"The Katha-Sarit-Sagara version provides a clue to the psychological condition of Ahalya. The story is told to illustrate how evil acts lead to suffering for evildoers. On Gautama’s return, as in the Brahma Purana, Indra flees in the form of a cat and is cursed to be covered with the marks of the vulva he had so coveted. Replying to the sage’s enquiry about who had been in the cottage, Ahalya dissimulates, saying that it was a majjara (in Prakrit meaning both “cat” or “my lover”, because of which a synonym for Indra is Ahalyayaijara). She is punished by being turned to stone, reflecting the social ostracism of transgressing women and their consequent psychological trauma."
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Ahalya
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