Who Is Ahalya (Ahilya)?
The sage's wife whom Rama sets free
Ahalya is the wife of the sage Gautama in Indian mythology. She is known as a woman of great beauty. She is famous for the story in which, after spending many years under her husband's curse, she is set free by Rama.
In the original epic, Indra, king of the gods, takes on her husband's appearance and approaches her, and a transgression follows; the enraged Gautama then curses her. Invisible to all, Ahalya lies on ashes, living on nothing but air as she performs her penance. In Episode 1, Rama's visit to the hermitage breaks the curse, and she regains her radiant form. Her husband Gautama returns as well, and the two are reunited.
In later retellings she is often said to have been turned to stone, and the details of her story differ from version to version.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 1
The Boy Whose Arrow Was Too StrongRamayana: Bala Kanda (The Book of Youth)
A poet's grief over a slain bird becomes a song, and that song becomes the story of a prince. In Episode 1, young Rama leaves his father's side to travel with a stern sage, and learns for the first time how great his own power is, and how frightening.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
Whoever Draws the Bow Wins the BrideSita's Swayamvara (The Bow of Shiva)
No king could even lift the divine bow, yet young Prince Rama bows to his teacher and quietly draws it. A wedding to Sita, daughter of the earth, follows—but on the road home, an axe-bearing sage named Parashurama awaits with a trial of his own.
19 pages