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Ahalya

In Hinduism, Ahalya (अहल्या, IAST: Ahalyā) also spelt as  Ahilya, is the wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi. Many Hindu scriptures describe her legend of seduction by the king of the gods Indra, her husband's curse for her infidelity, and her liberation from the curse by the god Rama.

Created by the god Brahma as the most beautiful woman, Ahalya was married to the much older Gautama. In the earliest full narrative, when Indra comes disguised as her husband, Ahalya sees through his disguise but nevertheless accepts his advances. Later sources often absolve her of all guilt, describing how she falls prey to Indra's trickery. In all narratives, Ahalya and Indra are cursed by Gautama. The curse varies from text to text, but almost all versions describe Rama as the eventual agent of her liberation and redemption. Although early texts describe how Ahalya must atone by undergoing severe penance while remaining invisible to the world and how she is purified by offering Rama hospitality, in the popular retelling developed over time, Ahalya is cursed to become a stone and regains her human form after she is brushed by Rama's foot.

Ahalya's seduction by Indra and its repercussions form the central narrative of her story in all scriptural sources for her legend. Although the Brahmanas (9th to 6th centuries BCE) are the earliest scriptures to hint at her relationship with Indra, the 5th- to 4th-century BCE Hindu epic Ramayana – whose protagonist is Rama – is the first to explicitly mention her extra-marital affair in detail. Medieval story-tellers often focus on Ahalya's deliverance by Rama, which is seen as proof of the saving grace of God. Her story has been retold numerous times in the scriptures and lives on in modern-age poetry and short stories, as well as in dance and drama. While ancient narratives are Rama-centric, contemporary ones focus on Ahalya, telling the story from her perspective. Other traditions focus on her children.

In traditional Hinduism, Ahalya is extolled as the first of the panchakanya ("five maidens"), archetypes of female chastity whose names are believed to dispel sin when recited. While some praise her loyalty to her husband and her undaunted acceptance of the curse and gender norms, others condemn her adultery.

Etymology
The word Ahalya can be divided into two parts: a (a prefix indicating negation) and halya, which Sanskrit dictionaries define as being related to the plough, ploughing, or deformity. In the Uttar Kanda book of the Ramayana, the god Brahma explains the meaning of the Sanskrit word Ahalya as "one without the reprehension of ugliness", or "one with an impeccable beauty" while telling Indra how he created Ahalya by taking the special beauty of all creation and expressing it in every part of her body. Because some Sanskrit dictionaries translate Ahalya as "unploughed," some recent authors view this as an implicit reference to sexual intercourse and argue that the name refers to a virgin or a motherly figure. This fits the context of the character Ahalya, who is viewed as being in one way or another beyond Indra's reach. 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. 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.

Creation and marriage
Ahalya is often described as an ayonijasambhava, one not born of a woman. The Bala Kanda of the Ramayana (5th to 4th century BCE) mentions that Brahma moulds her "with great effort out of pure creative energy". The Brahma Purana (401–1300 CE) and the Vishnudharmottara Purana (401–500 CE) also record her creation by Brahma. 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. The tribal Bhil Ramayana begins with the tale of Ahalya, Gautama and Indra. In the tale, Ahalya is created from the ashes of the sacrificial fire by the Saptarishi (seven seers) and gifted to Gautama. In contrast, the Bhagavata Purana (501–1000 CE) and the Harivamsa (1–300 CE) regard Ahalya as a princess of the Puru Dynasty, the daughter of King Mudgala and sister of King Divodasa.

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. When that time arrives, the sage returns Ahalya to Brahma, who, impressed by Gautama's sexual restraint and asceticism, bestows her upon him. Indra, who believes that the best women are meant for him, resents Ahalya's marriage to the forest-dwelling ascetic.

The Brahma Purana gives a similar account of Ahalya's birth and initial custody, recording that her marriage was determined through an open contest. Brahma declares that the first being to go around the three worlds (heaven, earth and the underworld) will win Ahalya. Indra uses his magical powers to complete the challenge, finally reaching Brahma and demanding the hand of Ahalya. However, the divine sage Narada tells Brahma that Gautama went around the three worlds before Indra. Narada explains that Gautama circumambulated the wish-bearing cow Surabhi while she gave birth, as part of his daily puja (ritual offering), making the cow equal to three worlds according to the Vedas. Brahma agrees and Ahalya marries Gautama, leaving Indra envious and infuriated. A similar, but shorter, version of Ahalya's early life appears in the Padma Purana (701–1200 CE).

In all versions of the tale, after marrying Gautama, Ahalya settles into his ashram (hermitage), which generally becomes the site of her epic curse. The Ramayana records that Gautama's ashram is in a forest (Mithila-upavana) near Mithila, where the couple practices asceticism together for several years. In other scriptures, the ashram is usually near the river bank. The Brahma Purana says that it is near the river Godavari and the Skanda Purana (701–1200 CE) places it near the river Narmada. The Padma Purana and the Brahma Vaivarta Purana (801–1100 CE) describe the ashram as near the holy city of Pushkar.

Hints of a relationship with Indra
The Brahmanas (9th to 6th centuries BCE) are the oldest scriptures to mention a relationship between Ahalya and Indra in the "subrahmanya formula", a chant used by Vedic priests "at the beginning of a sacrifice to invite the main participants: Indra, the gods and the Brahmins" (priests). The Jaiminiya Brahmana and the Sadvimsha Brahmana from the Samaveda tradition, the Shatapatha Brahmana and the Taittiriya Brahmana from the Yajurveda tradition and two Shrautasutras (Latyayana and Drahyayana) invoke Indra, the "lover of Ahalya ... O Kaushika [Brahmin], who calls himself Gautama". The Samaveda tradition identifies her as Maitreyi, who the commentator Sayana (died 1387) explains is "the daughter of [the god] Mitra".

In the subrahmanya formula, Ahalya does not have a husband. The Sadvimsha Brahmana does not explicitly state that Ahalya has a husband, although Kaushika (interpreted by most scholars as Ahalya's husband) is present in the story and his relationship to her can be inferred through Indra's adoption of the Brahmin's form to "visit" Ahalya. Renate Söhnen-Thieme, research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, feels that the Kaushika of the Sadvimsha Brahmana is the same individual described as cursing Indra in the 5th- to 4th-century BCE epic Mahabharata (discussed below in "Curse and redemption").

The Shatapatha Brahmana's commentator, Kumarila Bhatta (c. 700), reasons that the Ahalya–Indra narrative is an allegory for the Sun or the light (Indra) taking away the shade of night (Ahalya). 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.

Seduction by Indra
The Bala Kanda of the Ramayana is the earliest text to describe Ahalya's seduction in detail. 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. She sees through his disguise, but consents owing to her "curiosity". According to another interpretation, Ahalya's pride in her beauty compels her. Having satiated his lust, Ahalya requests that Indra, her "lover" and the "best of gods", flee and protect them from Gautama's wrath. The Kathasaritsagara (11th century CE) is one of the few texts that mirror the Bala Kanda's Ahalya, who makes a conscious decision to accept Indra's advances. However, in this text Indra arrives undisguised.

Although the Bala Kanda mentions that Ahalya consciously commits adultery, the Uttar Kanda of the Ramayana and the Puranas (compiled between the 4th and 16th centuries CE) absolve her of all guilt. The Uttar Kanda recasts the tale as Ahalya's rape by Indra. In one allusion in the Mahabharata, King Nahusha reminds Brihaspati, Indra's guru, how Indra "violated" the "renowned" rishi-patni (wife of a sage) Ahalya. According to Söhnen-Thieme, the usage of the words "violated" and "renowned" indicates that Ahalya is not considered an adulteress.

The Puranas introduce themes that are echoed in later works, including the deception of the unsuspecting Ahalya by Indra's devious disguise as Gautama in his absence. The Padma Purana states that after Gautama leaves for his ritual bath, Indra masquerades as Gautama and asks Ahalya to satisfy him. Ahalya, engrossed in worship, rejects him, considering it inappropriate to have sex at the cost of neglecting the gods. Indra reminds her that her first duty is to serve him. Finally Ahalya gives in, but Gautama learns of Indra's deception through his supernatural powers and returns to the ashram. A similar account is found in the Brahma Purana. 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. In other versions, he uses an accomplice, such as the moon-god Chandra, to distract Gautama. In the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Ahalya comes to bathe in the Svarnadi (heavenly river) and Indra becomes infatuated with her when he sees her. Assuming Gautama's form, Indra has sex with her until they sink to the river bed in exhaustion. However, Gautama catches them in the act. Another version in the same Purana focuses on the question of how the chaste Ahalya was seduced by Indra. In this version, Indra approaches Ahalya on the banks of the Mandakini river in his own form to ask for a sexual favour, which is flatly refused by Ahalya. Indra subsequently poses as Gautama and fulfils his objective.

In some versions, though initially deluded by Indra's disguise, Ahalya eventually recognises the impersonator. In the Skanda Purana, Ahalya smells Indra's celestial fragrance and realises her folly as he embraces and kisses her and "so forth" (probably indicating a sexual act). Threatening Indra with a curse, she compels him to reveal his true form. However, Kamban's 12th-century Tamil adaptation of the Ramayana, the Ramavataram, narrates that Ahalya realises that her lover is an imposter but continues to enjoy the dalliance. Here, Ahalya agrees to have sex with the disguised Indra because she has long been craving affection from her ascetic husband.

In Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka's Telugu rendition, Ahalya is depicted as a romantic adulteress. When Brahma creates Ahalya as the most beautiful being, she falls in love with Indra and longs for him, but Brahma grants her to Gautama. After Ahalya's marriage, Indra too craves for her. He frequently visits her and flirts with her in Gautama's absence. At one point, Ahalya receives a visit from Indra's female messenger, who proceeds to mock husbands who avoid sex by saying that it is not the right day for pleasure. Ahalya protests, maintaining that she imagines Gautama to be Indra as they have sex and that a woman should be a stone, forgoing all thought of sexual gratification. That night, when Ahalya longs for conjugal bliss, Gautama refuses her, saying that she is not in her fertile period. Agitated, she wishes that Indra was there to satisfy her. Indra perceives her wish and comes in Gautama's disguise, but is revealed by his seductive speech. Ignoring the deception, Ahalya joyously makes love to him.

