Ahalya
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Ahalya (Sanskrit: अहल्या, ahalyā) was the wife of Gautama Maharishi. The word Ahalya means without any deformation. Her story is mentioned in the Hindu epic Ramayana. After her adultery with the god Indra, Gautama cursed her to suffer tapas (austere penance); some versions of the story say she was made invisible or was turned to stone (Refer Tulasi Das version below). She was liberated by Rama.
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[edit] Creation and marriage
Brahma created Ahalya as the most beautiful woman. All the gods wanted to marry her. Brahma kept the condition as to whoever goes around the three worlds first shall marry Ahalya. Indra used all his magical power to go around the three worlds and reach Brahma to take the hand of Ahalya.
However Narada mentioned to Brahma that Gautama is the person who had gone around the three worlds even before Indra. On enquiry, Narada mentioned that as part of the daily puja, Gautama went around the cow at his hermitage and on that day when he went around doing his pooja, the cow gave birth to a calf. As per the Vedas, the cow at the time of bearing a calf is equal to three world and hence Ahalya must be given to Gautama and not Indra.
[edit] Curse and liberation
Rama and Lakshmana first came across the hermitage of Ahalya on their way to Mithilapuri with Sage Vishwamitra. They inquired about the hermitage to the Sage who told them about Ahalya's story. What happened after this varies in different version of Ramayana .
[edit] Ramcharitamanas
Tulsi Das's telling of Ramayana is known as Ramcharitamanas.
Gautama cursed Indra to have marks of the female sexual organ(vagina) all over body. Indra did severe penance toward Shiva. Shiva gave him the boon to convert that mark of female organ to that of eye. From that day Indra is called sahasrakshan, one with thousand eyes. Gautama turned towards Ahalya and cursed her to become a stone. After this Gautama left the hermitage.
Later after several years, Rama and Lakshmana while going to Mithilapuri with Sage Vishwamitra saw this hermitage. They enquired about the hermitage to the Sage who told them about Ahalya.
Rama and Lakshmana entered the hermitage and saw the stone in the mud. They touched the stone with their feet. The stone changed into the beautiful Ahalya who had become pure and understood her sins. She blessed Rama and Lakshmana and they left for their destination.
[edit] Other versions
There are plenty more versions of Ramayana which present this story in various ways. Ezhuthachan's (known as Father of Malayalam language) version (known as Adhyathmaramayanam) says Indra was cursed to have marks of female organ (vagina) on all parts of his body so that other people could understand his dirty thoughts. Renowned Tamil poet Kamban in his version says Indra was first cursed to bear marks of female organ on all parts of his body but later as he pleaded to Gautama, the rishi cursed him to have eyes on all parts of his body instead of marks of female organ. After this Indra came to be known as the "Thousand eyed God".
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Valmiki Ramayan by Swami Jagadishwaranand Saraswati published by Vijayakumar Govindram and Sons publications.
- "Ahalya" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. John Bowker (Ed.) Oxford University Press, 2000.
- Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dhallapiccola
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