Picture it: Sage Gautama and the beautiful Ahalya's house, a long time ago...
Ahalya (the Sanskrit word for "non-imperfection") was created by Brahma, the sky god, as the most beautiful woman in the world, and Indra (the god of the firmament) was completely obsessed with her. Brahma had made the non-yielding condition that whoever circled the world three times first would be able to marry her. Indra used all of his magic to try and manipulate himself into winning, but Narada (the divine sage) let him know that the guru Rishi Gautama had beaten him - by circling a cow giving birth to a calf. According to the Vedas, this cow at the time of birthing was tantamount to the three worlds. Ahalya's incredible beauty was now his. The beautiful Ahalya and the sage Gautama were married, and lived a relatively happy, normal married life. Indra, however, was absolutely incensed.
One night, after not being able to bear his pangs of love anymore, Indra sought help from the moon in seducing Ahalya. After being pressured and bullied by Indra, the Moon let the god know that Gautama took an extensive early bath in the river every morning at the same time. Knowing that Ahalya would be left unattended for quite a long period of time, the Moon manipulated his voice to sound like the call of a rooster, waking Gautama for his daily bath. Not realizing that this was a ruse and that it was not yet sunrise, he left. Indra stealthily snuck into the bedroom of Ahalya and seduced her in the disguise of her husband, naively believing that it would be impossible for him to be caught. Ahalya herself was none the wiser; surely there was no reason to suspect that this was not her husband! Yet she had a nagging suspicion...
In the Ganges, as Gautama bathed, the river goddess Ganga informed him of what was happening at his home. Quickly he left, enraged, and saw the Moon guarding the entrance to his ashrama in the disguise of a rooster. Oh, but Gautama knew better, and he furiously smacked the Moon around a bit with a towel (leaving the black mark that we can see today) as Indra tried to escape. But it was too late - Gautama saw him, and cursed him for violating his wife. Indra now bore the marks of one thousand female genitals, which was a grave punishment for the narcissistic god. No, really, I'm not kidding... I'm sure that was quite the sight. Ahalya, confused, thought that she was seeing double. There couldn't really be two Gautamas, could there? Rubbing her eyes, she saw a cat quickly leaving her home. Not knowing exactly what was happening, she smiled at her husband uneasily and beckoned him to come sit on the bed with her. Turning on Ahalya, Gautama denounced her beauty and turned her to rock, telling her as she begged for forgiveness that only Rama would be able to rescue her and restore her virtue. No other creature could see her, and she would not be able to speak to anyone. As she continued to plead, Gautama began to feel pity on her and assured her that her redemption was imminent.
Rama rescued Ahalya after many years by way of his touch during his exile in the forest. When he did, Ahalya was as pure and chaste as she had been before the entire incident. As for the shamed god Indra, Gautama eventually relented, accepting Brahma's appeal on Indra's behalf, and allowed the thousand female marks on him to become one thousand eyes. Thus, Indra would now be known as the "thousand-eyed god."
I'm hoping that this story helps you to understand how the illusion of Maya can be so harmful, but if not, don't worry, I've got plenty more stories to tell... why don't you stay a while, and listen?
Author's note: I kind of wanted to turn this into a humorous version of this story a little bit, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh as hard at this story as I did "The Miller's Tale" of The Canterbury Tales, as horrible as that is. I'm a perpetual ten-year-old, I think. I also tried to take elements from the different versions of this story and incorporate them in my own words, telling a different story than the two that we have read in class already. My ultimate goal is always making these parables easier to read for people, because a lot of times there is a little TOO much detail, making them hard to digest. I like to streamline them while keeping the meat of the story intact. In the original versions that we have read, the moon is not a part of Indra's deception of Gautama and Ahalya. In other (longer) versions of the story, the moon is basically a co-conspirator of Indra's, taking the form of a rooster and keeping a lookout for Gautama while he's in the river. I wanted to add that element in to make the story a little bit fresher. The story of Ahalya sounded like a perfect first story to introduce the concept of Maya to anyone reading, because it's arguably the most familiar and easily found story that demonstrates the illusive deception. I've also been watching a LOT of Golden Girls and playing Diablo II (there's a reference at the end of the story,) which is how I tried to set the tone.
