A photograph showing Hindu deities placed on hospital beds is being circulated on social media platforms with the claim that it shows priests treating COVID-19 infected gods in India.
Claim:
Photograph shows Gods being treated by Hindu Priests in India.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
A Reverse Image search of the photo led to a video on youtube which matched the viral video.
The video is titled ‘Darshan of Sri Pancha-Tattva on vacation (translated from Russian)’ and was uploaded on July 26, 2019.
Another video titled ‘Installation of Sri Sri Pancha-tattva, 27.07.2019, Omsk’ (translated from Russian) was uploaded by the same user, Valmiki Das, a month later in October 2019. At 8:13 timestamp in this video, an idol can be seen on a bed, similar to the viral photo.
According to the description of the video, the visuals are from the day, ‘when the Deities were installed.’
Valmiki Das’s Instagram account also had photographs from the event.
View this post on Instagram
Даршан, который можно увидеть у Панча-таттвы один раз…
A post shared by Вальмики дас (@valmiki_das) on Jul 31, 2019 at 7:25am PDT
According to the ‘ISKCON’ website, the Deities’ installation ceremony includes a preliminary cleansing. In the final step, the Deities are taken to sleep in a grain bed.
Therefore, a photograph from last year is being circulated with the false claim surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
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