Guest guest Report post Posted November 19, 2007 No offense taken! My point is NOT that the Virgin Mary inspired Tantric visions. My point, simply, was that the cult of Tara in Mongol China might have been given a push by the Franiscan fathers who brought the cult of the Virgin Mary with them. Christianity did not take root in China at that time, although the Jesuits arriving several hundreds of years later like to take credit for introducing Christianity to China. There are many versions of Tara iconographically, and some of the Chinese do appear iconographically similar in many regards to Mary. I was hardly trying to equate Tara in Tibet and India with the Virgin Mary. Phil Aditya Kumar Jha <aditya.kr.jha wrote: I wouldnot be inclined to believe it either. Virgin Mary inspiring tantric visions and transmutating into Tara: seems pretty far fetched.Tara doesnt just have one aspect, what about ugratara ? Is that Mary too? I had refuted tibetan influence on Lalita cult but this one is plain ridiculous. No offense intended!!! Regards Aditya On 11/18/07, Max Dashu <maxdashu wrote: > > >There is evidence that one of the early Mongol khans had a Nestorian > >Christian mother and that to honor her he invited Franciscan Fathers > >into his realm - this antedates the Jesuits by several hundreds of > >years. These Franciscans introduced the image of the Virgin Mary, > >which was immediately appropriated as Tara, > > I don't believe a word of it. Another example of looking everywhere > but India for cultural origins. > > Max > > -- > Max Dashu > Suppressed Histories Archives > http://www.suppressedhistories.net > Real Women, Global Vision > > Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted December 6, 2007 excellent answer atj ckannannair <ckannannair Wednesday, 14 November, 2007 4:20:39 AM Re: Question regarding diety Thanks for all your answers and i checked the question with one of my mentors and the following was his answer.It made sense for me The presiding deity of Srividhya as also of the whole world is Rajarajeshwari. Shri Lalitaambika or Kameshwari or Mahatripurasundhari are her other names. Parvati is the consort of Shiva, a level of consciousness. The highest form of consciousness is Paramashiva, and his consort is Lalitaambika. Lakshmi is the consort of a much groser form of consciousness called Vishnu. Pl remember that consciousness is determined by the level of the kundalini. This again is Lalitaambika. Does this make sense? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
