Clip shows India stone-pelting ritual, not fighting at Kumbh Mela festival

Published on February 5, 2025 at 09:55
3 min read
By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India

A video spread online shows an annual stone-pelting ritual in northern India, contrary to claims by social media posts that presented it as Hindu pilgrims attacking each other at the Kumbh Mela mega-festival. The clip racked up thousands of views in posts sharing the misinformation, but it was in fact filmed in August 2024, months before the start of the world's biggest religious gathering.

"Scenes from Maha Kumbh, as it happened," reads Hindi text on an X video posted on January 28, 2025.

The post, which was viewed more than 500,000 times, shows footage of crowds hurling stones at each other, with some protecting themselves with large shields.

Indians from across the country have gathered at Kumbh Mela, a millennia-old Hindu festival of religious piety and ritual bathing that 400 million pilgrims are expected to attend over its six-week duration.

The footage spread online as saffron-clad holy men led millions into a sin-cleansing dip by the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, undeterred by a stampede on January 29 that killed at least 30 people (archived link).

Screenshot of an X post sharing the false claim, taken on January 29, 2025

According to the X post, the footage shows "saffron terrorists" causing trouble at the festival, referring to the colour of Hinduism.

"If even a single Muslim were present here, the Indian media would have declared it a terrorist attack," it said.

"Identify them by their clothes and label them terrorists," it added -- apparently mocking a 2019 remark by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was widely interpreted as a jibe at Muslims protesting a controversial citizenship law.

While some Hindu organisations have called for Muslims to be barred from the festival, there are no official restrictions on who can attend (archived link)

Stone-pelting tradition

A reverse image search of the footage on Google found it was previously posted on Instagram on August 23, 2024 -- months before Kumbh Mela began in January 2025 (archived link).

Text superimposed on the video reads: "Bagwal 2024", referring to an annual festival at the Maa Barahi Devi Temple in the town of Devidhura in north India's Uttarakhand state (archived link).

The video shared in false social media posts (left) and on Instagram in August 2024 (right)

During the festival, groups of people throw stones at each other while they try to protect themselves with the help of large wooden shields.

A 2013 court ruling required participants to throw flowers and fruits instead of stones, but directions have largely been ignored by locals who believe the lack of a blood sacrifice would bring disaster, the Times of India reported (archived link).

Video agency Newsflare shared similar footage from the stone-pelting event on August 19, 2024 (archived link).

Around 200 participants were injured in the ritual, in which worshippers throw stones at each other until a priest determines that "enough blood has been shed for the goddess Maa Barahi", Newsflare's caption said.

AFP confirmed the video was filmed by the Maa Barahi Devi Temple by comparing it to images of the area on Google Maps (archived link).

Maa Barahi Devi Temple seen in the video shared online (left) and on Google Maps (right)

AFP has fact-checked more misinformation about Kumbh Mela here.

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