Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
A video showing an aged and bedridden monk blessing a child is going viral on social media, with users claiming that he is 170 years old. Among the users who shared the claim on Facebook was ‘Sonu Kumar’, whose post garnered 8,000 likes and 126 shares. Newschecker found the claim to be untrue.
We also found many other users sharing the same video with similar claim on Facebook.
The Facebook posts are available here and here.
According to the World Health Organisation website, the global average age of a human being is 73 years old. But there are many cases of people living more than the normal life duration, sometimes well above the age of 100. According to a Hindustan Times report, Swami Sivananda, a Yoga practitioner who was awarded the Padma Shri for Yoga, is 126 years old although his age is not confirmed. According to the Guinness World Records website, the oldest living person is Juan Vicente Pérez aged 112 from Venezuela.
Fact Check /Verification
We started our investigation by conducting a reverse image search on the key-frames of the viral video and found similar videos posted by a Facebook user named ‘Name’s Auyary KH’ from Korat, Thailand. After translating the videos via Google translate from Thai, we found many posts shared by Auyary which said that the old monk in the video is named Luang Pho Yai or Luang Ta and has been told to be of the age of 109 years.
Newschecker found several posts shared by Auyary’s Facebook page regarding Luang Ta.
A post shared by Auyary also contains an article published by Khaosod Online . According to the translated version of the article, Auyary is the social media name is Khan Oui and the old man seen in the video is Luang Ta Yai, who lives in Nakhon Ratchasima province of Thailand. The report also revealed that 109-year-old Luang Ta Nakhon is the abbot at Ban Klang Temple in Dan Khun Thot district of Ratchasima province.
Upon further investigation Newschecker found a Facebook post by the same user which informed that Luang Ta Yai had passed away on 22nd March, 2022 peacefully.
The Facebook post is available here.
Newschecker also found several articles which confirmed the same, which can be seen here and here.
Newschecker Hindi has also debunked this claim in the past, which can be viewed here.
Conclusion
Newschecker’s investigation reveals that the viral video claiming to show a 170 years old monk is misleading. The Buddhist monk seen in the video is 109 years old and passed away in March, 2022.
Result: False
Our Sources
Name’s Auyary KH Facebook Page
Khaosod report, Luang Ta, 109 years old, very strong, blessed his little grandson Social media people pay homage – Sathu, (21st February, 2022)
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
