Pre-Modern Modernity: Ahalya, Agency, and Aesthetic Rebellion in Telugu Poetics

Abstract This paper examines Samukhamu Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka’s 18th-century Telugu kāvya, Ahalyā-saṅkrandanamu, arguing that the text functions as an anticipatory precursor to modern psychological realism. Challenging the traditional Sanskrit and medieval vernacular consensus that frames Ahalya either as a passive victim of divine deception or as a moral transgressor requiring punitive redemption, Venkata Krishnappa radicalizes the purāṇic myth. By embedding the narrative within a suffocating,joint-family panopticon and establishing mutual affection between Ahalya and Indra prior to her arranged marriage to Gautama, the poet reframes the ashram not as a sacred sanctuary, but as an ideological and domestic prison. This study explores Ahalya’s fierce psychological interiority, her aesthetic connoisseurship, and her demand for explicit consent against the backdrop of Gautama's preemptive surveillance. Furthermore, it traces Indra’s narrative arc from an arrogant, imperial playboy to a suffering, mono-ideational virahi. Ultimately, the text subverts epic conventions long before 20th-century modern vernacular revisions, presenting a heroine whose unbowed dignity—manifested in her unrepentant response to the curse—vindicates female desire and autonomy over rigid patriarchal dharma.