Curse and redemption
While most versions agree that Gautama curses Ahalya after discovering the affair, the curse varies from text to text. However, almost all versions describe Rama as the agent of her liberation and redemption.

Punishments of Ahalya and Indra
The Bala Kanda mentions that Gautama spots Indra, who is still in disguise, and curses him to lose his testicles. Gautama then curses Ahalya to remain invisible to all beings for thousands of years, fast by subsisting only on air, suffer and sleep in ashes and be tormented by guilt. Nevertheless, he assures her that her sin will be expiated once she extends her hospitality to Rama, who will visit the ashram. Thereafter, Gautama abandons the ashram and goes to the Himalayas to practise asceticism. 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. As they near the ashram, Vishvamitra recounts the tale of Ahalya's curse and instructs Rama to save Ahalya. Although Ahalya is cursed, Vishvamitra nevertheless describes her as goddess-like and illustrious, repeatedly calling her mahabhaga, a Sanskrit compound (maha and bhaga) translated as "most illustrious and highly distinguished"; this interpretation contrasts with that of Rambhadracharya, who believes that the word mahabhaga, in the context of Ahalya's story, means "extremely unfortunate" (maha and abhaga). Following Vishvamitra, the princes enter the ashram to see Ahalya, who, up till then, had been hidden from the universe. Ahalya is described as glowing from the intensity of her ascetic devotion, but hidden from the world like the Sun obscured by dark clouds, the light of a full moon hidden by mist or a blazing flame masked by smoke. 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. She greets them, recalling Gautama's words that Rama would be her redeemer. Ahalya extends her warmest reception, making a "welcome offering" of forest fruits and washing their feet, an act of respect according to the rites of that era. The gods and other celestial beings shower Rama and Ahalya with flowers and bow to Ahalya, who has been purified through her penance. Gautama then returns to his ashram and accepts her.

In one instance in the Mahabharata, Indra is said to have been cursed by having his beard turned to gold as he seduces Ahalya, while a curse by Kaushika (sometimes interpreted as synonymous to Gautama) is cited as the reason for his castration. In the Uttara Kanda, Indra is cursed to lose his throne and endure captivity and bear half the sin of every rape ever committed, while the innocent Ahalya is cursed to lose her status as the most beautiful woman, as it had prompted Indra's seduction. Ahalya claims her innocence (this part is not found in all manuscripts), but Gautama agrees to accept her only when she is sanctified by offering Rama hospitality.

Ahalya's defence plea is also found in some of the Puranas. In the Brahma Purana, Ahalya is cursed to become a dried up stream, but pleads her innocence and produces servants, who were also deceived by Indra's disguise, as witnesses. Gautama reduces the curse on his "faithful wife" and she is redeemed when she joins the Gautami (Godavari) river as a stream. Indra is cursed to carry his shame in the form of a thousand vulvae on his body, but the vulvae turn into eyes as he bathes in the Gautami. The Brahma Purana is a rare exception where Rama is dropped from the narrative. Instead, the greatness of the Gautami river is illustrated. The Padma Purana tells that as Indra attempts to flee in the form of a cat, Gautama curses him to lose his genitals and to bear a thousand vulvae on his body. The beguiled Ahalya declares herself blameless, but Gautama considers her impure and curses her to be reduced to a mere skeleton of skin and bones. He decrees that she will regain her beautiful form when Rama laughs at seeing her so afflicted, dried out (a reminder of the dried stream motif), without a body (the Ramayana curse) and lying on the path (an attribute often used to describe a stone). When Rama comes, he proclaims her innocence and Indra's guilt, whereupon Ahalya returns to her heavenly abode and dwells with Gautama.

Stone motifs
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. 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.

According to the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Gautama curses Indra to bear a thousand vulvae, which will turn to eyes when he worships the sun-god Surya. Ahalya is turned to stone for sixty thousand years and destined to be redeemed only by Rama's touch. Ahalya accepts the verdict without debate. In another version in the same Purana, Gautama catches Indra fleeing as a cat and curses him with castration. Ahalya's plea of innocence is acknowledged by Gautama, who declares that her mind is pure and she has kept the "vow of chastity and fidelity", but another man's seed has defiled her body. Gautama orders her to go to the forest and become a stone until rescued by the touch of Rama's feet. 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. After she is freed from the curse, Gautama and Ahalya are reconciled and they spend their days in bed, exploring sexual techniques.

The Skanda Purana tells that when Gautama arrives, Ahalya explains the whole tale truthfully, but is cursed by Gautama to become a stone, because he believes that she acted as a rolling stone, unable to recognise the difference between Indra's and Gautama's gestures and movements. The touch of Rama's feet is prophesied to be her saviour. The terrified Indra escapes as a cat and is cursed with castration. Ahalya's truthfulness is also observed in the Kathasaritsagara. When Gautama arrives after the act, Indra tries to flee as a cat but is cursed to bear the marks of a thousand vulvae. When asked by Gautama about her visitor, Ahalya wittily answers that it was a majjara, a word meaning either "cat" or, when split as ma-jara, "my lover". Gautama laughs and curses her to be turned into stone, but decrees that she will be released by Rama since she at least spoke the truth.

The petrification motif also appears in non-scriptural works. The Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa (generally dated 4th century CE) notes that the wife of Gautama (unnamed here) momentarily becomes the wife of Indra. 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. Gautam Patel, author of many works about Kalidasa, credits him as the first person to introduce the petrification motif. In the Ramavataram too, Rama does not have to touch Ahalya with his foot; the dust from his feet is enough to bring her back to life. 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. The Ramavataram is an example of the Bhakti-era poets who exalt Rama as a saviour.

Although opinions differ on whether the Bala Kanda narrative of Ahalya refers to the divinity of Rama, later sources assert Rama's divine status, portraying Ahalya as a condemned woman rescued by God. The Bhakti-era poets use the episode as an archetypal example to demonstrate God's saving grace. The main theme of such narratives is her deliverance by Rama, which is seen as proof of his compassion.

Most of the fifth chapter of the Bala Kanda Book of the Adhyatma Ramayana (embedded in the Brahmanda Purana, c. 14th century) is dedicated to the Ahalya episode. Like most other versions of the story, Ahalya is turned into stone and advised to engross herself in meditation of Rama, "the Supreme Lord". When Rama touches the stone with his foot on Vishvamitra's advice, Ahalya rises as a beautiful maiden and sings a long panegyric dedicated to Rama. She describes his iconographic form and exalts him as an avatar of Vishnu and source of the universe to whom many divinities pay their respects. After worshipping him, she returns to Gautama. At the end of the narrative, Ahalya's hymn is prescribed as an ideal benediction for a devotee to gain Rama's favour. The Awadhi Ramacharitamanasa (16th century) drops the narrative of Indra's visit to Ahalya. In this epic, Vishvamitra tells Rama that the cursed Ahalya has assumed the form of a rock and is patiently awaiting the dust from Rama's feet. Ahalya tells Rama that Gautama was right to pronounce the curse, and she deems it as the greatest favour, for as a result, she feasted her eyes on Rama, who liberated her from her worldly existence. 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. The narrative ends with praise for Rama's compassion. Tulsidas alludes to this episode numerous times in the Ramacharitamanasa while highlighting the significance of Rama's benevolence. Commenting on this narrative in the Ramacharitamanasa, Rambhadracharya says that Rama destroyed three things: the sin of Ahalya by his sight, the curse by the dust of his feet and the affliction by the touch of his feet, evidenced by the use of the Tribhangi (meaning "destroyer of the three") metre in the verses which form Ahalya's panegyric.

Other variants
In some rare exceptions, the curse is dropped. In an instance in the Mahabharata, where details of the seduction are absent, an agitated Gautama orders his son Chirakari to behead his "polluted" mother and leaves the ashram. However, Chirakari is hesitant to follow the order and later concludes that Ahalya is innocent. Gautama returns and repents his hasty decision, realising that Indra is the guilty party. In the Bhil Ramayana, Gautama attacks and imprisons Indra, who is freed when he promises to shower rain on the crops as the rain god. He must also ensure that one quarter of the crops is dedicated to Gautama. Here, Ahalya is interpreted as dry and burnt land, eager for the rains sent by Indra, who is tamed by the wild cyclonic Gautama.

Modern renditions

Ahalya has been examined in a new light by several modern writers, most commonly through short stories or through poetry in various Indian languages. 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. However, in modern devotional Ramayana adaptations where Rama is the hero, the redemption of Ahalya continues to be a supernatural incident in his life.

Ahalya's tale lives on in modern-day poetry, including works by Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali and English; P. T. Narasimhachar's 1940 Kannada poetic drama, Ahalya, which weighs kama against dharma (pleasure against duty); and the works of the Sanskrit scholar and poet Chandra Rajan. It is retold numerous times in stage enactments as well as in film and television productions. Ahalya is a popular motif in the Mahari temple-dancer tradition of Odisha. Other works and genres of performance art that have been used to tell her story include the mohiniyattam dance of Kerala; Ahalyamoksham, a play by Kunchan Nambiar staged in the ottamthullal tradition; and Sati Ahalya, a padya-natakam drama from Andhra Pradesh.

Early in the 20th century, the old norms were reasserted. Pa. Subramania Mudaliar in his Tamil poem (1938) describes Ahalya lecturing Indra on chastity, but Indra's lust compels him to rape her. Gautama turns Ahalya to stone to free her from the trauma. The Tamil writer Yogiyar portrays an innocent Ahalya, who sleeps with the disguised Indra, overcome with guilt and asking for punishment. Sripada Krishnamurty Sastry's Telugu version of Ramayana (1947), one of the most censored versions of the tale, reduces Ahalya's contact with Indra to a handshake.

Other authors reinterpreted the Ahalya legend from a very different perspective, often depicting Ahalya as a rebel and telling the story from her angle. R. K. Narayan (1906–2001) focuses on the psychological details of the story, reusing the old tale of Indra's disguise as Gautama, his flight as a cat and Ahalya's petrifaction. 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). The Ahalya of the Tamil short story writer Ku Pa Rajagopalan (1902–44) also secretly longs for Indra and enjoys dalliance with him. Pratibha Ray's Odia novel Mahamoha (1997, "Great Lust") portrays an independent and nonconformist Ahalya as a tragic heroine, who offers herself to Indra so that he can fulfil his lust and she her womanhood. When Gautama persuades her to lie to society by claiming to have been raped, she debates chastity and freedom of mind with him.

