The Cult of Tara

168 MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
central thematic element in one of the most important and popular
of Tara's rituals. This is the offering of the mandala (or mandalaka,
transliterated into Tibetan rather than translated, to distinguish it
from the Tibetan term chikhor which translates "mandala of the
residence and its residents"). The mandala offering is nothing less
than the presentatiori to the deity of the entire world, visualized in
front of the practitioner as a golden realm with Mount Meru and all
its continents, a cosmogram filled with "all the entire wealth and
glory of men and gods." It is perhaps the highest expression of
ritualized devotion: its primary function from its Indian inception 222
has been as a presentation to one's personal guru, serving as a symbol
of the complete subordination to him of all one is or has; it is held
to be the only "fee" worthy enough to be given to a Master who
bestows an initiation, a priceless gift whose price is therefore infinite.
Fig. 20. The mandala gesture.
The ritual hand gesture that accompanies this offering—the
mandala gesture—is shown in figure 20: the ring fingers in the
center represent Mount Meru in the middle of the world, and the
remaining fingers are so joined as to represent the four major
continents that surround it. On the altar this offering is represented
by a four-tiered tray, often decorated with gold and silver designs
and pictures of the offerings supposedly contained therein, filled
to overflowing with grain or rice. The flat base of this tray may
also be used alone, and sometimes, in place of the gesture, the
practitioner holds this base in his left hand and pours out upon it
small "piles" of grain from his right hand, each small pile represent-