No, This Image Does Not Show 3D Model of Chanakya Made by Scientists

The creator of the image, Ankur Khatri, said that he had made these visuals, dismissing the viral 'Chanakya' claim.

Fact-Check | This image is being shared on the internet with a false claim.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An image of a three-dimensional model is going viral to claim that it shows a 3D model of Indian teacher and philosopher Chanakya, which scientists at Magadh University created.

Who shared it?: News outlets, such as Free Press Journal, ABP News, One India, and Sportskeeda, shared reports about the viral image.

(Swipe right to view all claims.)

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

Along with this, several social media users shared the image with a caption that said, "Scientists at Magadha DS University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Chanakya, the author of Arthashastra, might have looked."

You can view an archive of the post here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

The post had garnered around a million views on the platform at the time of writing this report. (More archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What is the truth?: The image shows a likeness resembling former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni created by an artist named 'Ankur Khatri'.

• Magadh University's media convener also confirmed to The Quint that the claim was false.

How did we find that out?: A Google Lens search led us to the same image uploaded on a website named 'ArtStation'.

• This image was shared with other similar images with a caption that said, "Hi friends i am doing likeness study of MS Dhoni hope you like it, its wip... project did not work on hair, its remain (sic)."

• They were attributed to one 'Ankur Khatri', a freelance character model.

• According to the details available with the image, it was posted "six years ago" and the creator used a software named 'Z Brush'.

The image was a part of MS Dhoni likeness study.

(Source: ArtStation/Screenshot)

• Team WebQoof found an Instagram post by the creator, which showed the entire process of the model being created.

• The post was shared on 18 August 2020, and its caption carried hashtags such as #msdhoni, #zbrush, and #austodeskmaya.

Reaching out to the creator: The Quint reached out to the content creator on Instagram, where he confirmed that he was the source of these images.

Ankur Khatri told us that he had made this image approximately "5-6 years" ago and he had used 3D sculpting software to create these images.

Did Magadh University play a part in this?: No. Dr Gopal Singh, media convenor of Magadh University, dismissed the viral claim and said, "The claims are false. There are no such updates at our university."

Conclusion: It is evident that an unrelated image is being shared to falsely claim that it shows the 3D model of Chanakya, which was created by scientists at Magadh University.

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