Some writers try to imagine Ahalya's life after the curse and redemption, a denouement which remains undisclosed in the ancient scriptures. 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. They ask why Rama frees Ahalya from being cursed for adultery, but punishes his wife Sita over false accusations of adultery with her kidnapper, Ravana. In Pudhumaipithan's tale, Ahalya turns back into stone after hearing that Sita had to undergo a trial by fire to prove her chastity. Sreedevi portrays her turning into stone upon learning that Sita was banished from the kingdom on charges of adultery even after proving her chastity through the trial. Pudhumaipithan also narrates how, after the redemption, Ahalya suffers from "post-trauma repetition syndrome", repeatedly re-experiencing Indra's seduction and Gautama's fury, as well as suffering the ire of a conservative society that rejects her. Gautama also suffers from self-recrimination at his hasty decision to curse Ahalya. In another story, Ahalya by Pudhumaipithan, Gautama forgives both Ahalya and Indra.

S. Sivasekaram's 1980 Tamil poem Ahalikai examines the stone motif in Ahalya's tale: she marries a husband who is no more interested in her than a stone and briefly encounters joy with Indra, only to end up cursed to become a lifeless stone. The poet asks if it was better for Ahalya to remain physically a stone and retain her dignity rather than return to a stony marriage. Uyir Maga ("Life-woman") by the Tamil poet Na. Pichamurthy (1900–76) presents Ahalya as an allegorical representation of life, with Gautama as the mind and Indra pleasure. The Marxist critic Kovai Gnani, in his poem Kallihai, represents Ahalya as the oppressed class and Rama as an ideal future without exploitation. Gautama and Indra represent feudalism and capitalism. The character of Ahalya played by Kamala Kotnis in the 1949 movie Sati Ahalya ("chaste Ahalya") was described as still relevant by contemporary film critics due to its portrayal of the predicament of a stained woman.

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. N. S. Madhavan's Malayalam story (April 2006) also retells Ahalya's tale in a modern setting, wherein Ahalya, accused of adultery, is beaten by her husband, leaving her in a coma from which the neurologist, Rama, revives her. However, the practice of retelling the classical Ahalya–Indra tale in a contemporary setting is not new. The Yoga Vasistha (1001–1400) narrates a tale of two adulterous lovers, Queen Ahalya and the Brahmin Indra. Here, Ahalya and Indra fall in love and continue their affair, despite being punished by Ahalya's jealous husband. After death, they reunite in their next birth. The 2015 short film Ahalya gives a feminist twist to the tale where the policeman Indra turns into a stone doll, after visiting Ahalya.

Children
The Ramayana mentions Ahalya's son, Shatananda (Satananda), the family priest and preceptor of King Janaka of Mithila. In this version, Shatananda asks Vishvamitra anxiously about the well-being of his "renowned" mother. By contrast, the Mahabharata mentions two sons: Sharadvan, born with arrows in his hand, and Chirakari, whose extensive brooding over his actions leads to procrastination. Besides these, an unnamed daughter is also alluded to in the narrative. The Vamana Purana mentions three daughters: Jaya, Jayanti and Aparaji.

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. Indra fell in love with Aruni and fathered a son named Vali. The next day, at Surya's request, Aruna again assumed female form, and Surya fathered a son, Sugriva. Both children were given to Ahalya for rearing, but Gautama cursed them, causing them to turn into monkeys, as he did not like them. In the Thai version of the Ramayana, the Ramakien, Vali and Sugriva are described as Ahalya's children from her liaisons with Indra and Surya. Although Ahalya initially passes them off as sons of Gautama, her daughter by Gautama – Anjani – reveals her mother's secret to her father. He consequently drives the brothers away and curses them to become monkeys. Enraged, Ahalya curses Anjani to give birth to a monkey too. Anjani bears Hanuman, the monkey-god and friend of Rama. Similar tales are also found in the Malay adaptation, Hikayat Seri Rama, and Punjabi and Gujarati folk tales. However, Anjani is cursed by Gautama in these versions, generally for aiding Indra and Ahalya in concealing the secret.

Some Tamil castes trace their ancestry to Ahalya and Indra's liaison; the castes are named after Ahalya's children. Gautama finds the three boys and names them according to their behaviour: Agamudayar (derived from "brave"), who confronts Gautama, Maravar (derived from "tree"), who climbs a tree and Kallar (derived from "thief" or "rock"), who hides like a thief behind a large rock. A fourth child, Vellala, is added in some versions. In another variant, the liaison is replaced by penance and worship offered by Ahalya to Indra, who gifts her the children as a reward.

Assessment and remembrance
A well-known verse about Ahalya runs: Sanskrit transliteration

English translation Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari One should forever remember the five virgins who are the destroyers of great sins Note: A variant of this prayer replaces Sita with Kunti.

Orthodox Hindus, especially Hindu wives, remember the panchakanya, the five virgins or maidens, in this daily morning prayer. One view considers them "exemplary chaste women" or mahasatis ("great chaste women") as per the Mahari dance tradition, and worthy as an ideal for "displaying some outstanding quality". According to this view, Ahalya is the "epitome of the chaste wife, unjustly accused of adultery", while her "proverbial loyalty to her husband" makes her venerable. Ahalya is often regarded as the leader of the panchkanya due to the "nobility of her character, her extraordinary beauty and the fact of her being chronologically the first kanya". 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.

Another view does not regard the panchakanya as ideal women who should be emulated. Bhattacharya, author of Panch-Kanya: The Five Virgins of Indian Epics contrasts the panchakanya with the five satis enlisted in another traditional prayer: Sati, Sita, Savitri, Damayanti and Arundhati. He rhetorically asks, "Are then Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara, and Mandodari not chaste wives because each has 'known' a man, or more than one, other than her husband?" 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. Although Ahalya's transgression blemished her and denied her the high status and reverence accorded to women like Sita and Savitri, this action made her immortal in legend.

The place where Ahalya is held to have practised her penance and was redeemed has been celebrated in scriptures as a sacred place called the Ahalya-tirtha. A tirtha is a sacred place with a body of water, where pilgrims generally bathe to purify themselves. The location of the Ahalya-tirtha is disputed: according to some scriptures, it is on the river Godavari, others place it on the river Narmada. Two sites are widely held to be the Ahalya-tirtha. One is located near Ahalyeshvara Temple in Bhalod, on the banks of the Narmada; another is located in Darbhanga district, Bihar. The Ahilya Asthan temple in Ahalya-gram ("Ahalya's village") in the same district is dedicated to Ahalya. For those seeking to attract women and be handsome like the love-god Kamadeva, the Matsya Purana and the Kurma Purana prescribe the worship of Ahalya at the Ahalya-tirtha. This is to be done on the day of Kamadeva, in the Hindu month of Chaitra. According to the texts, he who bathes in the tirtha will enjoy pleasure with the celestial nymphs.

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. It is this undaunted acceptance of the curse that makes the Ramayana praise and venerate her. V. R. Devika, author of Ahalya: Scarlet Letter, asks, "So is it right to condemn adultery and physical encounters as modern afflictions and against our [Indian/Hindu] culture? Or do we learn from Ahalya who made a conscious choice to fulfil her need and yet has been extolled?"

Like Bhattacharya, Meena Kelkar, author of Subordination of Woman: a New Perspective, feels that Ahalya was made venerable due to her acceptance of gender norms; she ungrudgingly accepted the curse while acknowledging her need for punishment. However, Kelkar adds that another reason for making Ahalya immortal in scripture could be that her punishment acts as a warning and deterrent to women. Patriarchal society always condemns Ahalya as a fallen woman. In Bhavabhuti's 8th-century play Mahaviracharita, which alludes to Ahalya's redemption in a verbal spat with Parashurama, Satananda is mocked as the son of Ahalya, the adulteress. Jaya Srinivasan, in her discourses on tales from the Hindu epics, says that though Ahalya's action was "unpardonable", she was redeemed by the divine touch of dust from Rama's feet. 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. In Hindu Tamil weddings in India and Sri Lanka, Ahalya appears as a symbolic black grinding stone, which the bride touches with her foot while promising not to be like Ahalya. The bride is also shown the star associated with the chaste Arundhati, who is cast as her ideal. The well-known treatise on sexual behaviour, the Kama Sutra (301–600), also mentions Ahalya and Indra while discussing how lust destroys men. However, it also urges men to seduce women by telling the romantic tales of Ahalya. The sixth-century Tamil epic Manimekalai alludes to her tale warning how the gods also do not remain untouched by illicit love.

The right-wing Hindu women's organisation Rashtra Sevika Samiti considers Ahalya the symbol of "Hindu woman's (and Hindu society's) rape by the outsider", especially British colonisers and Muslim invaders, but also Hindu men. 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.

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. Like Ahalya, Alcmene falls victim to Zeus's trickery in some versions or, recognising his true identity, proceeds with the affair in others. 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).

title: Ahalya


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Ahi

Ahi or AHI may refer to:

Organisations and companies

 * Action Health Incorporated
 * Adventist Health International
 * American Hellenic Institute
 * Asociación de Historietistas Independientes (Association of Independent Comic Creators), an Argentine organisation
 * Association for Heritage Interpretation
 * Azrak-Hamway, a defunct American toy company
 * Independent Herrenian Group (Agrupación Herreña Independiente, AHI), a Spanish political party in El Hierro

People

 * Ahi (Biblical figure)
 * AHI (musician), Canadian singer-songwriter
 * Ahi Evren (1169–1261), Turkish Muslim preacher
 * Ahmad Ahi (born 1985), Iranian footballer
 * Elton Ahi (born 1964), Iranian-American music producer

Places

 * Ahi, Edirne
 * Ahi, Kazan, a village in Turkey
 * Ahi Beylik, a 14th-century principality in Turkey
 * Ahi Subdistrict, a tambon (subdistrict) in Tha Li District, Loei Province, Thailand
 * Amahai Airport, Indonesia
 * Ahi Rural LLG in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea

Other uses

 * AHI (Amiga), an audio standard
 * Ahi (Hinduism), an epithet of Vritra
 * Ahi (political party), a political party in Israel
 * Ahi language, or Axi, a Loloish language of China
 * Anomalous health incident, commonly known as Havana syndrome
 * Apnea–hypopnea index of sleep apnea severity
 * Asian Heart Institute, a hospital in Mumbai, India
 * Bigeye tuna, one of two fish called ahi in Hawaiian
 * Yellowfin tuna, commonly referred to as ahi tuna, from its Hawaiian name
 * Tiagba language (ISO 639: ahi), a Kru language of Ivory Coast

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ahi


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Dhanapati

Dhanapati is 2017 romantic and political movie directed by Dipendra K Khanal and written by Khagendra Lamichhane. The film stars Khagendra Lamichhane and Surakshya Panta. The film features a man named Dhanapati who struggles to get money to send his daughter to a good school, so he decides to go into politics to get money.

