Taara, Maa Tara, and Tarapith

Maa Tara, The Divine Mother

In the Tantric tradition, Maa Tara is worshipped as The Divine Mother, the Guiding Star Who Liberates Her children from illusion and Carries them across the ocean of samsara. The Name Tara means both the star and the one who carries across. The devotee holds Her Name in the heart, and seeks Her Darshan and Her Blessings, by Her Grace.

Tarapith, Her Sacred Seat

Tarapith is a revered temple town in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, dedicated to The Divine Mother Maa Tara. The Name joins Tara with pith, a seat, and the place is held among the sacred seats of The Divine Mother. Beside the temple lies the Mahasmasan, the great cremation ground, and the memory of the tantric saint Bamakhepa, who worshipped Maa Tara here. Each day, devotees come to Tarapith to seek Her Darshan and Her Blessings.

Taara, Or Tharapita

Far to the north, the ancient people of Estonia remembered a great god named Taara, also written Tharapita. He is recorded in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, written around the year 1220, as the chief god of the Oeselians of the island of Saaremaa, and honoured by tribes of the mainland as well. The name has been read as an invocation, Taara, help. In the old telling, Taara was born upon a wooded hill in Vironia and flew across to Saaremaa, and his sacred day was Thursday, an evening kept in the holy woods. Some scholars have linked the legend of his flight to the great meteor that formed the Kaali crater on Saaremaa.

Across names and across lands, reverence rises to The Divine. Here, the heart turns to The Divine Mother Maa Tara, held in the Name that Carries across.