Widowed Bhavanidevi guidelines her palatial residence with an iron hand. Nothing is permitted to be touched or moved with out her permission and approval. She has two sons, and one daughter. She dotes on her daughter, Shobha, and son-in-law, Khubchand. When her eldest son marries a younger girl, Sheela, Bhavani is enraged as a result of Sheela didn't herald sufficient dowry. To show Sheela a lesson, she burns her foot, leaving a petrified Sheela submissive and open to much more abuse. When Bhavani's second son will get married with out her permission, she is angered much more, and won't have something to do along with her new daughter-in-law, Durga. When Durga insists on dwelling there, she is permitted to take action, not realizing that she has now entered a family the place she shall be one other abused and submissive slave to her dominating mother-in-law.
