India, Dec. 25 -- By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

She is the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ and she is draped in sari. Thousands of devotees throng her shrine at Vailankanni in Tamil Nadu, deemed basilica by the Roman Catholic Church in 1962.

They bow to her, stretch out their hands to her, lie on their face before her, crawl to her shrine, sing songs of her glory, weep in joy, shave their heads and offer her flowers, saris and candles as an expression of their devotion, for she is the Lady of Good Health.

The story goes that in the 16th century, a cowherd was on his way to the market to sell milk when he stopped to drink water from a pond and rest under a banyan tree. A woman appeared before h...