A video depicting a committee of vultures by the roadside has gone viral on social media. Users claim that the birds are descendants of Jatayu, a demigod mentioned in the ancient Indian epic, The Ramayana. Users have claimed that Lord Jatayu’s herd has visited Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh just before the inauguration of Ram Mandir slated for January 22.
A parody account (@Snatani__1) of Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma posted the viral video on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, “After many years, Jatayu’s herd appeared in Ayodhya ,, This is no less than a miracle. Jaitu Sanatan, Jai Shri Ram, Jai Govind.” The post has received over 168,400 views, 6,600 likes and 1,000 retweets. (Archive)
कई वर्षो बाद अयोध्या मे जटायु की झुण्ड दिखाई दी,, यह चमत्कार से कम नही है 🙏🚩
जयतु सनातन,जय श्री राम,जय गोविंद 🚩https://t.co/DpJR0BDg91 pic.twitter.com/fvI1kbc79N
— भजन लाल शर्मा (Parody) (@Snatani__1) January 5, 2024
A verified X user, @iRichaAwasthi also shared the video and amplified the claim. The tweet received over 120,500 views, 3,100 likes and 810 retweets. (Archive)
जटायु का झुंड पहुंचा अयोध्या
विलुप्त गिद्ध कहाॅं से आये अयोध्याजी?चमत्कार या संयोग ।
🔥🔥🚩जो हो रहा है सचमुच अद्भुत ही हो रहा है और जिसने अपने जीवन काल में यह सब देख लिया उसका परम सौभाग्य ही कहा जायेगा
“अयोध्या” में दिखाई दे रहा गिद्धों का झुंड
लोग बोले रहे हैं कि राम… pic.twitter.com/bMhp0GYAbB
— ऋचा अवस्थी 🌹Richa Awasthi🌹 (@iRichaAwasthi) January 4, 2024
Another X user, @Shubhamhindu01 also shared the video claiming that Jatayu has started visiting Ayodhya. His tweet has received over 31,100 views, 2,600 likes and 563 retweets. (Archive)
अयोध्या मे जटायु पहुंचने लगे है 🙏🚩https://t.co/DEmiF9TPWW pic.twitter.com/EgnVmjUl1t
— शुभम् हिन्दू (@Shubhamhindu01) January 3, 2024
A parody account (@TheNupur_) of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has shared the viral video on X with the same caption. The post has received over 29,800 views, 2,100 likes and 291 retweets. (Archive)
कई वर्षो बाद अयोध्या मे जटायु की झुण्ड दिखाई दी,, यह चमत्कार से कम नही है 🙏🚩
जयतु सनातन,जय श्री राम,जय गोविंद 🚩 pic.twitter.com/dsdEsxJLnA
— Nupur sharma 🇮🇳 ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ (@TheNupur_) January 5, 2024
The video was also shared several times on Facebook and YouTube.
Fact Check
We broke down the video using Invid software and reverse-searched one of the key frames on Google. This led us to a 2021 Facebook post featuring the viral video. A Facebook page called ‘Dooz دوز‘ shared the video on October 8, 2021, with a caption in Arabic stating, “Do you know the name of this bird?”
IPS officer Dipanshu Kabra (@ipskabra) also shared the video in March 2022 and humorously wrote, “Surely an emergency meeting has been called on some serious matter.”
ज़रूर किसी गंभीर विषय पर आपात बैठक बुलाई गई है 😅 pic.twitter.com/75VqGYzktu
— Dipanshu Kabra (@ipskabra) March 23, 2022
A 2022 report featuring the viral video was published by TV 9 Marathi, titled, “Vultures: An urgent meeting has been called on some serious matter, see the viral video of Vultures.” The report stated that “In the video, a flock of vultures can be seen sitting by the side of the road…Seeing the vultures sitting together like this, you would think that they are having an urgent meeting on some big issue.”
To sum up, an old video depicting a flock of vultures has gone viral on social media with users falsely claiming that the video depicts Lord Jatayu’s herd visiting Ayodhya before the inauguration of Ayodhya Ram Mandir in UP. Although we could not find the original source of the video, our fact check revealed that the video is at least 3-year-old and is not related to the soon-to-be inaugurated Ram Mandir.
Abira Das is an intern at Alt News.
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