A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5.15

v2.c19.s6.t5.15

A large number of Stotras are dedicated to the Buddhist goddess Tārā, “the Rescuer,” the female counterpart of Avalokiteśvara. A poem in praise of Tārā, composed in polished Kāvya style by the Kashmiri poet Sarvajñamitra is the Sragdharā-Stotra or Ārya-Tārā-Sragdharā-Stotra in 37 verses. Sragdharā, “(female) wearer of the wreath,” is an epithet of Tārā as well as the name of the metre in which the poem is written. The poet lived in the first half of the 8th century. According to the legend, he was a man widely famed for his generosity (according to Tāranātha,² a son-in-law of the King of Kashmir), who finally, after he had given away all his treasures, went forth into the world as a mendicant monk. Once he met an old Brahman on the way, who complained to him that he was poor and needed money for his daughter's marriage. In order to procure the money for this man, Sarvajñamitra sold himself to a king who was just preparing a great human sacrifice for which he needed a hundred persons. When the poet heard the lamentations of his fellow-sufferers with whom he was to be sacrificed, he sang the hymn to Tārā, and the goddess came and rescued the hundred victims. Whilst the Sragdharā-Stotra has some poetical value, the Ārya-Tārā-Nāmāṣṭottaraśataka-Stotra, "the Song of praise consisting of 108 names of the noble Tārā," is a mere litany of names and titles of the goddess; and the Ekaviṃśati-Stotra, "the song of praise in 21 verses," is only a loose stringing together of invocations to the goddess Tārā.¹