This Photo Shows South African Prince and Not 'Bhima-Koregaon Battle Soldier'

This image shows South African prince Ndabuka kaMpande from the Zulu Kingdom.

A photograph showing a man posing with a sword is going viral on social media with a claim that it shows a soldier who fought in the 1818 Bhima-Koregaon battle.

• The image also carries text in Hindi which says that this man who is 11 feet tall and weighs 285 kilograms fought against 8,000 Peshwas.

• The text reads, "A photo of a Mahar soldier who showed his courage in the battle of Bhima-Koregaon, obtained from the diary of Davy Jones, advisor to the then East India Company."

(Similar claims can be seen here, here and here.)

Whose picture is it?: The picture shows Prince Ndabuko kaMpande, younger brother of one of the kings of the Zulu Kingdom, a monarchy in Southern Africa.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the picture which led us to Alamy, a stock image website that carried the same photo.

• The caption of the photo mentions that it shows Prince Ndabuko kaMpande, younger brother of King Cetshwayo kaMpande.

• It also added that kaMpande was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1879 and its leader during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

What about Bhima-Koregaon battle?: Bhima-Koregaon is a small village in Maharashtra's Pune.

• A Dalit-dominated British Army defeated a 28,000-strong army of Peshwa Bajirao II in Koregaon on 1 January 1818.

• This day of victory of Mahars against the Peshwas is celebrated every year on 1 January.

• We also found older pictures of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar with the soldiers of the Mahar Regiment on the stock website, which can be seen here, here and here.

  
  (Note: Swipe to check all the screenshots)

Conclusion: This photo shows a prince of Zulu Kingdom and not a Mahar soldier who fought against the Peshwas in Bhima-Koregaon battle in 1818.

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