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.