Ahead of the world’s largest gathering of humanity, the six-week Kumbh Mela festival in northern India, a video purportedly showing a “three-faced” elephant was shared in social media posts that falsely claimed it was filmed at the event. While life-sized idols of Hindu gods and elephants will be displayed at the festival, the video was in fact filmed at a parade in Thailand.
The video, which was shared more than 2,200 times, was posted on X on January 2, 2025.
It shows an elephant, which has been decorated to make it appear it has three heads, led along a road.
“Har Har Mahadev, see the amazing three-faced Gajanan in Prayagraj Maha Kumbh,” read Hindi-language text superimposed on the video, referring to the giant Hindu religious festival set to be held at the riverside in Prayagraj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (archived link).
“Har Har Mahadev” is a Hindu religious slogan praising God Shiva, while Gajanan is one of the names of elephant-headed Hindu deity Lord Ganesh.
Organisers were prepared to welcome up to 400 million pilgrims for the great or “Maha” Kumbh Mela, a millennia-old show of religious piety and ritual bathing that is held on the site where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers are believed to meet with the mythical Saraswati river.
The festival — held between January 13 and February 26 — is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.
Screenshot of the false post taken on January 2, 2025
The video spread across X and on Facebook, apparently misleading social media users who appeared to believe it was filmed at Kumbh Mela.
“Oh my god, praise to Lord Ganesh,” one commented.
“Oh, wow! What a surprise… Hail to Lord Ram and Lord Shiva!” another wrote.
Thai elephant
A reverse image search on Google found the clip posted on YouTube on May 31, 2024 (archived link).
The video’s Thai-language title reads: “Prepare for the Ayutthaya Khon parade, a world-class event, a world heritage site for the Thai people of Ayutthaya. The 5th Krungsri Khon, three-headed elephant parade.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the YouTube video (right).
Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the YouTube video (right)
A similar video was posted on TikTok on April 2, 2023, with the caption: “A rare three-headed white elephant — a sight to behold — at the 4th Khon Krungsri Festival taking place between March 30 to April 3, 2023 at Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya province” (archived link).
A keyword search led to a report by Thai newspaper Thairath on April 7, 2023, which mentioned the same TikTok clip (archived link).
Itthipan Kaolamai, manager of Ayutthaya’s Elephant Palace which took part in the parade, explained in the article that Styrofoam and painted fabric was used to create the “three-headed” creature — in order to mimic a mythical white elephant.
According to Ayutthaya Province’s public relations office, the fifth Khon Krung Sri Festival was held from May 31 to June 30, 2024Â (archived link).
AFP confirmed the video was filmed in Wat Mahathat in Thailand’s central Ayutthaya province by comparing it to Google Street View imagery from the area.
A screenshot comparison showing similar visuals between a street view (left) and a false video (right), as highlighted by AFP
