A 3D rendition of a large, grand temple is being falsely shared as a photo of the plan of what the upcoming Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will look like. However, we found that this is actually the plan for the ISKCON temple in West Bengal’s Mayapur and not the Ram Mandir at all.
CLAIM
The structure seen above is being shared as the proposed appearance of the Ram Mandir and is being shared on social media with the message, “Architectural view of proposed 'Ram Mandir' in Ayodhya....Jai Jai Shree Ram..”
We also found that it was being shared with the claim that there would be a bell weighing 2,100 kg placed in the temple.
WHAT WE FOUND
On conducting a reverse search on the photo, we were led to several sources which suggested that the viral photo was actually a proposal for the Temple Of Vedic Planetarium at ISKCON Mayapur, West Bengal.
We found an article from August 2010 about the temple on a website called ISKCONNews which carried this photo.
We also found the same photo in another article about the temple as well as on Pinterest.
Further, we checked photos of the Mayapur ISKCON temple, known as the ‘Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir - Temple of the Vedic Planetarium’ and found that the recent photos of the structure and other recent renditions bear striking resemblance to the viral photo, with only a difference in the colour of the domes.
The Quint got in touch with a source at ISKCON who confirmed that the viral photo was indeed a photo of the proposed Mayapur temple. With regard to the difference in appearance of the domes, we were told that ISKCON had first thought of yellow but finding those stones in such quantity was a huge challenge and had therefore, chosen to change to blue marble, but everything else was the same.
We found news reports which said that the Mayapur temple is being hailed as the largest temple in the world and while it has opened its doors to the public in February 2020, the final construction will only be completed by 2022.
According to an article by India Today, the Ram Janmabhoomi temple will be 161 feet high, and have three floors supported by 318 pillars. The Indian Express also carried a photo of a computerised 3D view of the Ram temple, shown below, which looks completely different from the one going viral.
The bhoomi pujan at the site for the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya is scheduled to be held on 5 August. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the event which will be telecast live by Doordarshan.
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