Plot
A man named Dhanapati who struggles get money goes to a man named Rabi to find a job. Rabi then pulls Dhanapati into politics.

Cast

 * Khagendra Lamichhane as Dhanapati
 * Surakshya Panta as Dhanapati's wife
 * Janak Bartaula
 * Kamal Devkota
 * Prakash Ghimire
 * Rabi Giri
 * Manish Niraula
 * Ashant Sharma
 * Harihar Sharma

Critical reception
Dhanapati earned ₹10 million in the box office on its first day. Dhanapati received mixed reviews from the Nepalese audience.

title: Dhanapati


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Kubera

Kubera (कुबेर, ) also known as Kuvera, Kuber and  Kuberan, is the god of wealth, and the god-king of the semi-divine yakshas in Hinduism. He is regarded as the regent of the north (Dikpala), and a protector of the world (Lokapala). His many epithets extol him as the overlord of numerous semi-divine species, and the owner of the treasures of the world. Kubera is often depicted with a plump body, adorned with jewels, and carrying a money-pot and a club.

Originally described as the chief of evil spirits in Vedic-era texts, Kubera acquired the status of a deva (god) only in the Puranas and the Hindu epics. The scriptures describe that Kubera once ruled Lanka, but was overthrown by his half-brother Ravana, later settling in the city of Alaka in the Himalayas. Descriptions of the "glory" and "splendour" of Kubera's city are found in many scriptures.

Kubera has also been assimilated into the Buddhist and Jain pantheons. In Buddhism, he is known as Vaisravana, the patronymic used of the Hindu Kubera and is also equated with Pañcika, while in Jainism, he is known as Sarvanubhuti.

Iconography
Kubera is often depicted as a dwarf, with complexion of lotus leaves and a big belly. He is described as having three legs, only eight teeth, one eye, and being adorned with jewels. He is sometimes depicted riding a man. The description of deformities like the broken teeth, three legs, three heads and four arms appear only in the later Puranic texts. Kubera holds a mace, a pomegranate, or a money bag in his hand. He may also carry a sheaf of jewels or a mongoose with him. In Tibet, the mongoose is considered a symbol of Kubera's victory over nāgas—the guardians of treasures. Kubera is usually depicted with a mongoose in Buddhist iconography.

In the Vishnudharmottara Purana, Kubera is described as the embodiment of both Artha ("wealth, prosperity, glory") and Arthashastras, the treatises related to it—and his iconography mirrors it. Kubera's complexion is described as that of lotus leaves. He rides a man—the state personified, adorned in golden clothes and ornaments, symbolizing his wealth. His left eye is yellow. He wears an armour and a necklace down to his large belly. The Vishnudharmottara Purana further describes his face to be inclined to the left, sporting a beard and mustache, and with two small tusks protruding from the ends of his mouth, representing his powers to punish and to bestow favours. His wife Riddhi, representing the journey of life, is seated on his left lap, with her left hand on the back of Kubera and the right holding a ratna-patra (jewel-pot). Kubera should be four-armed, holding a gada (mace: symbol of dandaniti—administration of justice) and a shakti (power) in his left pair, and standards bearing a lion—representing Artha and a shibika (a club, the weapon of Kubera). The nidhi treasures Padma and Shankha stand beside him in human form, with their heads emerging from a lotus and a conch respectively.

The Agni Purana states that Kubera should be installed in temples as seated on a goat, and with a club in his hand. Kubera's image is prescribed to be that of gold, with multi-coloured attributes. In some sources, especially in Jain depictions, Kubera is depicted as a drunkard, signified by the "nectar vessel" in his hand.

Etymology and other names
The exact origins of the name Kubera are unknown. "Kubera" or "Kuvera" (कुवेर) as spelt in later Sanskrit, means "deformed or monstrous" or "ill-shaped one"; indicating his deformities. Another theory suggests that Kubera may be derived from the verb root kumba, meaning to conceal. Kuvera is also split as ku (earth), and vira (hero).

As the son of Vishrava ("Fame"), Kubera is called Vaisravana (in the Pali language, Vessavana) and as the son of Ilavila, Ailavila. Vaisravana is sometimes translated as the "Son of Fame". The Sutta Nitapa commentary says that Vaisravana is derived from a name of Kubera's kingdom, Visana. Once, Kubera looked at Shiva and his wife Parvati with jealousy, so he lost one of his eyes. Parvati also turned this deformed eye yellow. So, Kubera gained the name Ekaksipingala ("one who has one yellow eye"). He is also called Bhutesha ("Lord of spirits") like Shiva. Kubera usually is drawn by spirits or men (nara), so is called Nara-vahana, one whose vahana (mount) is nara. Hopkins interprets naras as being water-spirits, although Mani translates nara as men. Kubera also rides the elephant called Sarvabhauma as a loka-pala. His garden is named Chaitrarath.

Kubera also enjoys the titles "king of the whole world", "king of kings" (Rajaraja), "Lord of wealth" (Dhanadhipati) and "giver of wealth" (Dhanada). His titles are sometimes related to his subjects: "king of yakshas" (Yaksharajan), "Lord of rakshasas" (Rakshasadhipati), "Lord of Guhyakas" (Guhyakadhipa), "king of Kinnaras"(Kinnararaja), "king of animals resembling men" (Mayuraja), and "king of men" (Nararaja). Kubera is also called Guhyadhipa ("Lord of the hidden"). The Atharvaveda calls him the "god of hiding".

Early descriptions and parentage
In the Atharvaveda—where he first appears —and the Shatapatha Brahmana, Kubera is the chief of evil spirits or spirits of darkness, and son of Vaishravana. The Shatapatha Brahmana calls him the Lord of thieves and criminals. In the Manusmriti, he becomes a respectable lokapala ("world protector") and the patron of merchants. In the epic Mahabharata, Kubera is described as the son of Prajapati Pulastya and his wife Idavida, and the brother of sage Vishrava. Kubera is described as born from a cow. However, from the Puranas, he is described as the grandson of Pulastya and the son of Vishrava and his wife Ilavida (or Ilivila or Devavarnini), daughter of the sage Bharadvaja or Trinabindu.

By this time, though still described as an asura, Kubera is offered prayers at the end of all ritual sacrifices. His titles, such as "best of kings" and "Lord of kings" (TheHarivamsa indicates that Kubera is made "Lord of kings"), in contrast to the god-king of heaven, Indra, whose title of "best of gods" led to the later belief that Kubera was a man. The early texts Gautama Dharmashastra and Apastamba describe him as a man. Only the Grihyasutras of Shankhayana and Hiranyakesin call him a god, and suggest offerings of meat, sesame seeds and flowers to him.

Puranic and epic descriptions
The Puranas and the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana grant Kubera unquestioned godhood. Kubera also acquired the status of the "Lord of riches" and the wealthiest Deva. He also becomes a lokapala ("world protector") and guardian (dikapala) of the North direction, although he is also sometimes associated with the East. Kubera's status as a lokapala and a dikpala is assured in the Ramayana, but in the Mahabharata, some lists do not include Kubera. Thus, Kubera is considered a later addition to the original list of Loka-palas, where the gods Agni or Soma appear in his place. This status, the Ramayana records, was granted to Kubera by Brahma—the creator-god and father of Pulastya—as a reward for his severe penance. Brahma also conferred upon Kubera the riches of the world (Nidhis), "equality with gods", and the Pushpaka Vimana, a flying chariot. Kubera then ruled in the golden city of Lanka, identified with modern-day Sri Lanka. The Mahabharata says that Brahma conferred upon Kubera the lordship of wealth, friendship with Shiva, godhood, status as a world-protector, a son called Nalakubera/Nalakubara, the Pushpaka Vimana and the lordship of the Nairrata demons.

Both the Puranas and the Ramayana feature the half-blood siblings of Kubera. Vishrava, Kubera's father, also married the rakshasa (demigod) princess Kaikesi, who mothered four rakshasa children: Ravana, the chief antagonist of the Ramayana, and his siblings, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana, and Shurpanaka. The Mahabharata regards Vishrava as the brother of Kubera, so Kubera is described as the uncle of Ravana and his siblings. It records that when Kubera approached Brahma for the favour of superseding his father Pulastya, Pulastya created Vishrava. To seek the favour of Vishrava, Kubera sent three women to him, by whom Vishrava begot his demon children. Ravana, after acquiring a boon of Brahma, drove Kubera away from Lanka and seized his Pushpaka Vimana, which was returned to Kubera after Ravana's death. Kubera then settled on Gandhamandana mountain, near Mount Kailash – the abode of the god Shiva—in the Himalayas. Sometimes, Kailash itself is called Kubera's residence. His city is usually called Alaka or Alaka-puri ("curl-city"), but also Prabha ("splendour"), Vasudhara ("bejeweled") and Vasu-sthali ("abode of treasures"). There, Kubera had a grove called Caitraratha, where the leaves were jewels and the fruits were girls of heaven. There is also a charming lake called Nalini in the grove. Kubera is often described as a friend of Shiva in the epics. The Padma Purana says that Kubera prayed to Shiva for many years, and Shiva granted him the kingship of yakshas.

