Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.131

c9.131

Next, Viśvāmitra, hearing about the Svayaṃvara of Sitā, daughter of King Janaka started for his palace with Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, and on the way he told the boys many Purāṇic stories. They bathed in the river Gaṅgā and a short walk took them to the vacant āśrama of Gautama. The great muni called Gautama had once lived in this āśrama with his dutiful wife Ahalyā and their son Śatānanda, an erudite scholar in all sciences. Indra, who lost his head over the great beauty of Ahalyā went to the āśrama one midnight in the form of a cock and crew. Thinking it was already dawn Gautama went to the river for bath when Indra assumed the form of the muni, entered his bed room and slept with Ahalyā. When Gautama understood the fraud thus played upon him, he cursed her into a stone. She was to resume her old form when, during Tretāyuga, Śrī