[7][8][9] However, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), focusing on the literal meaning of "unploughed," interpreted Ahalya as a symbol of stone-like, infertile land that was made cultivable by Rama.

[10] Delhi University professor Bharati Jhaveri concurs with Tagore, interpreting Ahalya as unploughed land, on the basis of the tribal Bhil Ramayana of Gujarat, an undated oral tradition.

[13] According to the Mahari dance tradition, Brahma created Ahalya out of water as the most beautiful woman in order to break the pride of Urvashi, the foremost apsara.

[15][16] In the Uttara Kanda book of the Ramayana (regarded by most scholars as a later addition to the epic), Brahma crafts Ahalya as the most beautiful woman and places her in the care of Gautama until she reaches puberty.

[16] Edward Washburn Hopkins, an American indologist, interpreted the Ahalya of the subrahmanya formula not as a woman, but literally as "yet unploughed land", which Indra makes fertile.

[28][29] It states that Indra becomes enamoured by Ahalya's beauty, learns of her husband's absence and comes to the ashram disguised as Gautama to request sexual intercourse with her, praising her as a shapely and slim-waisted woman.

[19][36] At times, Indra takes the form of a cock that crows to dispatch Gautama for his morning ablutions, as in the 18th-century Telugu rendition of the tale by the warrior-poet Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka of the Madurai Nayak Dynasty.

The Ayodhya prince Rama, his brother Lakshmana and their guru, the sage Vishvamitra pass Gautama's desolate ashram while travelling to King Janaka's court in Mithila.

Under the direction of his guru, Rama considers Ahalya pure and unblemished and, accompanied by Lakshamana, gives her obeisance by touching her by his feet, an act that restores her social status.

[20][35] In the popular retelling of the legend in later works, as well as in theatre and electronic media, Ahalya is turned to stone by Gautama's curse and returns to her human form only after being brushed by Rama's foot.

[7][50] Pradip Bhattacharya, author of Panch-Kanya: The Five Virgins of Indian Epics, argues that this version of the tale is the result of a "male backlash" and patriarchal myth-making that condemns her as a non-entity devoid of emotions, self-respect and social status.

[38][39] In Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka's Telugu rendition, when Indra reluctantly leaves, Gautama arrives and curses Ahalya to become a stone, to be later purified by Rama's feet.

Without explicitly mentioning the curse, it relates further that she regains her beautiful form and casts away her stony appearance, owing to the grace provided by the dust of Rama's feet, which redeems her.

As in other versions of the tale, the repentant Ahalya is turned to stone, only to be liberated by Rama, and Indra runs away disguised as a cat but is cursed to bear the marks of a thousand vulvae.

[58] As in the Adhyatma Ramayana, Ahalya lauds Rama as the great Lord served by other divinities, asks for the boon of eternal engrossment in his devotion and afterwards leaves for her husband's abode.

[63][64] Although Ahalya is a minor character in all ancient sources, "stigmatised and despised by those around her" for violating gender norms, modern Indian writers have elevated her to the status of an epic heroine, rather than an insignificant figure in the saga of Rama.

[14] Other works and genres of performance art that have been used to tell her story include the mohiniyattam dance of Kerala;[67][68] Ahalyamoksham, a play by Kunchan Nambiar staged in the ottamthullal tradition;[69] and Sati Ahalya, a padya-natakam drama from Andhra Pradesh.

[72] The theme of adulterous love is explored in Vishram Bedekar's musical Marathi play Brahma Kumari (1933) and the Malayalam works of P. V. Ramavarier (1941) and M. Parvati Amma (1948).

[64] Pudhumaipithan's Tamil story Sapavimocanam (1943, "Deliverance from the Curse") and K. B. Sreedevi's Malayalam language work (1990) translated as "Woman of Stone" focus on Rama's "double standard" from a feminist perspective.

[75] Love, sex and desire become important elements of the plot in Sant Singh Sekhon's Punjabi play Kalakar (1945), which places the epic drama in the modern age.

It depicts Ahalya as a free-spirited woman, who dares to be painted nude by Inder (Indra), a pupil of the art professor, Gautama, and defends her decision against her husband's criticisms.

[80] Another legend, generally told in Indian folk tales, states that Aruna, the charioteer of the sun-god Surya, once became a woman named Aruni and entered an assembly of celestial nymphs, where no man except Indra was allowed.

[7] In the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, Ahalya is included in a list of secondary goddesses, who are "auspicious, glorious and much praiseworthy", alongside Tara and Mandodari as well as some of the pancha-satis ("five satis or chaste wives") Arundhati and Damayanti.

"[93] Because they exhibited sexual behaviours that were non-ideal and even unethical according to traditional norms, Indian social reformer Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was perplexed by the inclusion of Ahalya and Tara in the panchakanya.

[97] For Bhattacharya, Ahalya is the eternal woman who responds to her inner urges and the advances of the divine ruler, a direct contrast to her ascetic husband, who did not satisfy her carnal desire.

The author regards Ahalya as an independent woman who makes her own decisions, takes risks and is driven by curiosity to experiment with the extraordinary and then accept the curse imposed on her by patriarchal society.

Jaya adds that Ahalya's actions and the resultant curse are a warning that such immoral behaviour leads to doom, although sincere penitence and complete surrender to God can erase the gravest sins.

[107] The feminist writer Tarabai Shinde (1850–1910) writes that the scriptures, by depicting gods such as Indra who exploit chaste wives such as Ahalya, are responsible for promoting immoral ways; she asks why so much importance is then given to pativrata dharma, the devotion and fidelity to the husband which is said to be the ultimate duty of a wife.

[108] A similar tale of divine seduction appears in Greek mythology, where Zeus, a king-of-the-gods figure akin to Indra, seduces Alcmene by assuming the form of her husband, resulting in the birth of the legendary hero Heracles.

The main difference between the tales is that the raison-d'être of Alcmene's seduction is the justification of Heracles's divine parentage, so she is never condemned as an adulteress or punished; in contrast, Ahalya faces the ire of the scriptures as her encounter is regarded as purely erotic (not resulting in procreation).