 Mhalsa is described as pure, ugly, jealous and a good cook; Banai is impure, erotic, resolute, but does not even know to cook.Mhalsa represents "culture" while Banai "nature"; together they aid the god-king Khandoba.The oral legends and texts initiate a process of Sanskritization of the folk deity Khandoba by elevating him to the classical Hindu god Shiva; his two principal wives Mhalsa and Banai are equated to Parvati and Ganga.