(The article was originally published in Newschecker Tamil) 

A video purportedly showing a monkey entering a temple premises and ‘praying’ in front of deities, is going viral on social media platforms. Those who shared the video claimed that the clip is from the Ayodhya temple, where the monkey pays a daily visit for ‘Darshan’ of ‘Shri Ramchandra Prabhu.’ Newschecker found the claim to be untrue. Though the video shows a monkey in a temple premises, it is not from Ayodhya.

Several Facebook users shared the footage with the caption, “*Ayodhya* This monkey comes everyday to take Darshan of Shri Ramchandra Prabhu. He crosses the river performs Pooja & bows his head.. If dogs try to bully him he pounces on them. (sic)”

Links to such Facebook posts can be found here, here, here and here.

It is also going viral on Twitter.

Archived versions of such tweets can be seen here, here, here and here.

The video has found its way to YouTube as well.

Also Read: No, Viral Video Does Not Show Leopard In Kitchen Where Sabarimala Temple’s Aravana Payasam Is Made

Fact Check/Verification

On analysing the viral video carefully, we heard a man behind the camera saying “It comes daily to Baba Buddheshwar Dham.” Taking a clue, we looked up Baba Budheshwar Dham on Google and found it to be a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow.

Following this, we compared the premises seen in the viral video with the Google Photos of the Lucknow temple, and found them to be the same.

Further, a keyword search for “Buddheshwar Temple,” “Lucknow” & “monkey” on YouTube led us to a video report by Navbharat Times, dated December 31, 2022.

 Featured snippets from the viral video, it stated that a monkey visits Buddheshwar Mahadev Temple in Lucknow daily, bows down in front of deities, takes prasad and leaves. It also carried a video interview of the temple’s priest.

Conclusion

Viral post claiming to show a monkey visiting a temple in Ayodhya is false. The video is from Buddheshwar Mahadev Temple in Lucknow.

Result: False

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