A viral social media post claims that the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, donated a 21kg gold bow and arrow to Ayodhya Ram Mandir, and Italy has set up the World’s Largest Bhagavad Gita. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni donated a 21kg gold bow and arrow to Ayodhya Ram Mandir, and Italy has set up the World’s Largest Bhagavad Gita.
Fact: There are no reliable reports about that Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni donating a 21kg gold bow and arrow to Ayodhya Ram Mandir. If such a donation had indeed been made by Italian PM Meloni, it would have been widely reported. According to news reports, Ayodhya based Amava Ram temple has donated 2.5 kg gold bow and arrow, and Patna’s Mahavir Temple Trust also donated gold bow and arrow to Ayodhya temple. The world’s largest and heaviest Bhagavad Gita is located at Delhi’s ISKCON temple. Hence, the claims made in the post are FALSE.
Claim 1:
To check the veracity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet. We did not find any reliable reports confirming that the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni donated a 21kg gold bow and arrow to Ayodhya Ram Mandir. If such a donation had indeed been made by the Italian PM Meloni, it would have been widely reported.
During this search, we came across several media reports about various donations made to Ayodhya Ram Mandir. According to an NDTV report, Ayodhya-based Amava Ram temple is set to donate a 2.5 kg gold bow and arrow to Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. The bow and arrow have been crafted by skilled artisans based in Chennai, following the description mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana, who have been in this profession for the last 200 years. 23-carat gold has been used to make the bow. About 600-700 grams of gold has been used to make the bow weighing 2.5 kg. Several other media reports regarding this can be seen here & here.
We also found news reports (here & here) stating that Patna’s Mahavir Temple Trust will also offer gold bow and arrows to Lord Rama in Ayodhya, symbolizing the sacred connection between Mithila and Ayodhya.
Claim 2:
We have conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet regarding the world’s largest Bhagavad Gita, which led us to a news report by Sansad TV. According to this report on 26 February 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the world’s largest and heaviest Bhagavad Gita at Delhi’s ISKCON temple. As per ISCKON, the holy book measuring 2.8 meters by 2 meters has 670 pages and weighs 800 kg. It is also recognized as the world’s largest sacred book. Several other media reports regarding this can be seen here, here & here.
To sum it up, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni did not donate a 21 kg golden bow and arrow to Ayodhya Ram Mandir.
