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The statue of Tara is cast in one piece of solid bronze, that has been covered in gold. When new, she must have been dazzling when she was seen under the Sri Lankan sun. And even now, when her gilding is rather worn, and she stands in the cool light of Bloomsbury, she still has a compelling lustre. She is about three quarters life-size, and she stands, as she always would have, on a plinth, so that as you look up at her, she benignly gazes down at you. Her face tells you at once that she comes from south Asia. But that's not the first thing that strikes visitors as they look at her.
这尊度母雕像由整块纯铜打造而成，外面镀一层金。刚完工时它一定曾在斯里兰卡的阳光下光彩夺目。如今虽然镀金已经磨去，照射它的也只有博物馆的冷光，但它依然散发出迷人的光泽。雕像约有真人的四分之三大小，立于基座之上，这是度母的一贯造型。当你仰望她时，她也仁慈地注视着你。铜像的面部特征能让人一眼看出她来自南亚。但这并不是最吸引参观者眼球的地方。
She's got a quite impossible hour-glass figure, and her upper body is completely naked. Her full and perfectly rounded breasts float above a tiny wasp waist, while below, a flimsy sarong is draped in gleaming folds, which cling to and beguilingly reveal her shapely lower body.
因为她拥有堪称不可思议的沙漏形身材，上半身几乎全裸，纤细的蜂腰上是丰满圆润的胸部。髋部则围着一条轻薄的纱笼，光泽闪耀，突显下半身的迷人线条，令人陶醉。
So you will hardly be surprised to learn that when Tara arrived at the British Museum, from Ceylon as it was then known, in the 1830s, she was seen as so dangerously erotic and voluptuous that she was at once put into the store-rooms, and kept there for 30 years, visible only to specialist scholars on request.
十九世纪三十年代，初抵博物馆的度母雕像立刻被放进储藏室保存，近30年的时间内，只有提出申请的专家学者才能观看。也许会有人认为公开展览这样的雕像有伤风化。
