient India as gleaned from textual and archaeological sources, vis-a-vis the seedling of the godhead of Tara in her pleasant and terrible forms. The IInd chapter comprises a catalogue of 265 antique images of Tara. It outlines their antiquity and provenance. The IIIrd chapter includes: (i) Sanskrit (roman) text, with English translation of the Taratantra, selections from the Rudrayamala and the Brahmayamala – (ii) summaries in English of 26 primary texts of the Brahmanical cult of Tara; (iii) descriptive union catalogue of manuscripts of 150 Sanskr