Mumbai: Social activist Harsha Richhariya, who went viral during Mahakumbh 2025, has been in news currently for abandoning the religious path she had vowed to follow during the holy event.
Harsha, who calls herself an influencer and model, while talking to IANS, stated that she is just an ordinary human being and not Goddess Sita for continuously giving ‘Agni Pariksha’, further adding that the stress and pressure she faced from opposition made her suicidal.
“I am not Maha Sita, nor am I even worthy of the dust of her feet. I am an ordinary human being with a limited capacity to endure,” said Harsha. “I can stay calm and keep giving tests only up to a point. For the past year, I have tried to remain patient. But during this time, I have been mentally disturbed many times. I have suffered immense mental torture. I have fallen seriously ill and experienced severe migraine attacks. There were moments when I even tried to end my life,” she told IANS.
She added, “After going through all this, I asked myself, should I die, or should I leave this path? The path that feels right for me and my family is being opposed by many people. I don’t understand the reason behind this opposition.”
She said that probably people can’t see women growing in life, which is why she is facing immense hardships. “Maybe it is because some people cannot see a daughter moving ahead. Maybe it is jealousy, competition, or something else entirely. But when religious leaders repeatedly stand against you, again and again, it makes you feel like giving up that path altogether.”
Talking about the religious path she chose, Harsha spoke of how, while there was nothing wrong with it, she chose to back out of it.
“There was never anything wrong with that path. There was only a difference in noise. On one side, there was spiritual noise, and on the other, a more Western kind of noise. Nothing else.”
Harsha further elaborated on how people kept questioning each of her decisions, be it that of her walking the religious path or her glamorous life.
“I was an anchor before. I was also an actor, and people knew me because of that. That was my real identity. Later, when my name changed, people questioned it. But there was no wrongdoing there, and I never wanted to take this path. I have said this many times in the media.”
She added, “However, when a person is broken repeatedly, they are forced to look for another way. So yes, I did move ahead, but out of compulsion. If you ask what kind of problems I faced, I would say there is hardly any problem I did not face.”
She highlighted how character assassination broke her from within.
“My respect, self-esteem, character—everything began to be judged by some people in the name of religion and society. They started deciding what I should do, what I should not do, where I should sit, where I should stand, and even what my character is. It disturbed me a lot.”
Emphasising on the hypocrisy of the society, Harsha said, “In a society that talks about worshipping women, daughters, and Adi Shakti, it is painful to see that when women actually move forward, the same society begins to have problems with it. People who speak about worshipping women from big stages often cannot accept a woman’s progress.”
For the uninitiated, Harsha Richhariya took the internet by storm when she declared her decision to back out of the religious path and get back to her previous glamorous profession, through a social media video.
In the video posted on her social media account, she revealed that she has been living in debt and faced continuous opposition and character assassination for the past year, which ultimately led her to opt out of the religious path, further calling it a difficult choice.
(IANS)
