Videos show the two Hindu religious leaders at Ambani’s wedding celebrations blessing Indian Prime Minister Modi

The caption of the clip in Hindi read, “Modi Ji received blessings from one of the two Shankaracharyas at Ambani’s wedding touching your feet. The other Shankaracharya kept raising questions about Ram Mandir and declined the invitation and did not even go to the inauguration of Ram Mandir.

“Modi Ji didn’t even look at him. A huge insult. An eye for an eye.”

None of the four Shankaracharya attended the inauguration of Flashpoint Ram Mandir in the northern city of Ayodhya in January.

The temple, which embodied the triumph of the prime minister’s muscular Hindu nationalist politics, was built on the site where a mosque stood for centuries before being demolished by Hindu fanatics incited by members of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Local media reported that the Shankaracharyas said they were not anti-Modi or opposed to the temple, but chose not attend because the rituals followed for consecration were “against the scriptures” (archived link).

The clip purportedly showing Modi ignoring one of the Shankaracharyas was also shared elsewhere on Facebook hereas well as in here It is here.

But Modi, in fact, received blessings from both pontiffs.

Blessings from Shankaracharya

A reverse Google image search using a keyframe from the falsely shared clip found the same video was posted as a Facebook Reel on the verified page of India TV (archived link).

The caption is the same as the text above the video, “Shankaracharya Sadanand Saraswati blessed Narendra Modi by putting a chunari on him.”

It makes no mention of Modi’s insult to the other Shankaracharya – Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati – at the wedding.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and India TV’s Facebook reel (right):

India TV also posted another Facebook Reel showing Modi receiving blessings from both the Shankaracharyas (archived link).

The video’s caption reads, “Shankaracharya Avimukteshwarananda took off his garland and put it on Modi.”

It shows Modi touching Avimukteshwaranand’s feet and bowing, and the Shankaracharya placing the garland on the prime minister’s head.

Modi is then shown greeting Shankaracharya Sadanand, who is sitting next to Avimukteshwaranand. The video shows Modi with a scarf hanging from his head in an alternate angle to the previous Facebook reel.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and India TV’s Facebook reel (right):

Footage of Modi receiving blessings from both Hindu leaders was also shared in reports by other media posted on YouTube here, here It is here (archived links here, here It is here).

Another clip of Modi receiving a blessing from Avimukteshwaranand was also uploaded to the Hindu pontiff’s website. official Facebook page (archived link).

The caption read, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the blessings of the Shankaracharya in Mumbai.”

Denying rumors of tension between Shankaracharyas and Modi, Avimukteshwaranand told local media: “It is our rule to bless whoever comes to us. Narendra Modi ji is not our enemy” (archived link).