Green Tara Silver

Image: Green Tara Silver
Artist: Master Locho

Ideal for Living Room, Bed Room, Prayer/ Meditation Space or any Commercial Space.

Time Taken to Complete the Painting- 3 months

Tara is believed by practitioners to bring good to all beings and is known as the Mother of all Buddhas. Particularly, Green Tara is identified as the divinity of good fortune and prosperity, and is also looked upon as the religious companion of Amoghasiddhi and often holds his image in her headdress. She holds a half opened blue lotus in her left hand, and molds the mudra of the Three Jewels with her thumb touching the ring finger and her other fingers extended. She is green in color and is dressed as a Bodhisattva. Her right leg rests on a blue lotus. Sometimes she is represented with her 21 Tara forms surrounding her in a rainbow. Her halo, crown, and jewelry were painted in pure gold, along with outlines and other details. Mineral pigments and natural dyes are used to paint this Tara.

This piece of artwork is quite unique because the artist has depicted a green Tara in pure silver on a pure silver background. The background landscape is done with silver and gold and outlined in carbon black ink, which is then finely and meticulously polished. Although Tara is not green in color, she represents the same things as a green Tara: a female version of the bodhisattva symbolizing compassion, purity, kindness, and affection. The use of pure silver in this piece simply represents another style of Tara, but not a different meaning.

In this painting, Tara is adorned with jewelry, a bejeweled headdress, and a thrown, each painted in gold, cinnabar, malachite, and lapis lazuli pigments. Her hair was done with lapis lazuli pigments and carbon black ink. Following the traditional iconographic rules of the artistic depiction of Tara, the artist has painted her left hand in the refuge-granting mudra. Her right hand is in the boon-granting mudra holding an open lotus flower, which is a welcoming gesture for those wishing to accomplish great things. She is seated with her right leg extended, as if ready to spring into action, while her left leg is folded.

This painting was completed by Master Locho over three months with pure silver and gold, and traces of turquoise, cinnabar vermillion red, azurite blue, ultramarine blue, malachite green, orpiment yellow, and earth white (calcium carbonate white chalk).