Statue of Tara
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The Statue of Tara is a
gilt-bronze Ormolu (; from French ''or moulu'', "ground/pounded gold") is the gilding technique of applying finely ground, high-carat gold– mercury amalgam to an object of bronze, and for objects finished in this way. The mercury is driven off in a kiln le ...
sculpture of Tara that dates from the 7th-8th century AD in Sri Lanka. Some argue it was looted from the last King of Kandy when the British annexed
Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...
in the early nineteenth century, it was given to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in 1830 by the former
British Governor of Ceylon The governor of Ceylon was the representative in Ceylon of the British Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ceylon. The governor was the ...
(as Sri Lanka was then known),
Robert Brownrigg General Sir Robert Brownrigg, 1st Baronet, GCB (8 February 1758 – 27 April 1833) was an Irish-born British statesman and soldier. He brought the last part of Sri Lanka under British rule. Early career Brownrigg was commissioned as an e ...
.


Background

Buddhism has had a continuous history on the island of Sri Lanka ever since the third century BC. The figure dates to the period of Anuradhapura Kingdom founded in 377 BC by King Pandukabhaya.
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
played a strong role in the Anuradhapura period, influencing its culture, laws, and methods of governance. Tara shows evidence of the cultural interaction of Buddhism with Hinduism. Tara had been a Hindu mother goddess but was redesigned for a new role within Buddhism. Sri Lanka today is predominantly
Theravada Buddhist ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
country.Buddhism in Sri Lanka
buddhanet.net, retrieved 9 December 2013
At one time this statue was thought to be a model of the guardian deity
Pattini Pattini (, ,), is considered a guardian deity of Sri Lanka in Sri Lankan Buddhism and Sinhalese folklore. She is also worshipped by Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus by the name of '' Kannaki Amman''. She is considered the patron goddess of fertility ...
, but it is now agreed that this statue is of Tara. This identification is clear evidence for the presence in the medieval period of Mahayana Buddhism as well as the Theravada form of the faith which allows Buddhists to worship beings other than Buddha. The
Abhayagiri vihāra Abhayagiri Vihāra was a major monastery site of Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhism that was situated in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is one of the most extensive ruins in the world and one of the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage cities i ...
of the Anuradhapura Kingdom being the most notable example. The statue suggests that Tara may have been worshiped as a deity and not just as the consort of a male god. Typically the sculpture would have been placed in a temple alongside a statue of her male companion, the bodhisattva, Avalokiteshevara.
Bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...
are beings who have reached enlightenment but have turned back from it, out of compassion so that they can still help mankind escape from the cycle of death, rebirth and suffering.


Description

The sculpture represents a standing figure of a female deity solid cast in bronze using the
lost wax process Lost-wax casting (also called "investment casting", "precision casting", or ''cire perdue'' which has been adopted into English from the French, ) is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass, or bronze) i ...
. The statue is about three quarter life size and it has been gilded to create the luxurious, golden appearance. The goddess's hour-glass upper body is bare with a lower garment tied to the hips with an almost ankle length hemline. Tara's right hand is shown in the gesture of giving while her left hand is thought to have held a
lotus flower ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as sacred lotus, Laxmi lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more often re ...
, now lost. The figure wears a high crown dominated by a medallion. The hole in the crown is supposed to have held a large precious stone.Statue of Tara
Highlights, British Museum, accessed 9 December 2013
The statue is the only known Anuradhapura example of this size that now survives. The statue would have been valuable not just from its appearance but also because of its manufacture. The statue was not hollow but made from an expensive metal using a technologically advanced technique of lost wax casting.


Discovery

It has been alleged that this rare sculpture was stolen by the then British Governor, Sir Robert Brownrigg, from the last King of Kandy when the British annexed
Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...
. He later donated it to the British Museum in the 1830s. This account differs from that put forward by the British Museum who believe that the statue was simply found in the early 1800s somewhere between
Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
and Batticaloa on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka and subsequently acquired by Sir Robert Brownrigg.figure
Collection Online, British Museum, retrieved 9 December 2013
Kandy came under British rule in March 1815 under the terms of the Kandyan Convention which was organised by Brownrigg.The signing of the Kandyan Convention
S. B. Karalliyadda, 25 February 2006, LankaLibrary, retrieved 9 December 2013
When the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
acquired the statue, in the 1830s, they were concerned that the large exposed breasts, narrow waist and curvaceous hips would be seen as too erotic for the public so it was kept out of sight for thirty years. The statue was only available for scholars to study even though it was never in doubt that the purpose of this statue had always been religious rather than to arouse. This scholarly study is strangely reminiscent of the statue's ancient status in Sri Lanka. It is thought that the statue would have only been seen in Sri Lanka by chosen priests and monks and it would not have been seen by the general population of Buddhists.Episode 54 – Statue of Tara
BBC, retrieved 25 July 2014
The British Museum had a number of items that from 1830 were considered too erotic. By the 1860s this store of objects was labelled the Secretum.


Replica

There is a replica of this statue in the
National Museum of Colombo The Colombo National Museum, also known as the Sri Lanka National Museum, is a museum in Colombo and the largest in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1877 and maintained by the Department of National Museums, it holds collections of significant importanc ...
in Sri Lanka.The female as Cult Object in Buddhism
Digital Library, retrieved 10 December 2013


References


Further reading

*W. Zwalf (ed.), ''Buddhism: art and faith'' (London, The British Museum Press, 1985) *R.E. Fisher, ''Buddhist art and architecture'' (London, Thames & Hudson, 1993) *R. Thapar, ''The Penguin History of Early India from the Origins to AD 1300'' (London, 2002) *K.M. De Silva, ''A History of Sri Lanka'' (Berkeley, 1981) *R. Coningham et al., "The State of Theocracy: Defining an Early Medieval Hinterland in Sri Lanka", ''Antiquity'', 81 (2007), 699–719 {{Sri Lanka topics 7th-century sculptures 8th-century sculptures Asian sculptures in the British Museum Buddhist sculpture Bronze sculptures in the United Kingdom Sri Lanka–United Kingdom relations