Posted:
Varaali, just read your version of Ahiliya story. I really liked it. I wanted to post in this thread, but this topic is closed. So I am starting a new topic on Ahiliya.
I have actually read something very similar to it in one of Hindi author's (Narendra Kohli) book. He too showed that Gautam did not distrust his wife and had implicit faith in her. The difference in your interpretation and his was that he showed that Indra was successful in his mission. He too showed Ahiliya was not tricked and knew it was Indra. So it was Indra raping her which is true regardless of whether Ahiliya mistook him for Gautam or not.
Also in that version, Gautam did not want to give up Ahiliya but decided to do so after consultations with Janak who too was helpless against the society. They had a small son Shatanand whom Ahiliya and Gautam wanted to protect. So they decided jointly to take this decision for her to live in isolation away from the society. Also Ahiliya wanted Gautam to not be able to destroy his career as he was very bright. Janak supported Gautam in punishing Indra by banning his worship in havans etc from that time onwards. Also Janak decided to make Shatanand his Rajguru as providing some sort of compensation to Ahiliya.
Finally, Ram who was fearless came there and was able to provide status to Ahiliya by declaring her a pure woman who was never at fault. Gautam of course accepted her unconditionally as he had always wanted to do that. This made Ram even more famous as this came after killing Tadaka and Subahu.
So Indra and the society was the culprit in that version. Janak and Gautam were shown helpless against the society and Ram was shown as this young prince who was ahead of his times in providing justice.
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