Gautama

Indian mythology · sage · austerity, the famous curse

The sage whose wife Ahalya was seduced by Indra in disguise. His curse turned her to stone and covered Indra with a thousand marks of shame, a story every version retells differently.

Stories

Ahalya's Release

Indra comes to Ahalya wearing her husband's form, and Gautama's curse falls on them both: shame without end for the god, stone stillness for the woman. Ages later Vishvamitra leads young Rama to the silent hermitage, and at the touch of his foot Ahalya rises, released and restored.