Ahalyā Moksha in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

This is the account of Ahalyā’s freedom as the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tells it. Rāma and Lakshmaṇa were walking with the ṛshi Viśvāmitra from the forest of his yajña (fire ritual) to Mithilā, for King Janaka’s dhanur-yajña (the bow ritual). On the road they came to an empty āśrama with only a great stone in it. Viśvāmitra told them whose stone it was. At his request Bhagavān Rāma touched it with his foot, and Ahalyā was freed.

The empty āśrama

Viśvāmitra, Rāma and Lakshmaṇa were walking toward Mithilā. They came to an āśrama with no life in it. It was silent, with no creature moving, overgrown and empty. Only one great stone lay in the middle. Rāma was curious and asked about it.

Viśvāmitra then told the story. Brahmā had made a woman of unmatched beauty, the most beautiful in the three worlds (tri-loka-sundarī), and had given her in marriage to the ṛshi Gautama. Her name was Ahalyā. One day, while Gautama was away from the āśrama, Indra came in disguise and wronged her. When Gautama learned what had happened, he spoke a curse (śāpa): “Ahalyā, become a stone and lie here.” After he had cursed his wife, the ṛshi left.

Viśvāmitra then said to Rāma: “O Rāma! That stone is Ahalyā. She has been longing for the dust of your feet and has been sorry all these ages. Look on her with grace and give her liberation.”

The freeing of Ahalyā

Bhagavān Rāma touched the stone with his foot. At the touch of the dust of his feet (pāda-dhūli), the curse was lifted at once (śāpa-vimocana). Ahalyā came out of the stone in her own shining form.

She fell at Rāma’s feet. Her body trembled with joy, tears of joy ran from her eyes, and her voice broke. She praised Rāmachandra:

“O Rāmachandra! Only the jñānis (the wise) know you. Be kind to me and protect me! I see now that Gautama’s curse was a blessing, for it gave me the fortune of seeing you and of your touch. The very feet from which the Gaṅgā rose, the feet that Brahmā bows to every day, those feet you have placed on me, and you have made me cross the ocean of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). O Svāmī! May my mind, like a bee, always seek the nectar of your lotus feet. Give me this vara (boon).”

Ahalyā had been shown this grace by Rāma, and she went back joyfully to her husband Gautama.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, the section Mithilā Nagara Darśana