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Hinduism
It is a fine instance of the interlinking of the anima and the animus. Ahalya is attracted to Indra precisely because she projects her animus on to him. For Indra, Ahalya is the anima personified because she is creation’s loveliest mortal woman. This is a mutually reinforcing irresistible mutual attraction. Although prior to this encounter Ahalya has already had a son, Shatananda, by Gautama yet her womanhood remained unfulfilled. The kanya is not just mother but also beloved and this aspect had not been actualized in her relationship with Gautama. As the first kanya not born of woman, she has the courage to respond to the call of her inner urge, but is unable to challenge the sentence pronounced by patriarchal society. The Uttarakanda version is exculpatory, as is only to be expected in a later addition to the epic. Agastya states that, infuriated at Brahma gifting Ahalya to Gautama, Indra raped her and was cursed with imprisonment by Ravana’s son Meghanad, having to bear half the guilt of every act of rape and lose all peace of mind. As for Ahalya, so far she had been the only beautiful female, but henceforth she would lose her uniqueness and other lovely women would be born. Hence, men fall in love with different women, projecting the anima on to them. When Ahalya protested that she could not recognize the disguised Indra and was not guilty of willful wickedness, Gautama prescribed that he would take her back but only after Rama had purified her. We witness here a male backlash that condemns the woman as soiled even though she may not be at fault. The Kathasaritsagara version provides a clue to the psychological condition of Ahalya. On Gautama’s return, Indra fled in the form of a cat. By the curse, Indra’s whole body was covered with marks of the vulva that he had coveted. In response to the sage’s enquiry about who had been in the cottage, Ahalya dissimulated by saying that it was a majjara (Prakrit for ‘cat’ or ‘my lover’). Thereupon, she was punished by being turned to stone. The social ostracism and the consequential psychological trauma are reflected in the symbol of petrifaction. It is not a physical transformation as in a fairy tale. This is a psychological trauma in which the oppressive guilt virtually throttles the vital spirit. Ahalya becomes a living automaton, denying her emotions, feelings and self-respect and shunned by all. Even as mother she finds no fulfillment, for Shatananda abandons her in the forest despite referring to her as renowned (“mama mata yashasvini”, Adikanda 51.4-5). Rama regards her as blameless, inviolate, as her name connotes. When he and Lakshmana touch her feet in salutation, this recognition restores her self-respect and her status in society, so that she truly lives again. Panchkanya Pages : 1 |
2 | 3 | 4
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14 | 15 Now also in Hindi at
http://www.hindinest.com/visheshank/01stri/panchkanya1.htm
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The Adikanda account is
typically frank regarding Ahalya’s conscious choice to satisfy her
curiosity. The sole beautiful woman in creation, she is the eternal
feminine responding characteristically to the ardent, urgent, direct
sexual advances of the ruler of heaven who presents such a dazzling
contrast to her ascetic, aged, forest-dwelling husband. Mortal woman
welcomes the intimate touch of heaven’s immortal, driven by an
irrepressible curiosity for varied and unusual experiences and a
willingness to take risks for this that marks the feminine.
