Ravishankar married Bhawani Devi, then sixteen years of age, in June 1902. Six months after their marriage, the plague epidemic spread in the town of Jabalpur. Pt. Shukla in those days was residing in Andher-Deo. It was here that Bhawani Devi fell a victim of the dreaded plague. It was as if plague was now testing Pandit Shukla. With courage he nursed Bhawani Devi. He treated her with both the Ayurvedic system and modern medicine. The doctor advised him to administer meat juice to her. Born in a stout Vaishnav family where staunch vegetarianism was practised for generations, to save her life, he decided to experiment with doctor's advice and served her Brand's Essence of Mutton and Chicken. The Vaidya advised him to administer her the mica-ash. With the spread of the epidemic the servants and the milkman died and the entire neighborhood was empty. He heartily continued nursing her on a day and night battle which lasted a full month and five days and finally saved her from the clutches of the dreaded disease. As soon as she was out of danger he decided to immediately move to Rajnandgaon. On 20 January 1903 he reached Rajnandgaon and, now that she was cured, he garlanded her with empty tin cans of Brand's Essence and explained to her how he was compelled to resort to this treatment to save her life.