Photo of Nandi Statue in Maharashtra Falsely Linked to Kashi Vishwanath Temple

The Nandi statue is from Kashi Vishweshwar Temple, Maharashtra.

Fact-Check | This picture is being shared with a claim that it shows a Nandi statue at the Kashi Viswanath Temple, which faces the Gyanvapi Mosque.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

A photo of a Nandi (sacred bull of Lord Shiva) statute is being shared across social media platforms to claim that the photo is from the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.

It further stated that the statue faces the Gyanvapi Mosque, pushing the claim that the mosque was built after demolishing an existing Vishweshwar Temple in the 17th century.

However, this photo is from the Kashi Vishweshwar Temple in Wai, Maharashtra, and not Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi.

CLAIM

The photo is being shared with a message that reads, "Nandi always has his face towards the shivalingam but nandi of kashi vishwanath faces the Gyanvapi mosque, which was originally Viswanath Temple. Nandi gazes at the door, waiting for his master to appear (sic)."

Archived version of the post can be seen here. 

Archives of more posts shared with the same claim can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.

The same claim was also viral in 2019, 2020 and 2021 with the same image of Nandi statue.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On conducting a reverse image search on the photo of the Nandi statue, we came across the image on Alamy – a stock image website.

The description stated that the photo was from Kashi Vishweshwar Temple at Wai Satara, Maharashtra.

Nandi statue in a Maharashtra temple.

Nandi bull statue from Maharashtra's temple on Alamy. 

The same reverse image search also led us to another stock photo's website Shutterstock, which had uploaded multiple photos of this statue.

The title of these images, too, stated that the pictures were from Kashi Vishweshwar Temple, Maharashtra.

In the backdrop of the ongoing dispute, several unrelated picture are being shared on the Internet linking them to the Gyanvapi Mosque. You can read some of our fact-checks here.

Clearly, this photo of Nandi statue is from Maharashtra and not Varanasi.

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