Menoctoberish - a month of festivals

Day six of Navratri is known as Sashti. Green is the colour of the day and people are advised to wear cloth of this colour. On this Day, people worship Goddess Durga in the form of Katyayani.

According to a legend, sage Katya wanted to welcome the goddess as his daughter. To please the goddess, Katya performed many formalities. The goddess was finally pleased with Katya and took birth in his home as his daughter and was known as Katyayani.

Symbolically, this avatar carries the sword of judgement and retribution, the lotus of desire and material existence, the mudra (gesture) of benevolence and the mudra of protection. Usually depicted riding a lion, it is sometimes a tiger... either way, there is a force and strength implied. Maa, in this form, is ready to do battle with demons. From this, we are to infer that we can call upon her to help us overcome our sins (sword) and vices (lotus), that she will protect us from ourselves and will bless us if we are truly remorseful.

In the schema of the woman's life cycle, here is the mother of teenagers finding ways to still keep things balanced in the face of some challenging behaviours!