Mahakumbh Nagar, Feb 27 (PTI) The Maha Kumbh Mela drew not just millions of spiritual seekers but also provided economic opportunity for many gig workers and small vendors, who were able to utilise the 45-day grand religious gathering as a source of livelihood by selling essentials and offering services.

Mahakumbh Nagar - a makeshift city set up for the Maha Kumbh - hosted over 66 crore devotees, who came here in hope to find 'moksha' after a dip in the sacred waters of Triveni Sangam.

As pilgrims flocked the Maha Kumbh Mela, the ghats, the lanes and bylines were also dotted by street-side vendors, selling almost everything that accompanies faith - puja ware, idols, ritualistic threads, vermilion, literature.

And there was more on sale: oxidised jewellery, bangles, vegetables, grocery stores, cow dung cakes, chopped woods, utensils, clothes, blankets, tea stalls, fast food kiosks - all keeping the tent city spread in 4000 hectares abuzz round the clock.

Virendra Bind from Sahaswan set up a stall where he sold soft toys.

Bind, around 40, says he got decent sales, thanks to a lot of young children.

"I sell a soft toy for Rs 60. Initially I quote it for Rs 70 if a customer agrees to it, I happily make an extra Rs 10 profit on every sale," Bind told PTI.

Rampal Kewat from Bulandshahr was among the hundreds who came to Maha Kumbh for a gig as a photographer.

He said he belongs to a family of boatsmen and his father also operates a boat back home but ahead of the Maha Kumbh he switched to learning photography and bought a camera.

Carrying an instant printer that runs on battery, he had his camera strung around his neck and other equipment in a backpack, ready to deliver a print out of images instantly.

"I am making Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 daily on an average. It's not difficult getting customers here. I charge Rs 50 per picture," a beaming Ram Kewat told PTI.

He said he sticks to only a small area and doesn't venture much towards other ghats.

Asked how he was handling all the money he was making at the Kumbh daily, Ram Kewat said, "It's modern time, I transfer all the money back home to my family at the end of every day through my mobile phone." Abhishek, who hails from neighbouring Pratapgarh district, took to selling ceremonial threads.

"Otherwise I worked as a driver for a transport company, driving cars as and when required," Abhishek, around 20, told PTI as he went about his business in one of the hundreds bylanes at the mega fair.

Asked if it was profitable doing it, the upbeat young man explained: "I am selling one thread for Rs 10. Whether red or black or saffron or yellow, all threads cost the same. I bought them in bulk from Banaras where it cost me Rs 3 each. I'm making a clean profit of Rs 7 on each thread that I sell and you can see the crowd here." Manshu, who lives in Prayagraj, also benefitted from the gig works. Along with his family, he had set up a fast food stall near Sector 19. Tea for Rs 10 and Maggi noodles for Rs 50 were most in demand at his shop till late in the evening.

A small poster at his kiosk read: 'Contact for bike taxi'.

When asked, he said, "I ride bike also within the Kumbh Mela area to provide taxi service to visitors, making some additional money from the job." "It depends on what distance and which area one wants to go and I charge accordingly but it is upwards of Rs 50 and can go up to Rs 200," he told PTI, as he sought to explain how he knows all routes and shortcuts to ghats since he is a local.

Considered among the holiest pilgrimages by Hindus, the Maha Kumbh started on January 13 and concluded on February 26.

Being held after 12 years, the Maha Kumbh 2025 logged a record over 66 crore devotees thronging the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati. PTI KIS ZMN