Even then, if Ahalya was fooled into believing that the man having returned so early after leaving for a bath in the river was her husband and no one else, her mistake was human. That was Sat Yuga, the time when women also had great spiritual powers.In the fit of rage he forgot to see that his wife was fooled by Indra, but in such cases there is always a sense of mistrust and suspicion. That he had the spiritual powers to curse others, resulted in the destruction. Hence when Gautama became furious of having found another person with his wife, his anger is understandable.
What he does in the fit of rage is only up to him, though he should be responsible for the actions. It is only natural for a husband to get angry when he finds that his wife has cheated him.The main accusation made in Devi Ahalya’s case is that she was mistreated by her husband and the society only because she was a woman. And not to forget that Indra is also subject to the curses of Rishis. No one is “100% perfect” and whenever Indra proves him unworthy of his position, he is brought down and takes over. Where else would you find such a beautiful system: even devtas not being spared of wrongdoings? If we humans do well, we can become a devta, and if a devta does maintain himself, he can become the Indra. And if Indra corrupts himself by doing wrong things, he would certainly come down from his position. It is a perfect system: if another devta does greater tapas than the reigning Indra, he would occupy his position. One Indra leaves and another replaces him, and there have been many Indra’s. Indra’s position is temporary, based on his conduct, karma and punya. Indra is the god of war and weather, and also the King of the gods or Devas. Many of us don’t even know that Indra is a position and it doesn’t refer to a permanent god. She got patient with her emotions, understood the presence of Lord, and attained devotion by the grace of the Lord of Raghu. She said, “That sage cursed me and turned me into a stone, I consider that as my fortune and beneficial for I got to see Hari, the destroyer of the cycle of rebirth, in front of my eyes.” She fell on His feet and became liberated from this world. Devi Ahalya thanked him and offered her prayers.
Rama then touched the stone statue with his foot and released Ahalya from her curse, turning her into a woman again. On the way to Janakpur they passed by a deserted cottage besides which lay the stone statue of Ahalya. Vishwamitra asked Rama and Lakshman to accompany him, and so the three set out for Janakpur. Kings, princes and sages from all over were invited to attend the ceremony to win the hand of the beautiful princess. One day Vishwamitra received an invitation from King Janak, ruler of Janakpur (Mithila), to attend the Swayamvar ceremony of his daughter Sita. Rama and Lakshman were staying in the forest under the tutelage of Vishwamitra, who taught them the Vedas and other scriptures. The sage then left his ashram for Himalayas.Īhalya Uddhar Ahalya being liberated from her curse by Lord Rama He then added that she would be turned to a woman when the son of Dashrath would touch her statue with his foot. Then the sage turned to his wife and he cursed Ahalya to become a stone for an indefinite period of time. As soon as the rishi spoke these words, Indra became a eunuch. The sage was very angry and he cursed Indra that he would lose his manhood immediately, as a punishment for the sin he had committed. The sage immediately guessed as to what had happened. Indra was fleeing in guilty panic, when he bumped into the rishi who was just returning from his ablutions. Perhaps she was deceived by the impersonation and yielded to his desire. While Gautama was away for morning ablutions, Indra, disguised as Gautama, approached Ahalya and proposed his desires in front of her. Once sun and moon assisted Indra in confusing Gautama that it was morning while it was actually night.
Indra, the king of natural forces, had lecherous dreams about her. Both lived happily in his ashram spending their days in peace and holy meditation. Devi Ahalya and Indra being cursed by Gautama MuniĪhalya was the wife of sage Gautama. A lot depends on the way we look at the things, but we can’t allow anyone to tell half-baked stories to make a point. It was the time when princess Sita could arrange a swayamvar (groom choosing) where Princes and Kings competed with each other to win the right to marry her. They would comfortably forget that it was the time when a Prince and his family would suffer and a King would die just to keep a promise to a woman and one of the four wives. The story of Devi Ahalya from the times of Ramayana is often cited as an example of how women were discriminated against even in those times (Sat Yuga).