Ahalya (the Sanskrit word for "non-imperfection") was created by Brahma, the sky god, as the most beautiful woman in the world, and Indra (the god of the firmament) was completely obsessed with her. Brahma had made the non-yielding condition that whoever circled the world three times first would be able to marry her. Indra used all of his magic to try and manipulate himself into winning, but Narada (the divine sage) let him know that the guru Rishi Gautama had beaten him - by circling a cow giving birth to a calf. According to the Vedas, this cow at the time of birthing was tantamount to the three worlds. Ahalya's incredible beauty was now his. The beautiful Ahalya and the sage Gautama were married, and lived a relatively happy, normal married life. Indra, however, was absolutely incensed.
One night, after not being able to bear his pangs of love anymore, Indra sought help from the moon in seducing Ahalya. After being pressured and bullied by Indra, the Moon let the god know that Gautama took an extensive early bath in the river every morning at the same time. Knowing that Ahalya would be left unattended for quite a long period of time, the Moon manipulated his voice to sound like the call of a rooster, waking Gautama for his daily bath. Not realizing that this was a ruse and that it was not yet sunrise, he left. Indra stealthily snuck into the bedroom of Ahalya and seduced her in the disguise of her husband, naively believing that it would be impossible for him to be caught. Ahalya herself was none the wiser; surely there was no reason to suspect that this was not her husband! Yet she had a nagging suspicion...
In the Ganges, as Gautama bathed, the river goddess Ganga informed him of what was happening at his home. Quickly he left, enraged, and saw the Moon guarding the entrance to his ashrama in the disguise of a rooster. Oh, but Gautama knew better, and he furiously smacked the Moon around a bit with a towel (leaving the black mark that we can see today) as Indra tried to escape. But it was too late - Gautama saw him, and cursed him for violating his wife. Indra now bore the marks of one thousand female genitals, which was a grave punishment for the narcissistic god. No, really, I'm not kidding... I'm sure that was quite the sight. Ahalya, confused, thought that she was seeing double. There couldn't really be two Gautamas, could there? Rubbing her eyes, she saw a cat quickly leaving her home. Not knowing exactly what was happening, she smiled at her husband uneasily and beckoned him to come sit on the bed with her. Turning on Ahalya, Gautama denounced her beauty and turned her to rock, telling her as she begged for forgiveness that only Rama would be able to rescue her and restore her virtue. No other creature could see her, and she would not be able to speak to anyone. As she continued to plead, Gautama began to feel pity on her and assured her that her redemption was imminent.
Rama rescued Ahalya after many years by way of his touch during his exile in the forest. When he did, Ahalya was as pure and chaste as she had been before the entire incident. As for the shamed god Indra, Gautama eventually relented, accepting Brahma's appeal on Indra's behalf, and allowed the thousand female marks on him to become one thousand eyes. Thus, Indra would now be known as the "thousand-eyed god."
I'm hoping that this story helps you to understand how the illusion of Maya can be so harmful, but if not, don't worry, I've got plenty more stories to tell... why don't you stay a while, and listen?
Author's note: I kind of wanted to turn this into a humorous version of this story a little bit, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh as hard at this story as I did "The Miller's Tale" of The Canterbury Tales, as horrible as that is. I'm a perpetual ten-year-old, I think. I also tried to take elements from the different versions of this story and incorporate them in my own words, telling a different story than the two that we have read in class already. My ultimate goal is always making these parables easier to read for people, because a lot of times there is a little TOO much detail, making them hard to digest. I like to streamline them while keeping the meat of the story intact. In the original versions that we have read, the moon is not a part of Indra's deception of Gautama and Ahalya. In other (longer) versions of the story, the moon is basically a co-conspirator of Indra's, taking the form of a rooster and keeping a lookout for Gautama while he's in the river. I wanted to add that element in to make the story a little bit fresher. The story of Ahalya sounded like a perfect first story to introduce the concept of Maya to anyone reading, because it's arguably the most familiar and easily found story that demonstrates the illusive deception. I've also been watching a LOT of Golden Girls and playing Diablo II (there's a reference at the end of the story,) which is how I tried to set the tone.