སྒྲལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་ཚལ་ཉ་ཤ་རྩ་གཅག་གས་བསྟད་པ་ཕན་ཡན་དང་བཅས་པ notes.1

notes.1

1. Tārā’s root mantra is oṁ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā. The part tāre tuttāre ture addresses the goddess in the vocative. The intended meaning could be that of the conjectured phrase tāre uttāre ture, with the middle word subsequently modified with the initial t for the sake of rhythm and alliteration, to have all three epithets begin with t and end with e. The first of the three epithets is the goddess’s name, Tārā, which is a causative derivation from the root √tṝ, “to cross.” The second is the same prefixed by ud, which modifies the meaning from “one who helps to cross” (fem., tārā) the ocean of saṃsāra, to one who in addition “pulls up” (fem., ut-tārā) from that ocean. As the difference in meaning between these two is merely nominal, we chose to translate them here as “Deliverer” and “Savior” respectively. The third epithet (fem., turā), means “swift.”