Fact Check: Viral video of temple donations is from Sanwaliya Seth Mandir in Rajasthan, not Ayodhya’s Ram Temple

Hyderabad: A video of people collecting money from donation boxes has gone viral on social media, with people claiming that it shows the crores donated within 48 hours of the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh on January 24, 2024.

“So much money was donated in the donation box on the first day that the donation box was filled within half a day. Donation of Rs 3.17 crore in first two days in Ram temple Ayodhya (sic),” wrote an X user while sharing the video.

“Money donated to Ram temple (translated from Hindi),” wrote another user on Instagram while sharing the video.

After the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the doors were opened for the people and more than five lakh devotees visited the temple. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked officials to ensure proper crowd management so that visitors can conveniently offer their prayers to Ram Lalla.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video shows donations received in Sanwaliya Seth Mandir in Rajasthan.

Upon a revere image search, we found the video on Instagram, posted on January 16. “This time Rs 12 crores 69 lakhs cash donations were received in the donation box of Sri Sanwalia Seth Temple. (translated from Hindi)” the caption said.

On checking the profile of the account, we found it is a personal blog of Nitin Vaishnav, who has described himself as the chief priest of Sanwaliya Temple.

Next, we looked for the images of the Sanwaliya Temple on Google Maps and compared them with the visuals from the viral video, which confirmed that the video is from Rajasthan’s Sanwaliya Temple.

Using relevant keywords, we searched for news on the donations received by Sanwaliya Temple and came across a report from Zee News from January 17, 2023. As per it, Rs 12,97,14,476 (Rs 12 crore 97 lakh 14 thousand 476) was found in the donation box of the famous Krishna Dham Sri Sanwaliya Seth of Mewar, for which counting lasted for four days.

Hence, we conclude that the viral video does not show donations made at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple after its inauguration. The claim is misleading.