Apala (अपाला) means "unprotected" or "without protection" in Sanskrit. **Apala Atreyi** was the Vedic poet-sage — **author of Rig Veda 8.91**, her hymn to Indra, who in return for her devotion healed her of a skin ailment that had caused her abandonment by her husband. One of the named female Rishikas of the Rig Veda.
Featured in Rig Veda 8.91.
Apala reduces to seven — the number of Vedic healed.