A description of Kubera's magnificent court appears in the Mahabharata as well as the Meghaduta. Here, gandharvas and apsaras entertain Kubera. Shiva and his wife Parvati often frequent Kubera's court, which is attended by semi-divine beings like the vidyadharas; kimpurushas; rakshasas; pishachas; as well as Padma and Shankha; personified treasures (nidhi); and Manibhadra, Kubera's chief attendant and chief of his army. Like every world-protector, Kubera has seven seers of the North in residence. Alaka is recorded to be plundered by Ravana once, and attacked by the Pandava prince, Bhima once. Kubera's Nairrata army is described to have defeated king Mucukunda, who then defeated them by the advice of his guru Vashishta. Shukra, the preceptor of the asuras, is also recorded to have defeated Kubera and stolen his wealth. Another major tale in the scriptures records how Kubera entertained the sage Ashtavakra in his palace.

Kubera is the treasurer of the gods, and the overlord of the semi-divine yakshas, the guhyakas, kinnaras and gandharvas, who act as his assistants and protectors of the jewels of the earth, as well as guardians of his city. Kubera is also the guardian of travelers and the giver of wealth to individuals, who please him. The rakshasas also serve Kubera, however, some cannibalistic rakshasas are described to have sided with Ravana in the battle against Kubera. Kubera also developed as minor marriage-divinity. He is invoked with Shiva at weddings and is described as Kameshvara ("Lord of Kama – pleasure, desire etc."). He is associated with fertility of the aquatic type.

The Puranas and the Mahabharata record that Kubera married Bhadra ("auspicious"), or Kauberi ("wife of Kubera"), daughter of the demon Mura. She is also called Yakshi – a female yaksha and Charvi ("splendour"). They had three sons: Nalakubara ("Reed-axle"), Manigriva ("Bejewled-neck") or Varna-kavi ("Colourful poet"), and Mayuraja ("king of animals resembling men"); and a daughter called Minakshi ("fish-eyed").

Worship
As the treasurer of the riches of the world, Kubera is prescribed to be worshipped. Kubera is also credited money to the deity Venkateshwara (a form of Vishnu) for his marriage with Padmavati. In remembrance of this, the reason devotees go to Tirupati to donate money in Venkateshwara's Hundi ("Donation pot"), is so that he can pay it back to Kubera. He is also associated with Lakshmi for this reason, and is sometimes represented with her as Kubera Lakshmi.

While Kubera still enjoys prayers as the god of wealth, his role is largely taken by the god of wisdom, fortune and obstacle-removal, Ganesha, with whom he is generally associated.

Beyond Hinduism
Kubera is recognized outside India and Hinduism as well. Kubera is a popular figure in Buddhist as well as Jain mythology. The Orientalist Dr. Nagendra Kumar Singh remarked that, "Every Indian religion has a Kubera after the Hindu prototype".

Buddhism
Kubera is the Buddhist Vaiśravaṇa or Jambhala, and the Japanese Bishamon. The Buddhist Vaisravana, like the Hindu Kubera, is the regent of the North, a lokapala and the Lord of yakshas. He is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, each associated with a cardinal direction. In Buddhist legends, Kubera is also equated with Pañcika, whose wife Hariti is the symbol of abundance. The iconography of Kubera and Pancika is so similar that in certain cases, A. Getty comments, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between Pancika and Kubera. The Japanese Bishamon, also known as Tamon-Ten, is one of the Jūni-Ten (十二天), a group of 12 Hindu deities adopted in Buddhism as guardian deities (deva or ten) who are found in or around Buddhist shrines. The Juni-Ten group of twelve deities were created by adding four deities to the older grouping of Happou-Ten, the eight guardians of the directions. Bishamon rules over the north, like his Hindu counterpart Kubera.

Jainism
In Jainism, Kubera is the attendant yaksha of the 19th Tirthankar Mallinath. He is usually called Sarvanubhuti or Sarvahna, and may be depicted with four faces, rainbow colours and eight arms. The Digambara sect of Jainism gives him six weapons and three heads; while the Śvetāmbaras portray him with four to six arms, numerous choices of weapons, though his attributes, the money bag and citron fruit are consistent. He may ride a man or an elephant. He is related to the Buddhist Jambhala rather than the Hindu Kubera.

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Ambika (Mahabharata)

Ambika (अम्बिका) is the queen of Kuru Kingdom in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The second daughter of Kashya, the King of Kashi and Kausalya, she is abducted by Bhishma during her svayamvara, and becomes the wife of Vichitravirya, the King of Hastinapura. Ambika is the mother of Dhritarashtra and the grandmother of Kauravas.

Legend
Along with her sisters, Amba and Ambalika, Ambika was taken by force by Bhishma from their svayamvara, the latter having challenged and defeated the assembled royalty. He presented them to his step-mother, Satyavati, for marriage to Vichitravirya. While Amba expressed her desire not to marry him as she was in love with a king named Salva, Ambika and Ambalika married Vichitravirya, and spent seven years in their husband's company. Vichitravirya was afflicted with tuberculosis, and subsequently died from the disease.

After Vichitravirya's death, he left behind no heirs. His mother Satyavati sent for her first born, the rishi Vyasa. She asked him to sire children with the widowed queens of Vichitravirya according to the prevalent custom of Niyoga. Vyasa had come from years of intense meditation, and as a result, looked tremendously unkempt. When he approached Ambika, she closed her eyes in fear. As a result, the blind Dhritrashtra was born from their union. When he approached Ambalika, she turned pale in fear. Her son Pandu, the result of their union, was born with a pale appearance.

After the death of Pandu, Ambika accompanied her mother-in-law Satyavati, and sister Ambalika to the forest, and spent the rest of her days in spiritual retreat.

In popular culture

 * In B. R. Chopra's 1988 series Mahabharat, Ambika was portrayed by Meena Chakrabarty.
 * In the 2013 Star Plus's series Mahabharat (2013), Ambika was portrayed by Aparna Dixit.

title: Ambika (Mahabharata)


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Amitābha

Amitābha (अमिताभ ; 'Infinite Light') is the principal Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism. He is also known as Amitāyus ('Infinite Life'), which is understood to be his enjoyment body (Saṃbhogakāya). In Vajrayana Buddhism, Amitābha is known for his longevity, discernment, pure perception, and the purification of aggregates with deep awareness of the emptiness of all phenomena.

In the Mandala of the Two Realms, Amitābha is associated with the Diamond Realm, while Amitāyus appears in the Womb Realm.

Attainment of Buddhahood
According to the Larger Sūtra of Immeasurable Life, Amitābha was, in very ancient times and possibly in another system of worlds, a monk named Dharmākara. In some versions of the sūtra, Dharmākara is described as a former king who, having come into contact with Buddhist teachings through the buddha Lokeśvararāja, renounced his throne. He then resolved to become a Buddha and to create a  (literally "buddha-field", often called a "Pureland" or "Buddha Land": a realm existing in the primordial universe outside of ordinary reality, produced by a buddha's merit) possessed of many perfections. These resolutions were expressed in his forty-eight vows, which set out the type of Pureland Dharmākara aspired to create, the conditions under which beings might be born into that world, and what kind of beings they would be when reborn there.

In the versions of the sutra widely known in China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, Dharmākara's eighteenth vow was that any being in any universe desiring to be reborn into Amitābha's pure land and calling upon his name with sincerity, even as few as ten times will be guaranteed rebirth there. His nineteenth vow promises that he, together with his bodhisattvas and other blessed Buddhists, will appear before those who, at the moment of death, call upon him. This openness and acceptance of all kinds of people has made belief in pure lands one of the major influences in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism seems to have first become popular in Gandhara, from where it spread to China infused with Taoists and Confucian philosophy before spreading to Central and East Asia.

The sutra goes on to explain that Amitābha, after accumulating great merit over countless lives, finally achieved buddhahood and created a pure land called Sukhāvatī (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit: "possessing happiness"). Sukhāvatī is situated in the uttermost west, beyond the bounds of our own world. By the power of his vows, Amitābha has made it possible for all who call upon him to be reborn into this land, there to undergo instruction by him in the dharma and ultimately become bodhisattvas and buddhas in their turn (the ultimate goal of Mahāyāna Buddhism). From there, these same bodhisattvas and buddhas return to our world to help yet more people while still residing in his land of Sukhāvatī, whose many virtues and joys are described.

References in Sutras
The earliest known reference to Amitābha in a sutra is the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra, translated into Chinese by Lokakṣema in 179 CE, with the discovery of a Gandhari language fragment of that sutra announced in 2018. Jeff Wilson writes that over a fifth of the sutras in the Taishō Tripiṭaka reference Amitābha, but three sutras in particular have become seen as canonical in East Asian Buddhism:

 * Amitayurdhyana Sutra
 * Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra
 * Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra

Amitābha is understood as the Buddha of comprehensive love. Amitābha's pure land is described as being in the West, and he works for the enlightenment of all beings (represented iconographically as a blessing Buddha). The Amitayurdhyana Sutra recommends and describes at length the practice of visualising Amitābha and the Pure Land. The other two sutras do not detail visualisation practices, and have been interpreted in different ways, such as the nianfo practice of repeatedly saying Amitābha's name. Other practices developed from these sutras include practices at the time of death, such as visualising Amitābha in the heaven (sun) over their head (Western horizon), think his name as a mantra, and leaving the body as a soul through the acupuncture point Bai Hui (百會).

Vajrayāna Buddhism
Amitābha is also known in Tibet, Mongolia, and other regions where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced. In the Highest Yogatantra of Tibetan Buddhism, Amitābha is considered one of the Five Dhyāni Buddhas (together with Akshobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, and Vairocana), who is associated with the western direction and the skandha of , the aggregate of distinguishing (recognition) and the deep awareness of individualities. His consort is Pāṇḍaravāsinī. His two main disciples (the same number as Gautama Buddha) are the bodhisattvas Vajrapani and Avalokiteśvara, the former to his left and the latter to his right. In Tibetan Buddhism, there exist a number of famous prayers for taking rebirth in Sukhāvatī (Dewachen). One of these was written by Je Tsongkhapa on the request of Manjushri (For a discussion and translation of the most important prayers in the Tibetan tradition see Halkias).

The Panchen Lamas and Shamarpas are considered to be emanations of Amitābha.

