# Green Tara

- By: Aniko (Nepalese, active in Tibet mid- to late 1200s)
- Date: c. 1260s, mounted 2020
- Medium: thangka; gum tempera, ink, and gold on sized cotton; mount: silk
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Painting: 52.4 x 43.2 cm (20 5/8 x 17 in.); Overall: 107 x 65 cm (42 1/8 x 25 9/16 in.)
- Culture: Central Tibet
- Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund by exchange
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1970.156)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.156/1970.156_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

For Tibetans, Green Tara is one of the preeminent figures of their Buddhist faith, a radiant savioress who embodies the female form of the perfect, enlightened mind. The Green Tara in the Cleveland thangka—a Tibetan devotional painting on cloth—specifically dispels fear and provides protection, just like her mantra inscribed on the back side of the painting. Her green color and fear-not gesture link her to the cosmic Buddha of the North, enshrined above her head. Most scholars agree that this work was painted by the celebrated Nepalese artist known as Aniko.