Viral video shows Paramahansa Yogananda not Swami Vivekananda
NewsMeter found that the video shows monk Paramahansa Yogananda in New York.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 15 April 2023 10:09 AM GMT
(Source: Facebook)
Hyderabad: A monochrome video of a man wearing a long robe and turban and walking along with three other people is going viral on the internet. Social media users are claiming that the video shows rare footage of Indian philosopher and monk Swami Vivekananda. (Click here to see the archived post.)
(Source: Facebook)
For more posts click here and here. (Archived posts here and here)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the video shows monk Paramahansa Yogananda in New York.
We noticed the watermark āmirc@sc.eduā in the video. Taking this as a cue, we ran a keyword search which led us to the Moving Image Research Collections on the website of the University of South Carolina.
The website preserves films and videos produced outside the American feature film industry to make them available to present and future audiences.
In the Digital Collections section of the website, we used āSwamiā for a keyword search and came across a longer version of the viral video titled āSwami Yogananda of India--outtakes.ā
(Source: University of South Carolina)
According to the description, the video was possibly shot in 1923 and shows Swami Yogananda at New Yorkās Pershing Square. The viral clip appears at the 0.34-second mark.
It is also mentioned in the description that the video was produced by Fox News and Moving Image Research Collections has the copyright.
We conclude that the video shows monk Paramahansa Yogananda in New York, not Swami Vivekananda. Hence, the claim is false.
