Mahakumbh Nagar (UP): After enthralling her fans, film lovers and audience in various roles and characters she played, actor Mamta Kulkarni on Friday embarked on a spiritual journey by renouncing her worldly life and assuming a new identity of ‘Mai Mamta Nand Giri’, the Uttar Pradesh government said.
In a statement, the UP government said in the ongoing Maha Kumbh, Kulkarni first took ‘sanyas’ in the Kinnar Akhara and then she got a new name ‘Mai Mamta Nand Giri’ in the same akhara.
After enthralling her fans, film lovers and audience with various characters, actor Mamta Kulkarni on Friday embarked on a spiritual journey by renouncing her worldly life and assuming a new identity of ‘Mai Mamta Nand Giri’.
In a statement, the UP government said in the ongoing Maha Kumbh, Kulkarni first took ‘sanyas’ in the Kinnar Akhara and then she got a new name ‘Mai Mamta Nand Giri’ in the same akhara. After performing ‘Pind Daan’, the Kinnar Akhara performed her pattabhishek (consecration ceremony).
Mamta Kulkarni, 52, reached the Kinnar Akhara in Maha Kumbh on Friday where she met Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Laxmi Narayan Tripathi of Kinnar Akhara and sought his blessings. She also met the president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP), Mahant Ravindra Puri.
Kulkarni took a dip in the sacred waters of the Sangam and was seen in the clothes of a ‘sadhvi’.
Kinnar Akhara’s Mahamandaleshwar Kaushalya Nand Giri alias Tina Maa told PTI that Mamta Kulkarni performed her own ‘Pind Daan’ on the banks of River Ganga on Friday. Around 8 pm, she was consecrated as mahamandaleshwar amid Vedic chanting in the Kinnar Akhara.
With this induction, Mamta Kulkarni joins the ranks of the revered mahamandaleshwars — a title given to spiritual leaders who play a vital role in religious discourse and social upliftment.
After sanyas and pattabhishek, Kulkarni said it would be “my good fortune that I am also becoming a witness in this holy moment of Maha Kumbh”. She said she was receiving the blessings of the saints.
Speaking to reporters, Kulkarni said, “I started my tapasya in 2000. And I chose Laxmi Narayan Tripathi as my pattaguru because today is Friday… it is the day of Maha Kaali (Goddess Kaali). Yesterday, preparations were on to make me a mahamandaleshwar. But today Maa Shakti instructed me that I choose Laxmi Narayan Tripathi because that person is a ‘saakshaat’ (direct) form of Ardhnaareshwar. What else can be a bigger title than an Ardhnaareshwar doing my pattabhishek.’”
