Ahalya : in Rāmāyana, the dedicated wife of Rishi Gautama. Indra, infatuated with her beauty, came disguised as Gautama, when the sage was away & tricked her into surrendering herself to him. On his return the Rishi cursed them. In one version the curse covered Indra with a thousand vulvae & only when he repented did the Rishi change them into eyes of vigilance, whereas Ahalyā had to undergo severe penance while remaining invisible & reappear when purified by offering hospitality to Lord Rāma. In another (of the stage when husbands dominated?), silent on Indra’s fate, has her turned to stone & regain her human form after Lord Rama’s foot touches her. Still another (also silent on Indra’s fate!) has her turned into a dry stream which revives when Gungā brought by Bhagiratha passes over her, & she becomes Gautami or Godāvari. Ahalyā is the first of the pañcakanyāḥ, (Five Eternal Virgins), invoking whose grace is believed to protect the faithful Hindu wife:
Ahalyā Draupadi Sītā Tārā Mandōdari tathā ǀ
Pañcakanyāḥ smaré nityam mahāpātakanāśinīm ǀǀ
Ahalyā, Draupadi, Sītā, Tārā (q.v.), & Mandōdari [see Rāvana].
... un-Indian and addressed purely to the eye than his "Descent of Ganges", or more vulgar and unbeautiful than the figure of Aja in the "Death of Indumati", or more soulless and commonplace than the "Ahalya", a picture on a level with the ruck of the most ordinary European paintings for the market by obscure hands? Some of these efforts are absolutely laughable in the crudeness of their conception and ...
... every morning along with Guru-stotram. [16] The next time he came to their house, in 1922, he stayed for two months. The ideal of womanhood was then still exemplified by Tara, Savitri, Ahalya, Mandodari, Sita, Kunti, Draupadi — married women solemnly worshipped these seven Satees every morning. (No wonder then, that Amma could never understand the "love" which now forms the criteria ...
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