The Wish-fulfilling Red Tara
Wish-fulfilling Red Tara is a very moving and lovely statue of Red Tara located north of Dattatraya Square, in the Kwathandau area[1] of Bhaktapur, in the Kathmandu Valley.
According to the priest in charge of the temple, the statue is identified as Dipamkara by the Indians and Nepalis, and as Red Tara to the Tibetans.[2]
Red Tara is looking down, as if sad. The oral tradition has it that she went to Tibet and when she returned, she was tied down so that she would remain and that this is the cause of her sadness.
Another feature of the temple is the commemorative plaque on wall in the inner hallway surrounding the shrine. It honours Yeshe Tsogyal's travels to this area of the Kathmandu Valley around 795AD.
It is said that the grounds on which the temple is built is the place where she met Atsara Salé. This young man belonged to a very wealthy family who owned this piece of land. When Yeshe Tsogyal requested that he could leave with her to Tibet, the family first refused, then said that yes, he could go with her if she paid his weight in gold. Yeshe Tsogyal then found the necessary sponsors in the parents of a recently deceased young man she miraculously brought back to life, so Atsara Salé was able to join her.
Notes
- ↑ The location is not that easy to find. It is quite close to Kwathandau Pokhari (Kwathandau basin), and sometimes indicated on maps as Prashannashil Mahavihar. Guides and locals know it under the name of 'Dipamkar'.
- ↑ This is not the Talking Tara who told the King of Bhaktapur to invite Milarepa, which can be seen in the Taleju Temple complex.