He is frequently invoked in Tibet either as Amitābha – especially in the phowa practices or as Amitāyus – especially in practices relating to longevity and preventing an untimely death.

In Shingon Buddhism, Amitābha is seen as one of the thirteen Buddhas to whom practitioners can pay homage. Shingon, like Tibetan Buddhism, also uses special devotional mantras for Amitābha, though the mantras used differ. Amitābha is also one of the Buddhas featured in the Womb Realm Mandala used in Shingon practices, and sits to the west, which is where the Pure Land of Amitābha is said to dwell.

Mantras
Amitābha is the center of a number of mantras in Vajrayana practices. The Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit form of the mantra of Amitābha is ॐ अमिताभ ह्रीः (Devanagari: ), which is pronounced in Japanese as Namu Amida Butsu and in its Tibetan version as Om ami dewa hri (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit: oṃ amideva hrīḥ). His mantra in Shingon Buddhism is Om amirita teizei kara um (Japanese: オン・アミリタ・テイゼイ・カラ・ウン), which represents the underlying Indic form .

In addition to using the mantras listed above, many Buddhist schools invoke Amitābha's name in a practice known as nianfo (念佛) in Chinese and nembutsu in Japanese.

Names in various languages

The proper form of Amitābha's name in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit is ', masculine, and the nominative singular is '. This is a compound of the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit words amita ("without bound, infinite") and ābhā ("light, splendor"). Consequently, the name is to be interpreted as "he who possesses light without bound, he whose splendor is infinite".

The name Amitāyus (nominative form ) is also used for the Sambhogakāya aspect of Amitābha, particularly associated with longevity. He is mostly depicted sitting and holding in his hands a vessel containing the nectar of immortality. In Tibetan Buddhism, Amitāyus is also one of the three deities of long life (Amitāyus, White Tara and Uṣṇīṣavijayā). Amitāyus being a compound of amita ("infinite") and āyus ("life"), and so means "he whose life is boundless".

In Chinese, 阿彌陀佛, pronounced "Ēmítuófó", is the Chinese pronunciation for the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit name of the Amitābha Buddha (Amida Buddha). The "e mi tuo" is the transliteration of the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit word "amita" which means "boundless" (無量, "wuliang"). "Fo" is the Chinese word for "Buddha".

In Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese, the same Chinese characters used for Amitābha are used to represent his name, though they are pronounced slightly differently:
 * Vietnamese: A Di Đà Phật
 * Korean: Amita Bul
 * Japanese: Amida Butsu.

In addition to transliteration, the name Amitābha has also been translated into Chinese using characters which, taken together, convey the meaning "Infinite Light": 無量光 (Wúliàngguāng). In the same fashion, the name Amitāyus ("Infinite Life") has been translated as 無量壽 (Wúliàngshòu). These translated names are not, however, very commonly used.

In Japanese, Amitābha is also called Amida Nyorai (阿弥陀如来).

In Tibetan, Amitābha is called  and in its reflex form as Amitāyus,. They are iconographically distinct.

Iconography
When in the descending standing position, Amitābha is often shown with left arm bare and extended downward with thumb and forefinger touching, with the right hand facing outward also with thumb and forefinger touching. The meaning of this mudra is that wisdom (symbolized by the raised hand) is accessible to even the lowest beings, while the outstretched hand shows that Amitābha's compassion is directed at the lowest beings, who cannot save themselves.

When not depicted alone, Amitābha is often portrayed with two assistant bodhisattvas, usually Avalokiteśvara on the right and Mahāsthāmaprāpta on the left. This iconography is known as an Amitabha triad, and is especially common in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art.

Amitābha is said to display 84,000 auspicious and distinguishing marks reflecting his many virtues. Amitābha can often be distinguished by his mudrā: Amitābha is often depicted, when shown seated, displaying the meditation mudrā (thumbs touching and fingers together as in the Great Buddha of Kamakura (鎌倉大仏) at Kōtoku-in or the exposition mudrā, while the earth-touching mudrā (right hand pointed downward over the right leg, palm inward) is reserved for a seated Gautama Buddha alone. He can also be seen holding a lotus in his hands while displaying the meditation mudrā.

There is a difference between Amitāyus and Amitābha. Amitāyus—the Buddha of Infinite Life—and Amitābha—the Buddha of Infinite Light—are essentially identical, being reflective images of one another. Sutras in which Gautama Buddha expounds the glories of Sukhavati, the Pure Lands, speak of the presiding Buddha sometimes as Amitābha and sometimes as Amitāyus. When depicted as Amitāyus he is depicted in fine clothes and jewels and as Amitābha in simple monk's clothing. They are also simply known as Amida in the Chinese and Japanese tradition. The image of the gold colored statue in the article is of Amitāyus as he is wearing a five-pointed crown, which is the easiest way to distinguish them. Amitāyus is an emanation of Amitābha. Amitābha is the head of the Lotus family.

In Vajrayana, Amitābha is the most ancient of the Dhyani Buddhas. He is of red color originating from the red seed syllable hrīḥ. He represents the cosmic element of "Sanjana" (name). His vehicle is the peacock. He exhibits Samadhi Mudra his two palms folded face up, one on top of the other, lying on his lap. The lotus is his sign. When represented on the stupa, he always faces toward west. He is worshiped thinking that one can have salvation.

Archeological origins
The first known epigraphic evidence for Amitābha is the bottom part of a statue found in Govindnagar, Pakistan and now located at Government Museum, Mathura. The statue is dated to "the 26th year of the reign of Huvishka" i.e., sometime in the latter half of the second century during the Kushan Empire, and was apparently dedicated to "Amitābha Buddha" by a family of merchants.

The first known sutra mentioning Amitābha is the translation into Chinese of the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra by the Kushan monk Lokaksema (Buddhist monk) around 180. This work is said to be at the origin of pure land practices in China and was integrated with and influenced by the already established Taoist and Confucian principles and practices.

The appearance of such literature and sculptural remains at the end of the second century suggests that the doctrine of Amitābha probably developed during the first and second centuries. Furthermore, there are sculptures of Amitabha in dhyani mudras as well as bronzes of Amitābha in abhaya mudra from the Gandhara era of the first century, suggesting the popularity of Amitābha during that time. One of the last prayer busts of Amitābha can be found in the trademark black stone of the Pala Empire, which was the last Buddhist empire of India.

title: Amitābha


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Ammavaru

Ammavaru (ಅಮ್ಮನವರು) (అమ్మావరు), in Hinduism, is the primordial goddess who is the combined form of Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Parvati who laid the egg in which the primordial gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva who already existed then entered and came out like hatching. "Amma" means mother in Telugu. She existed before the beginning of time.

A temple for Ammavaru is Dharmasthala Temple, located in Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India, Indian Subcontinent, where she is revered alongside Manjunatha, a form of Shiva and the Hinduism's Jainism sect Jain tirthankara Chandraprabha.

Once a year, the people of Indian Subcontinent who worship Ammavaru conduct a ritual prayer to the goddess. A metal pot filled with rice is used to symbolize the goddess' body. The pot is clothed in a traditional sari. At the mouth of the pot, a painted coconut is used to symbolize the goddess's head. Varying implements are used to fashion the eyes, ears, and nose of the goddess.

title: Ammavaru


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Amrita

Amrita (अमृत, IAST: amṛta), Amrit or Amata in Pali, (also called Sudha, Amiy, Ami) is a Sanskrit word that means "immortality". It is a central concept within Indian religions and is often referred to in ancient Indian texts as an elixir. Its first occurrence is in the Rigveda, where it is considered one of several synonyms for soma, the drink of the devas. Amrita plays a significant role in the Samudra Manthana, and is the cause of the conflict between devas and asuras competing for amrita to obtain immortality.

Amrita has varying significance in different Indian religions. The word Amrit is also a common first name for Sikhs and Hindus, while its feminine form is Amritā. Amrita is cognate to and shares many similarities with ambrosia; both originated from a common Proto-Indo-European source.

Etymology
Amrita is composed of the negative prefix, अ a from Sanskrit meaning 'not', and mṛtyu meaning 'death' in Sanskrit, thus meaning 'not death' or 'immortal/deathless'.

The concept of an immortality drink is attested in at least two ancient Indo-European languages: Ancient Greek and Sanskrit. The Greek ἀμβροσία (ambrosia, from ἀ- “not” + βροτός “mortal”) is semantically linked to the Sanskrit (amṛta) as both words denote a drink or food that gods use to achieve immortality. The two words appear to be derived from the same Indo-European form *ṇ-mṛ-tós, "un-dying" (n-: negative prefix from which the prefix a- in both Greek and Sanskrit are derived; mṛ: zero grade of *mer-, "to die"; and -to-: adjectival suffix). A semantically similar etymology exists for Greek nectar, the beverage of the gods (Greek: νέκταρ néktar) presumed to be a compound of the PIE roots *nek-, "death", and -*tar, "overcoming".

Hinduism
Amrita is repeatedly referred to as the drink of the devas, which grants them immortality. Despite this, the nectar does not actually offer true immortality. Instead, by partaking it, the devas were able to attain a higher level of knowledge and power, which they had lost due to the curse of the sage Durvasa, as described in the Samudra Manthana legend. It tells how the devas, after the curse, begin to lose their immortality. Assisted by their rivals, the asuras, the devas begin to churn the ocean, releasing, among other extraordinary objects and beings, a pitcher of amrita, held by the deity Dhanvantari.

Brahma enlightens the devas regarding the existence of this substance: "O Devas, in the northern division and on the northern bank of the ocean of milk there is a most excellent place called Amrita (nectar): so the wise say. Go there and being self-controlled practise hard austerities. There you will hear most sacred, purified words relating to Brahman grave like the muttering of clouds surcharged with water in the rainy season. That celestial speech is destructive of all sins and was spoken by the god of gods of pure soul. So long as your vow will not terminate you will hear that great universal speech. O gods, you have come to me and I am ready to grant you boons. Tell me what boon you do want." When the asuras claim the nectar for themselves, Vishnu assumes the form of the enchantress Mohini, and her beauty persuades the asuras to crudely offer her the task of its distribution: "Seeing that beautiful form, they were fascinated and were overwhelmed with the passion of love. Giving up their mutual struggle, they approached and spoke:

“O blessed lady! Take this pitcher of Nectar and distribute it amongst us. We are the sons of Kaśyapa; O lady with beautiful buttocks, make us all drink it (Nectar).”

