New Delhi: A fake video of a ‘Sanskrit letter’ kept inside a copper vessel, which is claimed to have been excavated from the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya, has gone viral on social media.
Political commentator Puspendra Kulshresth shared the short 28-second video on microblogging site Twitter Thursday. In his tweet, Kulshresth claimed that a copper vessel has been recovered from the Ram Janmabhoomi excavation site and contains a letter.
राम जन्मभूमि के समतलीकरण में निकली तांबे की पत्र पेटी और उसके अंदर सुरक्षित रखा एक पत्र। @Payal_Rohatgipic.twitter.com/sp1DLWAtfL
— ArnabGoswami (@ArnabRepublicc) June 11, 2020
His tweet has received more than 2,000 retweets and 9,000 likes. Many other users have also shared the same video on Twitter as well as social media platform Facebook, with some calling it a “time capsule” with details of the “original temple”.
Some users have also claimed that the text on the document is in ‘Sanskrit’.
?☀️?
While digging for the construction of Sri Ram Lalla Mandir at Sri Ram Janmabhoomi at Ayodhya, a Time Capsule was discovered showing the details of original temple.. ⚖️ pic.twitter.com/bQMNAALGuo
— Dr. Ramesh C Sharma (@ramesh_gogi) June 8, 2020
Fact-check
The original video doesn’t show a letter excavated from the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The now-viral video was actually shared by an Instagram account with the handle name ‘Define Avcisi’ on 9 April.
The account is of a hobbyist, and posts pictures of a number of rare artefacts, coins, among others.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-zvknVBRNw/
According to SM Hoax Slayer, the language on the artefact is not Sanskrit as claimed but “Hebrew”. A closer look at the symbols on the document in the video reveals that that they are Jewish and not Hindu, it said.
Further, the excavation at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya started in May, a month after the original video was shared.
The site was part of decades-long dispute between the Hindu and the Muslim community. Last year, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous verdict and said a trust should be set up by the central government within three months to help build the Ram temple at the site.
In collaboration with SM Hoax Slayer.
Also read: Ram Temple trust waits for PM nod to begin construction, but Covid pandemic causes delays
I’m interested to know who is in possession of it.
Looks like a Torah scroll to me. The fact that the cannister features embellishment in the form of a menorah and magen David would kinda make it obvious it’s a Jewish artifact.