What was the real reason Sai Baba ground wheat, and what happened to the flour?

The act of grinding wheat was a symbolic play by Sai Baba to protect the village. As explained in Chapter 1, the wheat he ground was not just grain but represented a cholera epidemic that was afflicting the area. By grinding it, he was symbolically crushing the disease. Afterwards, he became angry with four women who greedily intended to take the flour for themselves. Baba ordered them, "Go and throw this flour on the village boundary (Shiwar) now." This act of disposing of the flour at the village edge was his method of driving the epidemic away. The narrative states that after the flour was thrown near the stream, the disease began to recede and the bad days ended.