An Interdisciplinary, Post-Colonial Response to the Statue of Tara from Sri Lanka in the British Museum

This collaborative essay between an art historian and a conservator reexamines an eighth-to-ninth century, gilt bronze statue of Tara, a Mahayana Buddhist goddess, from Sri Lanka. Using the theoretical concept of object biographies as a shared method between the two disciplines, the study aims to expand and question the current understanding of this object, while highlighting recent scholarship from the Global South to advocate for decolonizing practices. A comparative analysis of this standing statue of Tara with other sculptures of Tara from Sri Lanka together with information on materials, techniques of execution, and condition, enhances the appreciation of its local production and helps piece together its complex past, including its acquisition by the British Museum, London. Through interdisciplinary research, new observations help to reframe the Tara as a tangible museum object with intangible values to communities past, present, and future. It links the statue to both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist traditions, while also exploring the statue’s identification as Pattini, a Buddhist and a Hindu deity in Sri Lanka. It also suggests that collaborative efforts between curators and conservators at the British Museum, alongside researchers in Sri Lanka, could yield deeper insights into the statue of Tara, offering fresh perspectives on its historical, cultural, and spiritual significance.