The 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela began on 13 January 2025 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, and will continue until Maha Shivaratri on 26 February 2025 (here, here, and here). Amid this, a video (here, here, here, here, and here) of a man blowing a conch shell (shankh) on a decorated stage is being widely shared on social media, claiming it is from the inauguration ceremony of the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, where the ‘shankh’ was reportedly blown for a record 2 minutes and 49 seconds. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing the conch shell (shankh) being blown non-stop for 2 minutes and 49 seconds during the inauguration ceremony of the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela.
Fact: The video is old and unrelated to the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela. This viral video dates back to 13 February 2023 and shows the Ganga Aarti performed at Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi during President Droupadi Murmu’s visit. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading.
If we observe the entire viral video, we can see President Droupadi Murmu and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attending the aarti. We also notice a watermark in the top right corner of the video that reads ‘VK News’.
Taking a cue from this, we conducted a relevant keyword search on YouTube which led us to the same video uploaded on the official YouTube channel of VK News on 13 February 2023, with the title: ‘A devotee blew a conch on the Ganga Ghat in such a way that even President Murmu kept looking at it | President Murmu Varanasi’ (translated from Hindi to English).
We also found an extended version of the viral video, featuring similar visuals, which was live-streamed on the official YouTube channel of the President of India on 13 February 2023 under the title: ‘President Droupadi Murmu attends Ganga Aarti at Varanasi’. The visuals seen in the viral video clip appear at the 17:52 timestamp of this video. Based on this information, it is clear that the viral video dates back to February 2023 and is not related to the ongoing Prayagraj 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela.
During this search, we also found multiple news reports (here, here, and here) published in February 2023. According to these reports, President Murmu visited Varanasi on 13 February 2023, where she offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and attended the Ganga Aarti at Varanasi’s Dashashwamedh Ghat in the evening. The President was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Governor Anandiben Patel. Additionally, the Sangam Maha-Aarti, performed in Prayagraj on 13 January 2025, the inaugural day of the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela, can be seen here.
To sum up, a 2023 video of a man blowing a conch shell during the Ganga Aarti in Varanasi is being falsely shared, linking it to the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025.
