The Cult of Tara

ILLUSTRATIONS
44 The working flask (left) and the chief flask (right). 409
45 Solitary contemplation: a yogin in meditative pcsture,
shoulders thrown back, elbows turned in, and arms
locked on the thighs. From a Tibetan wood-block
print. 459
Plates
Following page 260
1 Coating the food tormas with butter.
2 Setting up the altar for the Four Mandala Offering.
3 Offering up the mandala to Tara.
4 Wayside shrine in Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh.
5 The Lady of the Goring Yak.
6 The burnt offering.
7 A complex thread-cross used in the large annual evocation
of the Four-handed Lord.
8 Winding the five-colored threads on the frame of the
thread-cross.
9 Putting butter flowers on the torma.
10 The portrait molded of barley flour, in deep relief.
11 Four-tiered Mount Meru and the excellent house.
12 Planting shrubbery on the surrounding iron mountains.
13 The portrait complete with house, servants, livestock,
and property.
14 The entire structure tied around with thread and set
on the altar facing the assembly.
15 Carrying the thread-cross down the mountain.
16 The multitude tormas.
xxi