Fact Check: Ice did not deposit on the Shivling at Nashik’s Triambakeshwar temple

All set for Amarnath Yatra 2024, administrator started on-spot registration on June 27, 2024. The administration has initiated on-the-spot registration for devotees arriving in Jammu for the pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas.

According to various media reports, an on-the-spot registration centre has been established in the Shalimar area of the city for unregistered pilgrims. Also, a special camp for the registration of sadhus has been set up at the Ram temple complex in Purani Mandi. More than 800 sadhus have already arrived at the traditional Ram Mandir and Geeta Bhawan, eager to pay their respects at the 3,880-meter high holy cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas, which houses the naturally formed ice-Shivling.

In this backdrop, a video is in circulation on social media claiming that the Shivling at the Shri Triambakeshwar Shiva Temple in Nashik had frozen. Social media users shared the video with the assertion that the priest said, "Lord Amarnath has come to Triambakeshwar to give darshan." The posts also mentioned, "After 60 years, yesterday the Shiva Lingam at Sri Triambakeshwar Shiva Temple in Nashik had frozen."

Fact Check: We found an old video shared with a false claim.

During a reverse image search, we found this video was already uploaded on the internet since July 1, 2021. A user on X uploaded the same video with the same claims.

When we searched the keyword, ‘Frozen Shivling in Sri Triambakeshwar Shiva Temple in Nashik’, we found News 18 India on February 10, 2023, uploaded a story on their official YouTube channel with the Title “Triambakeshwar Temple Mystery | मंदिर के शिवलिंग में जमी बर्फ़ का सच!”

In the description News 18 also mentioned: “In June last year, there was news about the Shivling of the Triambakeshwar temple in Maharashtra that snow had frozen over the Shivling. Various claims were being made regarding this. It was hailed as a miracle on social media. Now a big disclosure has been made in the investigation regarding the frozen ice on the Shivling of Jyotirlinga. Investigation has found that this was a fake claim. In this case, a case has been registered against three priests of the temple itself.”

On Feb 11, 2023, Times of India published an article on it. In the article, the TOI mentioned: “Police have registered an FIR against three priests in connection with the appearance of ice in the shape of “linga” in Triambakeshwar Temple in June last year”.

Furthermore, we also found on Feb 9, 2023, ETV reported: “A case was registered against the three priests in the Triambakeshwar police station and the investigation revealed the CCTV footage where the three priests are seen carrying ice in a bag and keeping it on the 'Pindi'

Hence, we found the video is old and fake which was also shared with a false claim. As per media reports, there is no ice forming in the Nashik temple; a few priests placed it on the Lord Triambakeshwar pindi to attract more devotees.