Birds are Devotees of Mahakal, Doing Rounds of Temple: Fact Check

Story:

Birds are also Devotees of Mahakal; see how they are Doing Rounds around Temple..

This is Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain. On Pradosham day, birds gather and perform “Soma sukta Pradakshinam”.

i.e. 3 times clockwise and 1 time anticlockwise and they fly away in the Sandhya Pradosham time in the fading light of the sky!

Other Versions

The Temple of Shiva in Bheema Shankar is one of Jyotirlingams of Bharat..

On Pradosham day, birds gather and perform “Soma sukta Pradakshinam ..i.e. 3 times clockwise and 1 time anticlockwise and they fly away in the Sandhya Pradosham time in the fading light of the sky!

Pls see the video of the Devotees of Lord Shiva in the sky!

Fact Check:

An intriguing video is viral on social media alleging to show a flock of Birds Doing Rounds of Temple tower of Mahakaleshwar (Shiva) in India. Accompanying messages claim the birds gather during evening and perform ‘Soma sukta Pradakshinam,’ flying 3 times in clockwise direction and 1 time anticlockwise. No, the claims are not true and explained here.

The claims in question are popular online and mention different temple names in India. What you see in the video is in fact Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain, not the ancient Bheemashankar Jyotirlinga temple in Pune.

About the Concept of Circumambulating God

The mentioned way of circumambulating God, ‘Soma sukta Pradakshinam’ is rather Soma Sutra Pradakshinam. Soma Sutra Pradakshinam is a unique way of circumambulating the Hindu deity during the time of Pradosham. It involves doing rounds in anti-clockwise and clockwise directions in a certain pattern explained here. It is not just doing rounds 3 times in clockwise direction followed by once in anticlockwise.

Why the Birds are Doing Rounds of Mahakaleshwar Temple

The accompanying messages with the viral video suggest the birds are flying around the temple pillar out of devotion to lord Shiva. Although the sight in the video looks beautiful, it’s not the case. What you see in the video is not the only such sight at the temple in Ujjain. Many of those birds fly around the temple daily morning and evening. And in contrast to the claims, birds do fly like that sometimes around buildings, trees and over water bodies.

Dr. Raju Kasambe of Natural History Society in Mumbai denied devotion of the birds to god or temple. He explained the reasons behind it to Hindi News 18 website hindi.news18.com. He said the birds in the video are Rosy Starling and the flying phenomenon is called Murmuration.

Murmuration

Murmuration is the resulting phenomenon of hundreds and even thousands of starlings flying together in a whirling, ever-changing pattern. It is in fact delightful to watch the birds flying in flocks in various patterns. What’s more amazing is they fly so close and so fast, yet do not collide with each other. Research suggests the birds live together in flocks to avoid any kind of external danger. The video below shows and describes the Murmuration phenomenon well.

Murmuration of Rosy Starlings:
It is a great sight to see thousands of starlings taking to the sky en masse just before Sunrise and Sunset create all sorts of designs. Sometimes they split in smaller flocks only to regroup again create a different pattern.

Coming back to the claim in question, experts say the birds migrate from Europe during snowfall and stay around Mahakaleshwar Temple as the surroundings have good old greenery. On the other hand, such bird formations usually appear in skies of remote, forest areas in peaceful locations. The positive and peaceful environment around the temple(s) areas can attract the flocks of birds and drive them into enjoying their flight in sky.

Hoax or Fact:

Hoax.

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