And so, she waited.
One day, she felt a change. All of a sudden, there was light again! Looking up, she saw two young men and a rishi. Smiling at Rama, she thanked him for saving her. Then, she turned, and he was there.
Gautama.
Ahalya's world was red next as her fury surged. When he reached his hand out, she sneered at him. "Oh? And what do you think you are doing? You had your chance at being husband to the most beautiful woman in the world. I was created by Brahma for you, and you punished me!"
Shocked, Gautama drew back his hand. "You were unfaithful! I had to punish that. You should be grateful you did not get worse!"
"Worse?! One would argue you punished me worse for the crime of being deceived into sleeping with who I thought was my husband than the man who tricked me!"
Gautama sniffed. "Stop that now! We have company."
Ahalya, turning, looked at the three men. "You have thus far shown to be honorable men, and so I welcome you to Gautama's ashram. Please, enjoy yourselves."
That being done, Ahalya turned and walked into the forest. I need to get revenge for the horrors my husband has wrought against me, she thought. But how was she to accomplish this?
For many days and nights Ahalya planned. She knew that it had to be something worthy of the many years she spent trapped, but she did not know what. Until, one day, it came to her. What better way to gain her revenge than to have the very reason she was punished be his undoing?
So then, the next day, she approached her husband as the picture of humility. Thinking he had earned her forgiveness, Gautama embraced his wife and took her to bed. It was from this that Ahalya conceived a child, a boy, named Avi.
Gautama, still being busy with his devotions, did little in the way of raising their son. And so it was Ahalya who raised Avi all on her own. She taught him how to hunt, cook and sing, how to care for the earth and to mend his clothes. And all the while, she told him stories of her life and the world. Especially important was that she told him about how his father had punished Ahalya. How, for countless years she was trapped in darkness with no room to move.
Avi, having grown up in the wilderness, was horrified. How could one survive without the sun on their face and the wind in their hair? As he loved his mother more than life itself, and having a sense of honor, he started contemplating how to make his absent father pay for his sins. It wasn't until he was retrieving game from a trap he had made that he thought he could trap his father and show him just how horrible he had treated his mother.
And so, Avi labored for many days and nights in secret to create a concealed trap that only he could see. Once finished, he led his father towards the trap, under the guise of wanting to practice devotions with him. However, much to Gautama's surprise, no devotions were practiced that day. Instead, Gautama suddenly found himself trapped down in a pit, with no escape.
"Son! Help! I am trapped!" Gautama yelled up.
"Yes, and it is your own actions that have thus condemned you, Father." Avi replied.
"Avi?" Gautama, replied, astonished.
"Yes, I am the one who has created this trap for you. You see, while you abandoned me to be raised solely by Mother, she told me of how you punished her inside a rock for countless years. So I became her instrument of revenge and trapped you in the earth, in a pit of my own making." He turned then, and Ahalya appeared.
"Ah, husband. Don't feel too bad now, for you can now spend all of your time on your devotions, yes? After all, you did deserve it..."
And thus, Gautama found himself trapped in a world of brown and distant blue until the end of his days.
Artwork of Ahalya Leaning on a Tree.
No Changes Made. By Raja Ravi Varma. Source: Wikipedia
Author's Note: The main inspiration from this story came from Tale 35 in Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs, however Tale 34 was also inspiration. Tale 35, "They Come to a Deserted Ashram", detailed Rama, his half brother, and the rishi Vishvamitra traveling through Gautama's ashram, which appears deserted until Rama's foot brushes the rock Ahalya is trapped in and she appears. In the original story, Gautama appears as well, holds out his hand to Ahalya, and she takes his hand and forgives him. The reason she was trapped in the rock was detailed in Tale 34, "The Story of Ahalya", in which Ahalya, created by Brahma to be the most beautiful woman in the world, is deceived by Indra to sleep with him. He lusted after her and so disguised himself as her husband. Gautama found out, and punished them both, leading to Ahalya being trapped in a rock. I did not like how easily Ahalya forgave her husband for something that was not her fault, and so I decided to rewrite her ending and give her some form of justice. I came up with the idea for Ahalya and Gautama's son to be Gautama's undoing from the story of King Arthur, which I touched on a bit in my Reading Notes on Part A of the Ramayana. A retelling of King Arthur's birth, the similarities in which to this story inspired my use of it, are detailed on Wikipedia.
Bibliography:
"Igraine." Link: Wikipedia
Hey Tyler! I am so glad that you chose to give Ahalya more justice. I was upset by this story as well as many others in the Ramayana in which women are given inferior or submissive roles. I think Gautama's fate is fair given his huge overreaction. I also think it is cool that you found a way to tie in another region's mythology by adding elements of King Arthur.
ReplyDeleteHello Tyler! Wow, what a wild ride of a story. I had a similar feeling of wanting justice when reading Ahalya's story, but the way you turned the story is something I never considered while brainstorming my retelling. Ahalya's and Avi's inner thoughts were written so well and propelled the story right up to the end. I wonder why Gautama thought he had earned Ahalya's forgiveness when she humbly approached him, nowhere in the story did he truly apologize for turning her into stone. The more I ponder it though, the more I think that this was your way of showing his true nature: self-centered and uncaring. You captured the emotions, motivations, and true natures of all your characters so well, but sometimes I was confused by the setting of the story. Did Ahalya live in the forest permanently after she was rescued by Rama, or did she live in Gautama's ashram and plot her revenge under his roof? Was Avi ever around his father or did Ahalya raise his completely in the wilderness? Despite these slight confusions of mine, the story was electrifying and very well written.
ReplyDeleteHi Tyler! I really liked the creative direction you took with this narrative and how you expanded upon these set of characters. I definitely agree that Ahalya forgave her husband too easily, and a revenge story of this nature seems fitting for the punishment Ahalya experienced. I was also really drawn in by the introduction; it was really insightful and made us, the readers, empathize with Ahalya and understand her motivation. I enjoyed your style of writing; it flowed really well, with a consistent balance between descriptions, dialogue, and plot progression. This story can also have a lot of potential to expand into new narratives. For example, would Ahalya face any punishments for trapping her husband? Guatama’s dedication to devotions may have made him a favorite among the gods, and one of the gods may punish Ahalya for her deceit. One thing you could also add is contextualizing Avi. He was important for the plot, but he could also have been a foil to Guatama in a more extreme sense. Avi could have resented rituals and devotions, which could add motivation for the revenge story.
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