Does this image show 5000-year-old temple from Rajasthan? Fact Check

Claim: Photo of a 5,000-year-old structure carved from a single rock in Rajasthan, India.

Conclusion: The claim is false. The image shows an 8th-century monolithic temple called Vettuvan Koil in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu and it is not 5,000 years old as claimed.

Rating: Misleading —

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A photo showing a Hindu structure carved out of a single rock is being shared on social media platforms, with a claim that it was a 5,000-year-old rock structure from Rajasthan. See the claim below:

When we searched, we found that the claim was shared on X a few years ago with a claim that it was a temple carved out of a single rock, without giving out the place.

 

Found in India, 5000 years old, made from a single rock pic.twitter.com/gbMlfYhrJN

— Ancient History, Mystery (@MinhNguyen51050) October 7, 2023

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FACT CHECK

To begin with, we searched the image on Google Reverse Image Search and found several research papers and news reports about the temple made out of a single rock. But the location is not Rajasthan but Tamil Nadu and temple is called the Vettuvan Koil, a single rock-cut temple located in Kalugumalai, Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu and it was estimated to have been built in 8the century AD and not 5000-year-old temple as claimed in all these social media posts.

Vettuvan Koil was built around 760-800 AD as a monolithic temple that features a Dravida vimana emerging from the rectangular rock. Hence, this viral image is of an 8th-century monolithic temple of Tamil Nadu, not Rajasthan and also it’s not 5,000 years old as claimed.

 

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