Mamta Kulkarni, Ishika Taneja, Monalisa Bhosle, Harsha Richhariya and Diza Sharma are grabbing as much attention at the Mahakumbh as Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath.

A clutch of actresses, social media influencers and models have positioned themselves as flagbearers of Sanatan Dharma at the Kumbh and stoked curiosity among devotees.

Ishika Taneja, 35, who has appeared in music videos and acted in some web series, is camping at the Mahakumbh and preaching faith in Sanatan Dharma. Banners put up across the Mela area declare her as a “Sanatani, actress, Miss World Tourism”. She claims to have taken diksha from the Shankaracharya of the Dwarka Peeth, Sadananda Saraswati, and has been renamed Ishika Sri Lakshmi.

Ishika was also invited to the meeting of the All India Akhara Parishad on January 25 where she proclaimed that her sole aim was to propagate Sanatan.

People have been flocking to her camp to catch a glimpse of her. She told reporters at the Kumbh: “I am not a sadhavi but I am dedicated to Sanatan.”

Asked about a few others, Ishika said: “Monalisa is a beautiful Sanatani but Harsha Richariya is here to increase her followers on Instagram.”

(From left) Mamta Kulkarni, Monalisa Bhosle and Diza Sharma

Monalisa Bhosle, 18, who grabbed intense media attention as the “brown-eyed girl selling beads at the Kumbh”, has bagged a film titled The Diary of Manipur. The director, Sanoj Mishra, travelled to Monalisa’s home in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh to sign her for the lead role last week. Mishra, who has made The Diary of West Bengal, which revolves around a Hindu girl who falls victim to “love jihad” and suggests the Bengal government panders to a community for vote politics, said: “Instead of choosing rich, spoilt girls who smoke weed and drink alcohol, I have picked a poor and cultured girl for my film.” The comments, besides being distasteful, mirror those the Right wing often uses to vilify Bollywood.

Harsha Richhariya, a social media influencer from Bhopal, had been seen in the initial days of the Kumbh in the company of Kailashanand Giri, a sadhu of the Niranjani Akhara. She had claimed in the beginning that she was a sadhvi but soon backtracked and said she had merely taken diksha from Kailashanand.

“I am happy that the media has helped me to become more popular,” she said. After some sadhus opposed her presence in the Mela area in saffron clothes, she shifted base from Kailashanand’s camp to the camp of Ravindra Puri, the president of the All India Akhara Parishad.

Her father Dinesh Richhariya, a retired bus conductor, was quoted as saying in Bhopal: “Maybe she is into spirituality but we are looking for a groom for her. She will get married in a year or two.”

Her mother Kiran Richhariya, who runs a boutique from her home, said: “We had gone to the Kumbh in 2004 but the police didn’t allow us to take the holy dip. That day my daughter had said, ‘Mom, I’ll come back to this place in a big way.’”

Mamta Kulkarni, the 90s Bollywood actress who disappeared from the scene amid allegations of links to the underworld, resurfaced recently after 20 years at the Kumbh where she was anointed as a Mahamandaleshwar, who are high on the piety pecking order.

Mamta was presented at the Kinnar Akhara a fortnight ago and adopted the name Yamai Mamta Nand Giri.

In June 2016, the Thane police had named Mamta in a ₹2,000-crore international drug and trafficking case. Bombay High Court quashed the case against her in August 2024.

Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender sadhu at the akhara, had backed Mamta’s claim that she had been doing “tapasya” for 23 years. Some other sadhus, however, have alleged that Mamta was trying to convert several thousand crores of underworld black money into white by misusing religion.

Religious donations are not subjected to audits and taxes.

Mamta’s entry has created a split in the Kinnar Akhara. Ajay Das, the founder of the akhara, said he had removed Lakshmi and Mamta from the akhara and withdrawn all their titles. But Himangi Sakhi, a Mahamandaleshwar of Kinnar Akhara, said: “There is nothing wrong in making Mamta a Mahamandaleshwar. Ajay Das is not active in the Akhara since 2019.”

While banners of Modi and Adityanath have overrun the Mela grounds, Diza Sharma, a former air hostess, quickly aced the media game after arriving at the Kumbh three weeks ago. Since then, she has been all over news channels and social media platforms. Sporting saffron clothes and rudraksh around her neck, Diza said: “I turned to spirituality after the death of my mother six months ago.”

“I am not like Harsha Richhariya,” she said, adding that she was “seriously into spirituality”.

Mamata Vashisth from Delhi, who got married two months ago, was declared a Mahamandakeshwar by the Kinnar Akhara. “I was deeply spiritual from the beginning. I have come to the Kumbh to take sanyas after taking my husband’s permission. He is also here. I joined the Kinnar Akhara because it is safe for women,” she said.

Swami Anand Swaroop, the head of the Sambhavi Peeth, said none of these women had anything to do with Sanatan Dharma. “They are here to increase their followers. I don’t want to say much, but they should be kept away from the Kumbh,” he said.

An official posted at the Mela said: “Everybody is free here to publicise themselves. Even babas are advertising themselves through newspapers, social media and banners. Managing the mela is an arduous job, a little bit of entertainment is fine for us.”