AHALYA

In the Ramayana, The sage Vishwamitra comes to Dasharathas court and demands that the brothers Rama and Lakshmana are sent with him to help annihilate the monsters plaguing his ashram. After the customary parental loathness at sending such young boys for such a task, Dasharatha agrees.

The trio set out from Ayodhya, and after having killed a couple of raksasas en route, arrive at the deserted ashrama of the great sage Kashyapa. Intrigued by the ashrama and the large rock in front of it, the brothers ask their mentor to tell them the history of the place. Vishwamitra obliges:

One fateful day, the king of the gods, Indra set eyes upon the beautiful wife of Kashyapa, Ahalya. Being terrified of the Sage's prowess, he bided his time, and waited until dawn, when the sage left the ashrama for his morning ablutions.

Indra took on the form of the Sage, wet from the river. He entered the ashrama and declared to Ahalaya that he could not take his mind off her, and wanted to have sex with her and be done with it, so he could get on with life. Ahalya was probably used to such demands from her idiosyncratic old hubbie, and meekly acquiesed. Halfway through the act she realised that this couldnt possibly be Kashyapa, but she probably was having too good a time. Adultery committed, Indra was sneaking out, when who should come up the path, but the cuckolded Kashyapa.

It is customary in such situations for curses to follow, but Kashyapa's curses were backed by thousands of years of meditation. Indra was covered with a Thousand Vaginas, for having lusted after Ahalya. Ahalya was turned to stone, so she would never again respond to a man's embrace.

The gods pleaded with Kashyapa to modify the curse, for they couldnt very well have a king who looked like that! His anger had cooled by now, and he remembered that Ahalya, barring the one incident, had been faithful to him.

He modified Indra's curse so the vaginas became eyes. To the stone Ahalya he said, "When Vishnu comes down on earth as a mortal, and the dust of his feet falls on you, you will awake, and attain salvation."