Today's featured article
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![Paining of Ahalya by by Raja Ravi Varma](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Ahalya.jpg/100px-Ahalya.jpg)
Ahalya is the wife of the sage
Gautama Maharishi in
Hindu
mythology. Many
Hindu scriptures say that she was seduced by
Indra, cursed by her husband for infidelity, and liberated from the curse by
Rama (an
avatar of the god
Vishnu). Created by the god
Brahma as the most beautiful woman, Ahalya was married to the much older Gautama. In the earliest full narrative, when Indra comes disguised as her husband, Ahalya sees through his disguise but nevertheless accepts his advances. Ahalya and her lover (or rapist) Indra are cursed by Gautama. Although early texts describe how Ahalya must atone by undergoing severe
penance while remaining invisible to the world and how she is purified by offering Rama
hospitality, in the popular retelling developed over time, Ahalya is cursed to become a stone and regains her human form after she is brushed by Rama's foot. Medieval story-tellers often focus on Ahalya's deliverance by Rama, which is seen as proof of the saving grace of God. 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. Ahalya is extolled as the first of the panchakanya ("five virgins"),
archetypes of female
chastity whose names are believed to dispel sin when recited. While some praise her loyalty to her husband and her undaunted acceptance of the curse and gender norms, others condemn her
adultery. (
more...)
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1960 –
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