As the word goes, Ahalya — Brahma’s most beautiful creation in Ramayana  — was cursed by her husband for infidelity. She was turned into a stone. Later, Rama arrived at Gautama’s hermitage and touched Ahalya’s stone body with his feet to liberate her from the curse. Vinay Varanasi, an artist and storyteller in Bengaluru, informs that the popular account is inexact and an extension of any patriarchal retelling of our epics. “Valmiki’s Ramayana narrates no such occurrence. When Gautama Rishi cursed Ahalya, he asked her to stay still and quiet, and turn her senses inward to be truly aware of the divine. 

While putting the curse on her, her husband also mentioned that since her senses will only engage with her inner self and not with the outside world, she will know when Rama or divinity touches her,” Varanasi elaborates, adding that the word ‘stone’ isn’t mentioned in the original text and can be interpreted as a symbol for Ahalya’s meditative state.