Amid Record Diwali Glow, AI-Generated Photo Claiming To Show Ayodhya During Festivities Goes Viral

Claim

Photo claiming to show an aerial view of Ayodhya, illuminated with millions of diyas, during this year’s Diwali celebrations that saw a record-shattering spectacle on the banks of the Saryu River in Ayodhya on Sunday.

The archived version of the post can be seen here. A reported 26.17 lakh diyas were lit at the same place while 2,128 people performed ‘aarti’ together. The display set a new Guinness World Record for “largest display of oil lamps”, exceeding the 2.51 million displayed in Ayodhya last year.

Fact

Newschecker did not find the viral photograph as part of the extensive media coverage of the festivities.

Also, the overly glossy and painting-like texture of the image further raised our doubts on whether it was AI-generated. We then ran the image past SightEngine, an AI-content detection tool, which found it 95% likely to be AI-generated. Similarly, the WasitAI tool said it was quite confident that the image, or significant parts of it, was AI-generated. The AIorNot tool said it was likely to be AI-generated, while IsitAI deemed it 95% likely to be AI-generated.

The earliest instance of this photograph being uploaded online was found to be on October 20, 2025, by @WallzByAI, an AI artist, who in another post, dated October 21, 2025, confirmed it to be their work.

Also Read: Did Afghan FM Amir Khan Muttaqi Film A Documentary On Hindu Temples? Viral Video is A Deepfake

Sources
WasitAI tool
IsitAI tool
SightEngine tool
AIorNot tool
X post, WallzbyAI, October 21, 2025