Requesting her thus, they handed it over to the lady who was reluctant. She spoke, “No faith should be entertained in me, as I am a self-willed (i.e. wanton) woman. You have done an improper act. I shall, however, distribute it as per my will.” Though she told them so, those stupid ones said, “Do as you please”."When the danava Rahu disguised himself as a deva and sat in the clan's row to partake in consuming the nectar, Surya and Chandra alerted Mohini of his presence. Mohini sliced his head off with her Sudarshana Chakra, and continued to distribute the nectar to every single one of the devas, after which she assumed her true form of Narayana and defeated the asuras in a battle.

Sikhism
In Sikhism, amrit (ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ) is the name of the holy water used in Amrit Sanchar, a ceremony which resembles baptism. This ceremony is observed to initiate the Sikhs into the Khalsa and requires drinking amrit. This is created by mixing a number of soluble ingredients, including sugar, and is then rolled with a khanda with the accompaniment of scriptural recitation of five sacred verses.

Metaphorically, God's name is also referred to as a nectar: ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸਬਦੁ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਹਰਿ ਬਾਣੀ ॥ Amrit sabad amrit hari bāṇī. The Shabda is Amrit; the Lord's bani is Amrit. ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਸੇਵਿਐ ਰਿਦੈ ਸਮਾਣੀ ॥ Satiguri sēviai ridai samāṇī. Serving the True Guru, it permeates the heart. ਨਾਨਕ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਨਾਮੁ ਸਦਾ ਸੁਖਦਾਤਾ ਪੀ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਸਭ ਭੁਖ ਲਹਿ ਜਾਵਣਿਆ ॥ Nānak amrit nāmu sadā sukhdātā pī amritu sabha bhukh lahi jāvaṇiā. O Nanak, the Ambrosial Naam is forever the Giver of peace; drinking in this Amrit, all hunger is satisfied.

Buddhism
Buddha is called as "Amata Santam" in Pali Literature.

Theravada Buddhism
According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the deathless" refers to the deathless dimension of the mind which is dwelled in permanently after nibbana.

In the Amata Sutta, the Buddha advises monks to stay with the four Satipatthana: "Monks, remain with your minds well-established in these four establishings of mindfulness. Don't let the deathless be lost to you."

In the questions for Nagasena, King Milinda asks for evidence that the Buddha once lived, wherein Nagasena describes evidence of the Dhamma in a simile:

""Revered Nagasena, what is the nectar shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?"

"Nectar, sire, has been pointed out by the Blessed One. With this nectar the Blessed One sprinkles the world with the devas; when the devas and the humans have been sprinkled with this nectar, they are set free from birth, aging, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. What is this nectar? It is mindfulness occupied with the body. And this too, sire, was said by the Blessed One: 'Monks, they partake of nectar (the deathless) who partake of mindfulness that is occupied with the body.' This, sire, is called the Blessed One's nectar shop."

— Miln 335"

Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism describes Amrita as blessed water, food, or other consumable objects often produced through merits of chanting mantras.

Vajrayana Buddhism
Amrita also plays a significant role in Vajrayana Buddhism as a sacramental drink which is consumed at the beginning of all important rituals such as the abhisheka, ganachakra, and homa. In the Tibetan tradition, dütsi is made during drubchens – lengthy ceremonies involving many high lamas. It usually takes the form of small, dark-brown grains that are taken with water, or dissolved in very weak solutions of alcohol and is said to improve physical and spiritual well-being.

The foundational text of traditional Tibetan medicine, the Four Tantras, is also known by the name The Heart of Amrita.

The Immaculate Crystal Garland describes the origin of amrita in a version of the samudra manthana legend retold in Buddhist terms. In this Vajrayana version, the monster Rahu steals the amrita and is blasted by Vajrapani's thunderbolt. As Rahu has already drunk the amrita he cannot die, but his blood, dripping onto the surface of this earth, causes all kinds of medicinal plants to grow. At the behest of all the Buddhas, Vajrapani reassembles Rahu who eventually becomes a protector of Buddhism according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Inner Offering is the most symbolic amrita offering assembly, and the Inner Offering Nectar Pill  is a precious and secret medicine of Tibetan Buddhism, which are only used internally for higher-ranking monks in Nyingma school. Its ingredients including Five Amrita and Five Meat, which represents five buddhas, and five elements respectively. According to Tantras of Chakravarti, and Tantras of Vajravārāhī, a ceremony needs to be held for melting and blessing the Inner-Offering Nectar. Five Nectar needs to be arranged in four directions: yellow excrement in the east, green bone marrow in the north, white semen in the west and red blood in the south; blue urine is placed in the center. Four Nectar should come from wise monks and the ova should be collected from the first menstruation of a blessed woman. The Five Meats are arranged similarly, meat of black bull in the southeast, the meat of the blue dog in the southwest, the meat of the white elephant in the northwest, the meat of the green horse in the northeast, and the meat of a red human corpse in the center. After the ceremony, these ingredients will transform into a one taste (ekarasa) elixir, which bestows bliss, vitality, immortality and wisdom. Actual modern practitioners will take a 'synthesized essence' of the Nectar Pill and combine it with energy drinks and alcohol, but mostly the "Nectar Pill" are derived from plants.

title: Amrita


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Vasu

The Vasus (वसु) are a group of deities in Hinduism associated with fire and light. They are described as the attendant deities of Indra, and later Vishnu. Generally numbering eight and classified as the Ashtavasu, they are described in the Ramayana as the children of Kashyapa and Aditi, and in the Mahabharata as the sons of Manu or Dharma and a daughter of Daksha named Vasu. They are eight among the thirty-three gods featured in the Vedas.

Etymology
The Sanskrit term Vasu(s) is translated as the "bright ones".

List
There are varying lists of the eight Vasus in different texts, sometimes only because particular deities have varying names. The following are names and meanings according to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Manava Purana, and according to the Mahabharata, as normally equated:

Though the Shatapatha Brahmana uses the Brhad-Aranyaka names, most later texts follow the Mahabharata names with the exception that Āpa 'water' usually appears in place of Aha. The Vishnu Purana equates Prabhāsa with the lights of the 27 Nakshatras (Constellations/Lunar Mansions) and Dhruva with Akasha, that is "space", Dhruva seemingly taking over Aha's role when Aha is replaced by Āpa.

Legend
In the Ramayana the Vasus are children of Aditi and Kashyapa.

The Mahabharata relates how the Vasus, led by "Prithu" (presumably here a male form of Prithvi), were enjoying themselves in the forest, when the wife of Prabhasa (also referred to as Dyaus) spotted a divine cow and persuaded her husband Prabhasa to steal it, which Prabhasa did with the agreement and aid of Prithu and his other brothers. Unfortunately for the Vasus, the cow was owned by the sage Vashishta who learned through his ascetic powers that the Vasus had stolen it. He immediately cursed them to be born on earth as mortals. Vashishta responded to pleading by the Vasus by promising that seven of them would be free of earthly life within a year of being born and that only Prabhasa would pay the full penalty. The Vasus then requested the river-goddess Ganga to be their mother. Ganga incarnated and became the wife of King Shantanu on condition that he never gainsaid her in any way. As seven children were born, one after the other, Ganga drowned them in her own waters, freeing them from their punishment and the king made no opposition. Only when the eighth was born did the king finally oppose his wife, who therefore left him. So the eighth son, Prabhasa incarnated, remained alive, imprisoned in mortal form, and later became known in his mortal incarnation as Bhishma.

Other uses
Vasu is also the name of the eighth chakra (group) of Melakarta ragas in Carnatic music. The names of chakras are based on the numbers associated with each name. In this case, there are 8 Vasus and hence the eighth chakra is Vasu.

title: Vasu


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Anila

Anila (अनिल) is one of the Vasus in Hinduism, the gods of the elements of the cosmos. He is often associated with the wind god Vayu, regarded to be a form of the deity when numbered among the Vasus.

title: Anila


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Dharā

In Hinduism, Dharā (Sanskrit: धरा; Support) is one of the Vasus, gods of the physical cosmos. He represents the earth and the element earth, though Earth is usually the goddess Prithvi rather than a god. Dhārā (Sanskrit: धारा) is a Sanskrit term used to refer to the flow of a stream or waterfall.

title: Dharā


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Standard ML

Standard ML (SML) is a general-purpose, high-level, modular, functional programming language with compile-time type checking and type inference. It is popular for writing compilers, for programming language research, and for developing theorem provers.

Standard ML is a modern dialect of ML, the language used in the Logic for Computable Functions (LCF) theorem-proving project. It is distinctive among widely used languages in that it has a formal specification, given as typing rules and operational semantics in The Definition of Standard ML.

Language
Standard ML is a functional programming language with some impure features. Programs written in Standard ML consist of expressions in contrast to statements or commands, although some expressions of type unit are only evaluated for their side-effects.

Functions
Like all functional languages, a key feature of Standard ML is the function, which is used for abstraction. The factorial function can be expressed as follows:

Type inference
An SML compiler must infer the static type val factorial : int -> int without user-supplied type annotations. It has to deduce that n is only used with integer expressions, and must therefore itself be an integer, and that all terminal expressions are integer expressions.

Declarative definitions
The same function can be expressed with clausal function definitions where the if-then-else conditional is replaced with templates of the factorial function evaluated for specific values:

Imperative definitions
or iteratively:

Lambda functions
or as a lambda function:

Here, the keyword val introduces a binding of an identifier to a value, fn introduces an anonymous function, and rec allows the definition to be self-referential.

Local definitions
The encapsulation of an invariant-preserving tail-recursive tight loop with one or more accumulator parameters within an invariant-free outer function, as seen here, is a common idiom in Standard ML.

Using a local function, it can be rewritten in a more efficient tail-recursive style:

Type synonyms
A type synonym is defined with the keyword type. Here is a type synonym for points on a plane, and functions computing the distances between two points, and the area of a triangle with the given corners as per Heron's formula. (These definitions will be used in subsequent examples).

