 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.