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 Attestation
Veneration TodayHistorically attested; no continuous cult 1 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2 Function
Domain / Function 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 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..."
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
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."
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
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."
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
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).
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Married To
From Budha's own description: Tara is "the wife of the gods' preceptor Brihaspati." Newly disambiguated Hindu Tara entity.
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Worshipped In
Puranic Hindu astral goddess, wife of Brihaspati and mother of Budha; both carry the same worshipped-in edge to Hinduism.
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
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.
2. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
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