Algebraic datatypes
Standard ML provides strong support for algebraic datatypes (ADT). A data type can be thought of as a disjoint union of tuples (or a "sum of products"). They are easy to define and easy to use, largely because of pattern matching, and most Standard ML implementations' pattern-exhaustiveness checking and pattern redundancy checking.

In object-oriented programming languages, a disjoint union can be expressed as class hierarchies. However, in contrast to class hierarchies, ADTs are closed. Thus, the extensibility of ADTs is orthogonal to the extensibility of class hierarchies. Class hierarchies can be extended with new subclasses which implement the same interface, while the functions of ADTs can be extended for the fixed set of constructors. See expression problem.

A datatype is defined with the keyword datatype, as in:

Note that a type synonym cannot be recursive; datatypes are necessary to define recursive constructors. (This is not at issue in this example.)

Pattern matching
Patterns are matched in the order in which they are defined. C programmers can use tagged unions, dispatching on tag values, to do what ML does with datatypes and pattern matching. Nevertheless, while a C program decorated with appropriate checks will, in a sense, be as robust as the corresponding ML program, those checks will of necessity be dynamic; ML's static checks provide strong guarantees about the correctness of the program at compile time.

Function arguments can be defined as patterns as follows:

The so-called "clausal form" of function definition, where arguments are defined as patterns, is merely syntactic sugar for a case expression:

Exhaustiveness checking
Pattern-exhaustiveness checking will make sure that each constructor of the datatype is matched by at least one pattern.

The following pattern is not exhaustive:

There is no pattern for the Triangle case in the center function. The compiler will issue a warning that the case expression is not exhaustive, and if a Triangle is passed to this function at runtime, exception Match will be raised.

Redundancy checking
The pattern in the second clause of the following (meaningless) function is redundant:

Any value that would match the pattern in the second clause would also match the pattern in the first clause, so the second clause is unreachable. Therefore, this definition as a whole exhibits redundancy, and causes a compile-time warning.

The following function definition is exhaustive and not redundant:

If control gets past the first pattern (Circle), we know the shape must be either a Square or a Triangle. In either of those cases, we know the shape has corners, so we can return true without discerning the actual shape.

Higher-order functions
Functions can consume functions as arguments:

Functions can produce functions as return values:

Functions can also both consume and produce functions:

The function List.map from the basis library is one of the most commonly used higher-order functions in Standard ML:

A more efficient implementation with tail-recursive List.foldl:

Exceptions
Exceptions are raised with the keyword raise and handled with the pattern matching handle construct. The exception system can implement non-local exit; this optimization technique is suitable for functions like the following.

When exception Zero is raised, control leaves the function List.foldl altogether. Consider the alternative: the value 0 would be returned, it would be multiplied by the next integer in the list, the resulting value (inevitably 0) would be returned, and so on. The raising of the exception allows control to skip over the entire chain of frames and avoid the associated computation. Note the use of the underscore (_) as a wildcard pattern.

The same optimization can be obtained with a tail call.

Module system
Standard ML's advanced module system allows programs to be decomposed into hierarchically organized structures of logically related type and value definitions. Modules provide not only namespace control but also abstraction, in the sense that they allow the definition of abstract data types. Three main syntactic constructs comprise the module system: signatures, structures and functors.

Signatures
A signature is an interface, usually thought of as a type for a structure; it specifies the names of all entities provided by the structure, the arity of each type component, the type of each value component, and the signature of each substructure. The definitions of type components are optional; type components whose definitions are hidden are abstract types.

For example, the signature for a queue may be:

This signature describes a module that provides a polymorphic type 'a queue, exception QueueError, and values that define basic operations on queues.

Structures
A structure is a module; it consists of a collection of types, exceptions, values and structures (called substructures) packaged together into a logical unit.

A queue structure can be implemented as follows:

This definition declares that structure TwoListQueue implements signature QUEUE. Furthermore, the opaque ascription denoted by :> states that any types which are not defined in the signature (i.e. type 'a queue) should be abstract, meaning that the definition of a queue as a pair of lists is not visible outside the module. The structure implements all of the definitions in the signature.

The types and values in a structure can be accessed with "dot notation":

Functors
A functor is a function from structures to structures; that is, a functor accepts one or more arguments, which are usually structures of a given signature, and produces a structure as its result. Functors are used to implement generic data structures and algorithms.

One popular algorithm for breadth-first search of trees makes use of queues. Here is a version of that algorithm parameterized over an abstract queue structure:

Within functor BFS, the representation of the queue is not visible. More concretely, there is no way to select the first list in the two-list queue, if that is indeed the representation being used. This data abstraction mechanism makes the breadth-first search truly agnostic to the queue's implementation. This is in general desirable; in this case, the queue structure can safely maintain any logical invariants on which its correctness depends behind the bulletproof wall of abstraction.

Code examples
Snippets of SML code are most easily studied by entering them into an interactive top-level.

Hello, world!
The following is a "Hello, World!" program:

Insertion sort
Insertion sort for int list (ascending) can be expressed concisely as follows:

Mergesort
Here, the classic mergesort algorithm is implemented in three functions: split, merge and mergesort. Also note the absence of types, with the exception of the syntax op :: and [] which signify lists. This code will sort lists of any type, so long as a consistent ordering function cmp is defined. Using Hindley–Milner type inference, the types of all variables can be inferred, even complicated types such as that of the function cmp.

Split

fun split is implemented with a stateful closure which alternates between true and false, ignoring the input:

Merge

Merge uses a local function loop for efficiency. The inner loop is defined in terms of cases: when both lists are non-empty (x :: xs) and when one list is empty ([]).

This function merges two sorted lists into one sorted list. Note how the accumulator acc is built backwards, then reversed before being returned. This is a common technique, since 'a list is represented as a linked list; this technique requires more clock time, but the asymptotics are not worse.

Mergesort

The main function:

Quicksort
Quicksort can be expressed as follows. fun part is a closure that consumes an order operator op <<.

Expression interpreter
Note the relative ease with which a small expression language can be defined and processed:

Example usage on well-typed and ill-typed expressions:

Arbitrary-precision integers
The IntInf module provides arbitrary-precision integer arithmetic. Moreover, integer literals may be used as arbitrary-precision integers without the programmer having to do anything.

The following program implements an arbitrary-precision factorial function:

Partial application
Curried functions have many applications, such as eliminating redundant code. For example, a module may require functions of type a -> b, but it is more convenient to write functions of type a * c -> b where there is a fixed relationship between the objects of type a and c. A function of type c -> (a * c -> b) -> a -> b can factor out this commonality. This is an example of the adapter pattern.

In this example, fun d computes the numerical derivative of a given function f at point x:

The type of fun d indicates that it maps a "float" onto a function with the type (real -> real) -> real -> real. This allows us to partially apply arguments, known as currying. In this case, function d can be specialised by partially applying it with the argument delta. A good choice for delta when using this algorithm is the cube root of the machine epsilon.

The inferred type indicates that d' expects a function with the type real -> real as its first argument. We can compute an approximation to the derivative of $$f(x) = x^3-x-1$$ at $$x=3$$. The correct answer is $$f'(3) = 27-1 = 26$$.

Standard
The Basis Library has been standardized and ships with most implementations. It provides modules for trees, arrays, and other data structures, and input/output and system interfaces.

Third party
For numerical computing, a Matrix module exists (but is currently broken), https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/pscico/pscico/src/matrix/README.html.

For graphics, cairo-sml is an open source interface to the Cairo graphics library. For machine learning, a library for graphical models exists.

Implementations
Implementations of Standard ML include the following:

Standard
 * HaMLet: a Standard ML interpreter that aims to be an accurate and accessible reference implementation of the standard
 * MLton (mlton.org): a whole-program optimizing compiler which strictly conforms to the Definition and produces very fast code compared to other ML implementations, including backends for LLVM and C
 * Moscow ML: a light-weight implementation, based on the Caml Light runtime engine which implements the full Standard ML language, including modules and much of the basis library
 * Poly/ML: a full implementation of Standard ML that produces fast code and supports multicore hardware (via Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) threads); its runtime system performs parallel garbage collection and online sharing of immutable substructures.
 * Standard ML of New Jersey (smlnj.org): a full compiler, with associated libraries, tools, an interactive shell, and documentation with support for Concurrent ML
 * SML.NET: a Standard ML compiler for the Common Language Runtime with extensions for linking with other .NET framework code
 * ML Kit : an implementation based very closely on the Definition, integrating a garbage collector (which can be disabled) and region-based memory management with automatic inference of regions, aiming to support real-time applications

Derivative
 * Alice: an interpreter for Standard ML by Saarland University with support for parallel programming using futures, lazy evaluation, distributed computing via remote procedure calls and constraint programming
 * SML#: an extension of SML providing record polymorphism and C language interoperability. It is a conventional native compiler and its name is not an allusion to running on the .NET framework
 * SOSML: an implementation written in TypeScript, supporting most of the SML language and select parts of the basis library

Research
 * CakeML is a REPL version of ML with formally verified runtime and translation to assembler.
 * Isabelle (Isabelle/ML ) integrates parallel Poly/ML into an interactive theorem prover, with a sophisticated IDE (based on jEdit) for official Standard ML (SML'97), the Isabelle/ML dialect, and the proof language. Starting with Isabelle2016, there is also a source-level debugger for ML.
 * Poplog implements a version of Standard ML, along with Common Lisp and Prolog, allowing mixed language programming; all are implemented in POP-11, which is compiled incrementally.
 * TILT is a full certifying compiler for Standard ML which uses typed intermediate languages to optimize code and ensure correctness, and can compile to typed assembly language.

All of these implementations are open-source and freely available. Most are implemented themselves in Standard ML. There are no longer any commercial implementations; Harlequin, now defunct, once produced a commercial IDE and compiler called MLWorks which passed on to Xanalys and was later open-sourced after it was acquired by Ravenbrook Limited on April 26, 2013.

Major projects using SML
The IT University of Copenhagen's entire enterprise architecture is implemented in around 100,000 lines of SML, including staff records, payroll, course administration and feedback, student project management, and web-based self-service interfaces.

The proof assistants HOL4, Isabelle, LEGO, and Twelf are written in Standard ML. It is also used by compiler writers and integrated circuit designers such as ARM.

title: Standard ML