Video From Sri Lanka Falsely Shared as ‘Snake Protecting Buddha’ in Nepal Temple

During Vesak, temples in Sri Lanka use decorations to depict a scene from Buddhism where a snake protects Buddha.

A video showing a snake slithering across the ground before sheltering a statue of Gautam Buddha is being shared on the internet.

What are users claiming?: It is being shared as a video from a temple in Nepal, with text in Hindi which reads, "नेपाल में हर साल बारिश में एक 15 फीट का साँप भगवान बुद्ध की मूर्ति को ढक लेता है। इसकी सच्चाई पर विश्वास करने के लिए यह वीडियो देखे."

[Translation: Every year in Nepal, a 15-foot snake covers the idol of Lord Buddha during the rains. Watch this video to believe the truth.]

The video has been shared with the same claim since 2018. The Quint received a query for this video's verification on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

(Archives of more claims can be seen here, here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the snake in the video is not real.

• The video is from a temple in Sri Lanka and shows a man-made decorative snake that depicts the story of the Muchalinda snake in Buddhist mythology.

How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for the video on YouTube.

• This led us to a slightly clearer version of the video, which was uploaded six years ago on 13 May 2017, titled 'sri lanka buddha on snake gautam buddha (sic)'.

Some of the comments under this video indicated that the snake was man-made.

Here, we noticed that the snake in the video seemed to light up in some parts, and its eyes were glowing red in some frames.

We also saw that the video had a watermark reading Sammaditthi TV on it.

Taking a cue from this, we used more specific terms to look for more context on Google, which suggested 'Mucalinda' as an additional keyword.

On adding this, we came across more similar videos of snakes coiling around Buddha statues in Sri Lankan temples. You can watch some of them here, here and here.

• Since we were unable to verify the context of the video, we reached out to the fact-checking organisation Fact Crescendo, which has wing in Sri Lanka.

• In an email, we were told that the video was "likely from the Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka, which usually happens on the full moon day in May," which is celebrated as Buddha Purnima in India.

• During this festival, people put up decorative and artistic displays to depict a scene from Buddhism, which involves a snake protecting Buddha from the rain.

• "The viral video shows Muchalinda Nagadaranaya. In Buddhism, after Siddhartha became enlightened, he meditated under a tree. When a heavy rainstorm came, a mythical snake king called Muchalinda protected Siddhartha by putting his hood over him," the email read, sharing a video of the festival from 2014.

Conclusion: While we were unable to verify the temple's location, we can confirm that the snake in the video is not real and that the clip shows a temple during the Vesak festival in Sri Lanka.

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