An image of a rock carving is being widely shared on social media claiming it depicts images of Lord Rama and Hanuman carved in Iraq 6000 year ago. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: 6000-year-old rock carving of Lord Ram and Hanuman found in Iraq.
Fact: This rock carving doesn’t show Lord Rama and Hanuman. Though this site is in Iraq, according to archaeologists, the carving depicts the armed Mesopotamian ruler Tardunni who lived there 4000 years ago, and the images of people kneeled before Tardunni show the defeated Hurrian soldiers. Further, there is no archaeological evidence to prove that these carvings depict Lord Rama and Hanuman. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the viral image led us to a 2015 article written by Osama S. M. Amin, an Iraqi neurologist and historian, on etc.worldhistory.org website. As per the article, the carving seen in the viral post is called ‘Relief of Tardunni” or “Belula Pass Rock Relief”. It is located near the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq. Based on the Akkadian inscriptions, this rock relief depicts the armed ruler/king Tardunni(Lisir Pirini), son of Ikki(Ikkid Samad), who lived in this region some 4000 years ago.
Archaeologists suggest that the images of people kneeled before Tardunni show the defeated Hurrian soldiers. YouTube video of this rock relief uploaded by Osama S. M. Amin can be seen here. There is no archaeological evidence to prove that these carvings depict Lord Rama and Hanuman.
To sum it up, unrelated images of rock reliefs belonging to Mesopotamian civilization are falsely linked to Lord Rama and Hanuman.
