Brahma: Pixabay
Brahma created a woman of divine beauty named Ahalya. Her beauty
even caught the eye of the highest god Indra. He thought that only he was
worthy of her. However, Brahma ignored Indra believing him to be too vain for such a pure being. Instead
Brahma decided to entrusted his creation to the Sage Gautama. The Sage groomed her and
when she became of age, Brahma asked him to merry Ahalya. Brahma thought highly
the Sage has a carnal desire never even crossed his mind.
Indra was infuriated by these events. How was, Indra, the mightiest
of the gods not worthy of Ahalya? He eventually
hatched a plan to be with Ahalya. The sage left every morning for prayer and
this was his opportunity to fulfill his lustful desires. Indra used the sound
of a rooster to wake the Sage for early morning prayer. The sage of course leaves
for morning prayer. Indra then transforms into the image of the sage entered the home
of Ahalya. Indra then makes love to Ahalya, and it’s totally consensual;
because she surrendered herself to him even though she felt something was wrong.
The Sage felt something was wrong returned from prayer
early. Upon returning to his home his is shocked to find a man that looks just
like himself in bed with his wife. Indra assumed Ahalya and the Sage would never
know of his shameful actions. In an attempt to escape Indra turned himself in
cat. The sage not fooled by this curse Indra to be covered with a thousand of female
genitalia. The Sage thought this to be a perfect punishment for the lustful
god.
Ahalya felt shame for betraying her husband. The sage looked
at her with kind eye and said
“Ahalya, there is nothing to feel ashamed of. I mean that
god looked just like me, you couldn’t have known. It was the mightiest of all
the gods who tricked both of us.”
Ahalya responsed “Thank you dear husband. I thought you
would have had a heart filled with rage and turned me to stone.
The Sage looked surprised “What a silly thought.”
Author's note:
The events in the story occurred pretty much in the same way
as I have written. However, in the Ramayana the Sage turned his wife into stone
for “sinning with her body”. This just seemed stupid to me.
Citation:
Narayan, R. K., & Kampar. (2006). The
Ramayana: A shortened modern prose version of the Indian epic (suggested by the Tamil
version of Kamban). New York: Penguin Books.
Hi Jonathan! I agree with your author's notes, that part seemed stupid to me as well! I liked that you changed that part of the story as it wasn't one that I was fond of. I wonder if you will continue with this same narrative. Will she be punished at all or will the narrative be different from the original? Maybe the sage will advise against that too!
ReplyDeleteHey Johnathan,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the ending in the original was a little off, but taking into account the culture I can definitely see that being the reaction of the sage. One thing I would like though is a much longer Author's notes. The story was good, but I would like more information in the author's notes than is given.
Hey Jonathan. I definitely felt like the sage was in the wrong when I read his story in the Ramayana! Ahalya definitely deserved better than she got in the original story. It also seems weird to me that a sage, who are revered for their wisdom, would get so angry at his wife for being deceived by a powerful god. I'm glad you rewrote this to have a happier ending.
ReplyDeleteHey Jonathan. I like how you changed the ending of the story to make it a bit more reasonable for a more modern adaptation. I think the sage was definitely wrong for what he did, but knowing the culture back then it makes sense for how it was told originally. It's lind of sad to see that back then someone who makes decisions like this would be considered a wise sage.
ReplyDelete