A Note on an Image of Tārā from Dumnitala (Beldanga) of Murshidabad District, West Bengal

Abstract

The present paper examines a hitherto unpublished image of the Buddhist deity Tārā discovered at Dumnitala in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, a region that historically functioned as a cultural corridor between Puṇḍravardhana/Varendra in the north and Dakṣiṇa Rāḍha in the south. Situated near an ancient spill-off channel of the Bhagirathi, the site forms part of a broader archaeological landscape enriched by monastic establishments such as Raktamṛttikā Mahāvihāra at Rajbadidanga, Paharpur, Jagajjivanpur and Bharatpur. Drawing upon epigraphic, literary, and sculptural sources, the paper contextualizes the antiquity and diffusion of Tārā worship across eastern India within the frameworks of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism, noting parallel developments in Brahmanical and Jaina traditions. While sharing compositional similarities with Tārā icons from Agradigun, Bamangola, and the Guneri–Kurkihar region, the Dumnitala image is comparatively crude in execution. Its stylistic traits, including the depiction of Amoghasiddhi and votive stūpas, underscore regional artistic idioms informed by the Pāla-Sena sculptural repertoire. Through comparative iconographic analysis, the study argues that the distribution of Vajrayāna sculptures, including Tārā, reflects patterns of monastic expansion, political patronage, and mercantile networks active along the middle and lower Ganga valleys.