In Hinduism, Ahalya is the wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi. Many Hindu scriptures say that she was seduced by Indra, cursed by her husband for infidelity, and liberated from the curse by Rama. Her story has been retold numerous times in the scriptures and lives on in modern-age poetry and short stories.
About Ahalya in brief
In Hinduism, Ahalya is the wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi. Many Hindu scriptures say that she was seduced by Indra, cursed by her husband for infidelity, and liberated from the curse by Rama. Her story has been retold numerous times in the scriptures and lives on in modern-age poetry and short stories, as well as in dance and drama. Some recent authors view this as an implicit reference to sexual intercourse and argue that the name refers to a virgin or a motherly figure. However, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore interpreted AhalyA as a symbol of stone-like, infertile land that was made cultivable by. Rama, on the basis of the tribal Bhil Ramayana of Gujarat, an undated oral tradition. Other traditions deal with her children and her role in the creation of water. According to the Mahari dance tradition, Brahma created her as the most beautiful woman of water in order to break the pride of Urvashi, the foremost pride of the Urvashas. In the Uttara Kanda book of the Brahma Purana, she is created from the ashes of the sacrificial fire by the Saptarishi and gifted to Gautamas. The Bala Kanda mentions that Brahma moulds her with great effort out of pure creative energy. The Bhagavata Purana and the Harivamsa Purana regard her as a princess of the Puru Dynasty, the daughter of King Mudgala and sister of King Divodasa.
She is extolled as the first of the panchakanya, archetypes of female chastity whose names are believed to dispel sin when recited. Some praise her loyalty to her husband and her undaunted acceptance of the curse and gender norms, while others condemn her adultery. In traditional Hinduism she is described as an ayonijasambhava, one not born of a woman. Some ancient narratives are Rama-centric, telling the story from her perspective. Other stories focus on her children, who are seen as proof of the saving grace of God. Some medieval story-tellers often focus on Ahalysa’s deliverance by Ramas, which is seen as a proof of God’s saving grace. The word Ahaly a can be divided into two parts: a and halya, which Sanskrit dictionaries define as being related to the plough, ploughing, or deformity. In all narratives, Ah Dalya and Indra are cursed by GautAMA. The curse varies from text to text, but almost all versions describe Rama as the eventual agent of her liberation and redemption. The tale of Ahalyas and Indra begins with the tale of Gautam and Indra and in the Uttar Kanda, In the tale, Ahilya is created as a craftsman from the craftsman and the sister of the King of Uttara.
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This page is based on the article Ahalya published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
