Kurunegala Tara (Colombo National Museum)
A statue of the goddess Tara was discovered in Kurunegala in Sri Lanka. Presently, it is on display at the National Museum of Colombo (Dohanian, 1983). Goddess Tara Tara is considered the most beloved goddess of the Mahayana Buddhist pantheon (Jayawardene, 2016). She started to appear in the society of Sri Lanka around the seventh or eighth century A.D. and was worshipped until the fifteenth century A.D. (Jayawardene, 2016). Evidence for Tara worship in Sri Lanka is found in the Mihintale Slab Inscriptions of Mahinda IV ( 956-972 A.D.) where she is referred to as goddess Mininal (Gunawardana, 2019; Jayawardene, 2016). The largest figure of Tara in the country is found in Buduruwagala (Gunawardana, 2019). The statue This statue of Tara was discovered in Talampitiya in Kurunegala District (Gunawardana, 2019). It is a solid-cast, silver alloyed statue 16.5 cm tall (Dohanian, 1983; Gunawardana, 2019). The goddess is depicted here in the seated posture of Virasana and in the appearance of Samadh…
