A video (here, here, and here) showing an elderly saint removing a picture of God from a red cloth and placing it against a wall has gone viral on social media. The video is accompanied by claims that the man is a 154-year-old saint from the Himalayas, participating in the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela. Let’s uncover the truth behind this claim.
Claim: Video of a 154-year-old saint participating in the Maha Kumbh Mela.
Fact: The video is not from the 2025 Kumbh Mela. It features Sant Siyaram Baba, who passed away in December 2024 at his ashram in Bhattayan Bhujurg, Madhya Pradesh. News reports estimate his age at the time of death to be between 94 and 110 years (the exact age is unknown). Therefore, the claim is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the video, we began by performing a reverse image search using keyframes from the footage which led us to an ‘X’ post-dated 11 December 2024, featuring the same video. The post identifies the man as Siyaram Baba and mentions that he passed away on that same day.
Further investigation revealed that multiple news agencies (here, here, and here) reported the passing of Sant Siyaram Baba on 11 December 2024 These reports provided information about his death.
Additionally, we found the original version of the viral video uploaded by an Instagram user Viken Kushwa on 11 October 2024 (archive link), which confirms that the visuals have been online since 2024, much before the 2025 Kumbh Mela. This indicates that the video was not filmed during the ongoing 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela.
A closer look at Viken Kushwa’s profile revealed several videos featuring Siyaram Baba. We also discovered numerous videos of the baba performing rituals on Siyaram Baba’s official Facebook page (here, here, and here). The page further includes posts confirming the death of Sant Siyaram Baba (here, here, and here) corroborating our findings.
According to news reports, Sant Siyaram Baba passed away on 11 December 2024, during Moksha Ekadashi. A devotee of Lord Hanuman, he lived in his ashram on the banks of the Narmada River in Bhattayan Bhujurg, Madhya Pradesh. While the viral post claims that Siyaram Baba was 154 years old, no credible news agency confirmed this. Instead, the reports estimate his age at the time of death to be between 94 and 110 years (here, here, and here).
Moreover, we found no credible news reports regarding a 154-year-old saint from the Himalayas attending the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. However, we did come across reports of Swami Sivananda, a 129-year-old saint (here and here). According to his Aadhaar card, he was born on 8 August 1896.
To sum up, a 2024 video of Sant Siyaram Baba is being shared as the video of him visiting the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela.
