What is Parvati?

Parvati is an example of wealth and privilege. In many ways, she is the opposite of Lakshmi. She has a husband who provides everything she could ever want. She has her own house, her own children, and can afford Lakshmi’s henna whenever she pleases. Her high-class world is something that Lakshmi only glimpses through time spent with her clients. And Parvati’s wealth gives her the ability to do whatever she wants to do, including spreading advice and rumors to the rich women around her. In the end, however, the author shows through Parvati and Lakshmi’s confrontation that privilege does not necessarily mean happiness, and Parvati is left with a cheating husband and promiscuous son.