by Vilas Sarang
‘Oh, I see …’
‘Tara became a deity with travellers in strange places. She is supposed to have protected from the Great Fears.’
‘What were the Great Fears?’
‘There were some eight or ten. Shipwreck, storms, etc. What is interesting is that in their paintings, the Buddhist artists even painted lions. Even though there were no lions in Tibet! These paintings may be found in a great number of places. For instance there is a painting of Tara warding off the Great Fears in Ellora in 7th Century. Here is a description of Tara, very moving it is’ I proffered her a book with a passage on Tara.
The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, Regarder of the Cries of the World, looked down in compassion on the pain of humanity. He saw suffering everywhere. He saw beings born in suffering, dying in suffering, afflicted by diseases, wars and famines. He saw beings not obtaining what they desired and he saw beings obtaining what they did not desire. He also saw that however many beings he helped to escape from the fruitless round of mundane existence, the overall number grew no smaller—and for this he wept. The tears streamed down his face and formed a great pond. From the depths of its water sprang a blue lotus and on the lotus appeared the shimmering form of a beautiful sixteen-year-old woman. Her body was diaphanous and its translucent green seemed to hover between reality and non-reality, quivering with an energy that could be seen, heard and felt. She was clad in the silks and jewels of a princess and her hands, expressing boundless giving and refuge, held deep blue lotuses. Born of Avalokitesvara’s tears of compassion, she was herself the quintessence of compassion. She who is bright, she of the beautiful eyes. Tara, joy of starlight, had once again appeared in this world.
Holy men of the time said, ‘O Boddhisattva, it is better you become a man. It is the duty of men to teach goodness.’
‘Who says so?’ Taradevi asked defiantly. ‘There are many who lead one to enlightenment in a man’s body but no woman does it. I will work for the benefit of men and women in a woman’s body.’
The holy men turned up their nose (in the guise of having an attack of sneezing), but common men and women applauded Taradevi. In time, even so called holy men nodded in approval. Now Buddha need no longer be alone. Taradevi, the Other, balances him, makes him complete.
‘Great!’ the lady said, handing the book back. ‘And what about this statute in Arunachal Pradesh that I hear about?’
‘Yes, the government is building a huge statue, I believe it is about eighty feet high, overlooking the Tawang valley.’
‘Why is the government is doing it? Isn’t it going out of its way?’
‘This region of Arunachal Pradesh is right on the Chinese border. You may have heard that China claims some part of Arunachal Pradesh. So the Indian government is keen upon this project.’
‘Ah, it’s more politics than religion.’
‘It will be a nice place. White Tara, as it is called, with a statue on one thousand red petals. The location is a great place. On one side you can see Bhutan and on the other side, Tibet.’
‘Next summer, we will be heading for the Tawang valley!’
Author’s Note
In writing this novel, I have referred to several books about Buddha, his life and his teachings. I give below the complete list of books.
Buddhist Scriptures, selected and translated by Edward Conze, 1959. (Quoted on pages: 70, 163)
Buddhism: Its Essence and Development, Edward Conze, 1936. (Quoted on page 149)
The Historical Buddha, Hans Wolfgang Schumann, translated from the German by M.O’C Walshe, 1990 (Quoted on pages: 112, 113, 126, 134, 149, 160)
Dialogues of the Buddha (The Digha Nikaya) Volumes I to III, translated from Pali by T.W. Rhys Davids (Quoted on pages: 141, 142, 155, 156, 157, 159, 160, 163)
Bhagwan Buddhancha Janwadi Dharm, Avinash Sahsrabuddhe, 2006. (Quoted on page 116)
The Legend of the Buddha Shakyamuni, translated from Pali by E.H. Johnston.
The Buddhist Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Volumes I to V, edited by Subodh Kapoor.
PENGUIN BOOKS
UK | Canada | Ireland | Australia
New Zealand | India | South Africa
Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
This collection published 2011
Copyright © Vilas Sarang 2011
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-143-41465-0
This digital edition published in 2016.
e-ISBN: 978-8-184-75567-1
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.