Claim
Kasi Vishwanathar came out of the well after 300 years who went inside the well during the Mughal rule. The inspection of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Kasi is completed as per the court order. The Shiva lingam of 12.8 feet height is found when the water from the big well is pumped out.
Rating
Explanation
The photo has gone viral on social media, claiming that a 12-feet high Shiva lingam was found after pumping water from the well of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 300 years later.
What is the truth?
Lawsuits have been filed in various courts alleging that the Gyanvapi Mosque was built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 16th century after the demolition of the Kasi temple.
The district court in Varanasi last April ordered the Archaeological Survey of India to investigate the construction of the Gyanvapi Mosque. Harishankar Jain, a lawyer, had said that during a recent investigation at the Gyanvapi Mosque, a Shiva lingam was found in a pond inside the premises. Following this, the court ordered the district collector to seal that particular part of the mosque premises.
However, the management of the Gyanvapi Mosque identified the pool as an artificial fountain, not a Shiva lingam. The supreme court had said in a petition filed that the pond area should be protected but the prayer should not be restricted.
Following this, an old video of a Shiva lingam inside a well claiming to be found while cleaning the pond on the premises of the Gyanvapi Mosque went viral on news channels and social media. However, complete authentic information will be released only after the relevant studies.
When the claimed photo of a 12-feet high Shiva lingam dug up at the Gyanvapi Mosque is reverse searched, it is found that in 2015 a site named ‘Hindu Blog’ published the same image mentioning as 12 feet high and 12 feet diameter huge Shiva lingam at the Baba Bhusandeswarar Temple in the Balasore district of Odisha.
In 2019, a YouTube channel named ‘Sanket tv’ published a video of devotees worshipping the 12 feet high Shivalingam at Bhusandeswarar Temple in Odisha.
Conclusion
The 12.8 feet high Shiva lingam claimed to be found in the well of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi is fake.
