Tara is a Hindu astral goddess, the wife of Brihaspati, preceptor of the gods, in the Puranic tradition distinct from the Buddhist goddess of the same name and from the tantric Mahavidya Tara. Puranic accounts tell that the moon god Chandra desired her and abducted her, and from their union she bore Budha, the deity of the planet Mercury, a birth the tradition calls scandalous for the dispute it caused between Chandra and Brihaspati. She is not to be confused with either of the other two Taras this atlas records under separate entries.
Facts
Attributions
Mythic AssociationPuranic accounts hold that Chandra, the moon god, abducted and desired her while she was married to Brihaspati, and that her son Budha, born of that union, was raised amid a dispute between the two gods over his true parentage. 1 Origins
Origin of the NameSanskrit tara, star, the same root shared by the unrelated Buddhist bodhisattva Tara and the tantric Mahavidya Tara this atlas records under separate entries. 1 Function
Domain / Function Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Chandra directly: "Puranic accounts tell that the moon god Chandra desired her and abducted her, and from their union she bore Budha, the deity of the planet Mercury, a birth the tradition calls scandalous for the..."
This source names Mercury directly: "bore Budha, the deity of the planet Mercury, a birth the tradition calls scandalous for the dispute it caused between Chandra and Brihaspati."
Tara, Deities This source names Tara directly: "Tara is a Hindu astral goddess, the wife of Brihaspati, preceptor of the gods, in the Puranic tradition distinct from the Buddhist goddess of the same name and from the tantric Mahavidya Tara."
Children
Budha, Deities Budha's own description: "He is the son of Chandra, the Moon, and Tara, the wife of the gods' preceptor Brihaspati." Target is the newly disambiguated Hindu Tara (wife of Brihaspati), distinct from Buddhist Tara (3083).
Married To
From Budha's own description: Tara is "the wife of the gods' preceptor Brihaspati." Newly disambiguated Hindu Tara entity.
Worshipped In
Puranic Hindu astral goddess, wife of Brihaspati and mother of Budha; both carry the same worshipped-in edge to Hinduism.
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Hinduism
Denise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.), Routledge, 2008Quote
Budha, Mercury, is the son of Chandra (Moon) and Tara, wife of Brihaspati.
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