Week 4 Story: The Story of Ahalya

A painting of Ahalya by Ravi Varma.

(Source: Wikipedia Commons)

As Rama saw a beautiful little wooden cottage in the distance, he asked Vishvamitra about it. Vishvamitra tells Rama the story of the Gautam, who had a wife named Ahalya that was so beautiful that the god Indra was absolutely infatuated with her. He watched her do the most mundane things like water her garden and search for firewood, from the heavens because she would do those things with so much beauty and grace. He watched Ahalya wait until sundown for Ahalya to come home and every day, he would scarf down the meal that she had so lovingly prepared for him in ten minutes and then he would go straight to bed without her to wake up early for prayers. Indra could not get the beautiful Ahalya off of his mind and he knew he had to embrace her, but there was no way that he could lure her away from Gautam, so instead, Indra descended to earth and took the human form of Gautam. 

Indra, disguised, entered the home of Ahalya two hours before sunset. As soon as Ahalya embraced who she thought was Gautam, she could instantly feel the presence of the god that she felt was watching over her every day instead of her husband's. She told him to run before Gautam found him and as he was fleeing Gautam's home, he ran into Gautam. Gautam instantly filled with rage and he cursed Lord Indra and then cursed Ahalya to have to live in seclusion in their home until Rama came to the home and purified her of her sins. 

After hearing that, Rama ran to the house, seeing the beautiful dame through the window. He expected to see a lonely damsel in distress and instead, the inside of the small cottage looked like he was looking inside of a massive palace. The fire in the fireplace caught Rama’s eye and to his surprise, he say Ahalya next to it, but she was not alone! She was cuddled up with Indra who had kept her company whenever he was fulfilling his godly duties. 

The inside of Ahalya's cottage, as it had been blessed by Indra.

(Source: Wikipedia Commons)

She has been waiting for what felt like eternity for Rama to come free her of her sins so she washed his feet and fed Rama and Vishvamitra. The rains poured down, the sun still shone, and they heard the Gods cry "rejoice", as Rama purified Ahalya of her sins and she felt the weight of the God's and Gautam's fury lifted off of her shoulders, but she was worried about how this would change her cozy life without her unloving husband and with time to spend with Indra. She couldn’t go up to the heavens because she would feel the wrath of the Indra’s consort, Shachi, so she asked Indra to give Gautam duties in heaven, as Ahalya wanted to continue to live her life only with the love that she allows into her cottage.

Author's Note: This story is my rendition of The Story of Ahalya, where the god Indra is infatuated with Gautam's wife, Ahalya, and he takes Gautam's form to go meet Ahalya in her home. In the original version, Indra flees after Ahalya realizes it is him, in fear of Gautam's fury. In the original story, Indra does not maintain a relationship with Ahalya after meeting her and she is not relieved of having to life the rest of her life with Gautam. 

Source. Valmiki's Ramayana, translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith (1870-1874).