THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN TARA TO THE PHILIPPINES

THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN TARA TO THE PHILIPPINES I recently received a photocopy of a letter dated 25 January 1922 that was sent by the Agusan Coconut Company to Mr. H. Otley Beyer of the University of the Philippines. The photocopy was sent by Dr. Potenciano Malvar of Butuan City, through my brother, architect and town planner Rey Seneres who is also from Butuan City. The letter talks about the possibility of getting back the image of the Golden Tara from the University of Chicago. The University of the Philippines was mentioned as a possible consignee, but I think that the National Museum or the Bangko Sentral might be in a better position to procure and secure it. That is why I sent letters to the National Museum of the Philippines and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas about this. The following are excerpts from the Wikipedia entries about the image, quoted vervatim in toto: "The Agusan image (commonly referred to in the Philippines as the Golden Tara in allusion to its supposed, but disputed, identity as an image of a Buddhist Tara) is a 2 kg, 21-karat gold statuette, found in 1917 on the banks of the Wawa River near Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, Mindanao in the Philippines, dating to the 9th–10th centuries. The figure, approximately 178 mm in height, is of a female Hindu or Buddhist deity, seated cross-legged and wearing a richly-adorned headdress and other ornaments on various parts of the body. It is now on display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Since its discovery, the identity of the goddess represented by the gold statuette has been the subject of debate. Proposed identities of the gold figurine range from that of a Hindu Sivaite goddess to a Buddhist Tara. Recent scholarship suggests that the image represents the offering goddess Vajralāsyā of the Tantric Buddhist tradition. Although the statue was likely first made as either a Buddhist or Hindu deity, it has also been worshipped as an Animist deity and even provided an altar until it was stolen from its place of worship in Agusan del Sur in the early 20th century". IKE SENERES/07-04-2024