Announcer: Today on Martha, Ahalya will be on helping
Martha make a rock garden.
Martha:
Good afternoon, audience. Our guest
today is Ahalya. Some of you may just know
her as the most
perfectly beautiful woman ever created by Bhrama, but I bet you did not
know
she is extremely skilled at rock gardening.
I know everyone is preparing for spring and she is here to teach
us a
few tricks in organizing a rock garden. Hello, Ahalya!
Welcome to the show.
Ahalya:
Hi, Martha! Thank you for having me. You certainly do have a lovely audience.
Martha:
I know some people in the audience would not believe it, but Ahalya was
once a
stone. . . Do I need to place that stone
here and move this one there? Okay,
thank you. . . What was it like being a rock?
Ahalya:
I was not always a rock and am happy to no
longer be enduring the uncomfortable sensation of it all .
. .Now you add this piece to the garden. . . Not
being able to move is extremely
bothersome. The only good thing that
came of being a stone is the entirely new appreciation for rocks I have.
Martha:
Now, you were not always a rock. What
caused that to happen?
Ahalya:
Well, I have the most wonderful husband in
the world sage Gautama. He is so wise
and smart. I love him so dearly, but
that does not mean I have always been faithful.
I have always been extremely beautiful and ever since I was
created,
Indra has wanted me. One day when
Gautama left our home, Indra, disguised as my husband, came into my
house and
we slept together. I knew it was not
Gautama I was with, but I did not care.
This person looked like my husband, but did not act like him. I did not know it was Indra until afterwards. Gautama found us in bed together and was
furious. I felt such guilt about having
cheated on my husband.
Martha:
Oh dear, that is not good at all. . . do
I need to get another rock to place in this space or will this one work?
Ahalya:
Here,
take this rock for that corner. . . No, Martha, it was not good. I guess I never thought Gautama would catch
us. But when he did, he punished me by
turning me into a stone. He had
originally planned on leaving me that way forever . . .
you need another color rock to balance that out, here you go . . . but before I turned completely into
stone I pleaded with him and he felt he had been too harsh. He gave me but one way out and it involved a
long wait.
Martha:
Was Indra punished as well or just you?
Ahalya:
Indra’s punishment was extremely harsh. My
husband cursed him to be covered
completely in female genitalia. But then
Gautama eventually realized that was too cruel and turned the genitalia
into
eyes. That is why Indra is known as the
“thousand-eyed god.”
Martha:
That is awful and extremely graphic. How
were you turned back into a beautiful
woman again?
Ahalya:
Well, Gautama declared that Rama would set me
free from my stone punishment. When Rama
was a boy, he walked by me and his robes brushed me.
I was suddenly a woman again. I
will be forever thankful to the young
warrior Rama.
Martha:
How is your marriage going now? Does
Gautama have a favorite dish that we can cook in the kitchen today?
Ahalya:
My marriage is wonderful. We are so
happy to be together again . . . your garden is coming
along nicely,
simply add a few pebbles and it should be done . . .My husband’s
favorite
dish is anything I make for him. He did
miss my cooking when I was a stone.
Martha:
Look at this beautiful garden. Now
that is a “good thing.”
Author’s
Note: This is a story about
Ahalya from the
Ramayana. I did not make any changes to
the actual story, except in the way it is presented.
This story is told from Ahalya’s perspective.
I told the story in its entirety. Ahalya
has been invited on the Martha Stewart
show for an interview and to do a craft project. As
you will see, it is only appropriate that
she chooses to make a rock garden on the show.
While making the rock garden, Ahalya and Martha talk about her
time as a
rock and the punishment inflicted on both Ahalya and Indra for
infidelity. I do not go into a lot of
detail about
married life for Ahalya before she cheated on her husband Gautama. I do address how happy she is now with her
married life. To write this interview
story, I used both William Buck and R.K. Narayan’s versions of the
story. This story in the Ramayana is
written like a
story inside a large story. It is only
talked about in the one part and Ahalya is not a character throughout
the
novel. I chose to write about this small
character because she is such an important woman in the Ramayana. She fits very well into this storybook
because she has had a traumatic experience and is famous for her good
looks. Both of these traits are important
for any
guest on a talk show to have. And, in
this case she also has a skill she can use on The Martha Show.
Bibliography:
Buck, William. Ramayana.
Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1997.
Narayan, R.K. The
Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose
Version of the Indian Epic. New York City: Penguin Books, 2006.
Image:
Martha Stewart Logo. Weblink.