Video of a crowd at Shri Radha Rani Temple in Barsana is shared as the one from the Maha Kumbh Mela
The Maha Kumbh Mela is set to conclude on 25 February 2025. A large number of devotees are in attendance (here and here) every day. Following the tragic stampede on 29 January 2025 which resulted in multiple casualties, the Uttar Pradesh government has enforced strict crowd control measures, including the cancellation of VIP passes and the implementation of no-vehicle zones to ensure devotees’ safety (here, here and here). Amid these developments, a video (here, here and here) has gone viral on social media, showing a narrow passage crowded with devotees near a temple, which claims to depict a scene from the Maha Kumbh Mela. Let’s investigate the truth behind this claim.
Claim: A video of a crowd of devotees is from the Maha Kumbh Mela in a narrow passage.
Fact: The video in question shows a crowd at Shri Radha Rani Temple in Barsana, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, on the eve of the 2025 New Year, when devotees gathered to visit. Though a stampede occurred at the Maha Kumbh Mela, this video is not related to that incident. Therefore, the claim is MILSEADING.
To verify the claim, we conducted a reverse image search, which led us to an Instagram post by Shyam Sundar Goswami, a spiritual and motivational speaker. The same video was uploaded on 01 January 2025—much before the Maha Kumbh Mela began. In the post, he mentioned that the video shows an event in Barsana, a town in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district.
Further research led us to a live stream from Goswami’s official Facebook account, recorded on 01 January 2025, showing a large number of devotees who gathered at Shri Radha Rani Temple in Barsana on New Year’s Day, leading to heavy crowding along the paths. This stream features multiple locations that correspond with the ones seen in the viral video, confirming that the footage is from Barsana, not the Maha Kumbh Mela.
About two minutes into the stream, Goswami reaches a narrow passage with a staircase featuring a steel railing on one side and a signboard reading “Joota Ghar” (shoe bank) on the other. These distinct landmarks match precisely with those shown in the viral video, further confirming the origin of the footage. A side-by-side comparison of both videos is presented below.
Furthermore, we found an old report indicating that people travel to Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, on New Year’s Eve to visit various temples, including the Radha Rani Mandir in Barsana, much like they do in Ayodhya and Varanasi. Reports suggest that in 2025 also, a large number of devotees visited these three significant pilgrimage sites—Varanasi, Mathura, and Ayodhya—continuing the tradition.
On the other hand, the Maha Kumbh Mela began on 13 January 2025 and will conclude on 25 February 2025. Several important rituals are taking place, including the “Amrit Snan” on Basant Panchami, which occurred on 03 February (here and here). On 29 January, a tragic stampede resulted in around 30 deaths. However, the viral video has no connection to the Maha Kumbh Mela.
To sum up, a video of a crowd at Shri Radha Rani Temple in Barsana is shared as the one from the Maha Kumbh Mela.