India, March 6 -- By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

In Hindu mythology, the four months of the rainy season is when Vishnu sleeps. Who protects the world then? It is the Goddess, identified as Yogamaya. And so traditionally, women's festivals, involving Goddesses, are found in the latter half of the rainy season after the autumn equinox.

In the Deccan region, autumn is the time when Vara-Lakshmi and Mangala-Gauri are worshipped in the form of a pot by women. In the Hindi speaking belt, it begins with the three Teej festivals (Hariyali, Kajari, Hartalika). In Maharashtra's coastal region, people celebrate Gauri's arrival at her parent's house. Shortly thereafter comes Navaratri, the festival of Durga ba...