A picture of a Shivling is going viral on social media with a claim that the Shivlinga which Lord Rama used to worship was found in the excavations at the Ram temple site at Ayodhya.

A Facebook user name Vimalraj Mishra shared a picture with a caption "The Shivlinga which Lord Rama used to worship was found in the excavations in Ayodhya. Jai Shree Ram”.

The viral post received 13,000 likes and 807 shares at the time of writing this article. 

The same post is also going viral on Twitter. A user Dr. Richa Rajput shared the image with a caption "During the excavation of Ram temple in Ayodhya, 4'11 inch Shivling is found. Mandal Udit Raj may even tell it to be a Buddhist column. As the temple is being excavated, the story of atrocities and sins of Babur and Babur's descendants is coming out. Jai Shree Ram" ( Translated from Hindi )

The viral post received 1,900 likes and 598 retweets at the time of writing this article.

Fact Check

In our Investigation, we found that the viral image is not related to Ayodhya. The viral image of the Shivalinga was found in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh in 2016.

After doing reverse research of the image we found a news article of Amar Ujala published on 27 July 2016. According to the article, the priest of the temple says that the Shivling had always been a part of the 250-year-old temple. During the excavation, a large part of the Shivalinga came from within, which was not expected. The temple's priest Rajkishore Shukla said that it is wrong to say that the Shivalinga came out during the excavation. Shivalinga is 250 years old.

Shivlinga at Ram Janma Bhoomi (RJB) temple site in Ayodhya

According to an article, a Shivlinga has been spotted at Ram Janma Bhoomi (RJB) temple site in Ayodhya where the work of leveling the land meant for construction of proposed Ram temple is underway. 

The general secretary of Shree Ramjanma Bhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust and senior VHP leader Champat Rai said, "a five-foot Shivlinga, seven pillars of black touchstone, six pillars of red sandstone, structures of flowers and broken idols of deities were found at the site". 

In conclusion, the Shivlinga in the image belongs to a temple in Farrukhabad, in Uttar Pradesh in 2016. However, it is true that the remains of ancient temples, Shivlinga, and idols were found at temple sites in Ayodhya.