Ahalya Ahalya ( Sanskrit : अहल्या , ahalyā ) was the wife of Rishi Gautama . The word Ahalya means without any deformation . Her story is mentioned in [ the Hindu epic Ramayana . After her adultery with the god Indra , Gautama cursed her to suffer tapas ( austere penance ) ; some versions of the story say she was made invisible or was turned to stone ( Refer Tulasi Das version below ) . She was liberated by Rama . Rama and Lakshmana first came across the hermitage of Ahalya on their way to Mithilapuri with Sage Vishwamitra . They enquired about the hermitage to the Sage who told them about Ahalya 's story . What happened after this varies in different version of Ramayana . Valmiki 's version Vishwamitra told Rama and Lakshmana about Ahalya . Ahalya had been the wife of Gautama . She had adultery with Indra . Knowing this Gautama cursed Indra to become a eunuch . Ahalya was cursed to meditate for years in the ashrama . After hearing the story , Rama and Lakshmana entered the hermitage and saw Ahalya meditating . They touched her feet and sought her blessings . Ahalya was happy to meet them . Later they left for Mithilapuri . Here ends Valmiki 's version . What happened to Ahalya after this ( whether she was freed from curse or united with Gautama etc ) is not mentioned in Valmiki 's authentic version . Even her so called `` liberation '' by Rama is also not mentioned in this original work . It is worth to mention here a common misinterpreted shloka of Valmiki Ramayana . Most writers interpret shloka 13 of Sarga 23 as Gautama had cursed Ahalya to become invisible . This is not true . Shloka 13 of Sarga 23 says that neither Sura ( Good people ) nor Asura ( Bad people ) could look at Ahalya . Well does n't mean that she was made invisible . It is a deep vedic knowledge that when a tapaswi ( male meditator ) or tapaswini ( female meditator ) reaches the extreme stage of tapa ( meditation ) then there will be a very bright glow on his/her eyes and face . So no one can look at him/her continuously . No one can look at the sun continuously . Similar is this case . This is the right interpretation of Shloka 13 of Sarga 23 . Tulasi Das 's version Baba Tulasi Das 's version of Ramayana is popularly known as Ramcharitamanas . Gautama cursed Indra to become a eunuch . Then he turned towards Ahalya and cursed her to become a stone . After this Gautama left the hermitage . Later after several years , Rama and Lakshmana while going to Mithilapuri with Sage Vishwamitra saw this hermitage . They enquired about the hermitage to the Sage who told them about Ahalya . Rama and Lakshmana entered the hermitage and saw the stone in the mud . They touched the stone with their feet . The stone changed into the beautiful Ahalya who had become pure and understood her sins . She blessed Rama and Lakshmana and they left for their destination . Valmiki version vs . Tulasi version Valmiki was a contemporary of Rama and his version of the story ( which is in fact the first version ) is the authentic one . All other versions are `` derivatives '' of this version . Also , Valmiki 's version is more scientific than Tulasi Das 's version . Other versions of this story There are plenty more versions of Ramayana which present this story in various ways . Ezhuthachhan 's ( known as Father of Malayalam language ) version ( known as `` Addhyatma Ramayanam Khilippattu '' ) says Indra was cursed to have marks of female organ ( vulva ) on all parts of his body so that other people could understand his dirty thoughts . Kamban ( renowned Tamil poet in his version says Indra was first cursed to bear marks of female organ on all parts of his body but later as he pleaded to Gautama , the rishi cursed him to have eyes on all parts of his body instead of marks of female organ . After this Indra came to be known as the `` Thousand eyed God `` . External links http : //www.vedmandir.com References Valmiki Ramayan by Swami Jagadishwaranand Saraswati published by Vijayakumar Govindram and Sons publications . `` Ahalya '' The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions . John Bowker ( Ed. ) Oxford University Press , 2000 . 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