What was the real reason Baba had the women grind wheat and then throw the flour away at the village boundary?

The act of grinding wheat held a much deeper significance than it first appeared. According to Chapter 1, the wheat Baba was grinding was not merely grain; it was a symbolic representation of the cholera epidemic that was afflicting the village. Baba's intention was to spiritually combat and eradicate the disease. By having the women grind the "wheat" into "flour" and then instructing them to cast it upon the village boundary, he was symbolically grinding the epidemic itself and driving it out of the village. The text confirms that after the flour was thrown near the stream at the boundary, the disease began to recede, and the "bad days ended."