Ahalya Waits Inside the Stone
Bala Kanda, Doha 210
Doha 210 · Movement 2 of 2
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Gautama's wife Ahalya remains bound by a curse, bearing the stillness of stone through the passing years. Bird, beast, and human presence have left the ashram around her.
Her patience is not empty endurance. Within the stone body lives one longing for the dust of Ram's lotus feet, the touch already promised as the end of sorrow.
Vishwamitra asks Raghuvir for mercy. The hero of Raghu's line stands before what ordinary sight would call lifeless matter, while devotion waits hidden within it. One step will reveal the person no one else can see.
Beneath the silence of stone, Ahalya waits for the dust of approaching feet.
Read the passage from the Manas
गौतम नारि श्राप बस उपल देह धरि धीर। चरन कमल रज चाहति कृपा करहु रघुबीर।।210।।
Gautama's wife Ahalya, bound by a curse, bore her body of stone with quiet patience. She longed for the dust of His lotus feet. "Show Your mercy, O Raghuvir (hero of the Raghu line)."