function is not to create but, like Vishnu, to save and like Vishnu he
holds a lotus. But also he has the title of Îśvara, which is specially
applied to Śiva. Thus he does not issue from any local cult and has no
single mythological pedigree but is the idea of divine compassion
represented with such materials as the art and mythology of the day
offered.

He is often accompanied by a female figure Târâ.[33] In the tantric
period she is recognized as his spouse and her images, common in
northern India from the seventh century onwards, show that she was
adored as a female Bodhisattva. In Tibet Târâ is an important deity
who assumes many forms and even before the tantric influence had
become prominent she seems to have been associated with Avalokita. In
the Dharmasangraha she is named as one of the four Devîs, and she is
mentioned twice under the name of To-lo Pu-sa by Hsüan Chuang, who saw
a statue of her in Vaisali and another at Tiladhaka in Magadha. This
last stood on the right of a gigantic figure of Buddha, Avalokita
being on his left.[34]

Hsüan Chuang distinguishes To-lo (Târâ) and Kuan-tzǔ-tsai. The latter
under the name of Kuan-yin or Kwannon has become the most popular
goddess of China and Japan, but is apparently a form of Avalokita. The
god in his desire to help mankind assumes many shapes and, among
these, divine womanhood has by the suffrage of millions been judged
the most appropriate. But Târâ was not originally the same as
Kuan-yin, though the fact that she accompanies Avalokita and shares
his attributes may have made it easier to think of him in female
form.[35]

The circumstances in which Avalokita became a goddess are obscure. The