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| - A video showing an elderly man offering prayers has gone viral on social media, where users have claimed that it shows a 154-year-old saint who resides in the Himalayas, who travelled to attend the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela.
(Archived versions of more claims can be seen here, here, and here.)
Is it true?: No, the video shows Sant Siyaram Baba from Madhya Pradesh, who passed away in December 2024.
How did we find out the truth?:
We ran a reverse image search on the video using Google Lens, which led us to an X (formerly Twitter) post dated 15 December 2024, which shared the same video and identified the person as Sant Siyaram Baba.
As the video was shared nearly a month before the Maha Kumbh Mela started on 13 January 2025, it is clear that it does not show him attending the event.
A further keyword search led us to a similar video of the Hindu saint praying, which was shared in September 2024.
We came across several news reports published on 11 December 2024 — a month before the mela began — that mentioned that Sant Siyaram Baba had passed away at his hermitage, located on the banks of the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh.
In October 2024, The Quint's Team WebQoof had reached out the Siyaram Baba's devotee for another fact-check regarding his identity and age, who confirmed to us that as per official documents, he was 94 years old.
Conclusion: An old, unrelated video of Hindu seer Sant Siyaram Baba is being shared to falsely claim that it shows a 154-year-old Himalayan saint at the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on , or e-mail it to us at and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories .)
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