Description: THANGKA WITH WHITE TARA Mongolia, 19th Century Ink and colours on fabric, silk frame. 14.4 x 11 in. The deity here depicted is the White Tara (Mrtyuvancanopadesa Tara). Born from a tear in the left eye of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, she radiates mercy, compassion and the desire to save all beings from the sufferences of samsara, sufferences known throught her seven eyes. She usually lives on the summit of Mount Potala, from where she listens to the wish of long life and prosperity. The deity is here depicting according to a common iconography, as a sixteen years old girl seated on a lotus flower, with her right hand in the boon-granting gesture and a lotus flower in her right hand, wearing a crown with five finials. In this thangka, the White Tara is depicted with a container with offerings at her feet, two protective deities in the lower corners and three figures of religious leaders in the upper section of the composition.