This viral edited picture of Hindu saint Shirdi Saibaba is not a rare photograph, it’s a painting.

September 10, 2020 Harsh Kashiv

Spread the truth:

A picture claiming to be the real and rarest photograph of the Hindu Saint and Spiritual Master Shri Saibaba of Shirdi who is worshiped is viral on Whatsapp and other social media platforms.

The picture is being circulated on social media with the claim that this is the

“Rarest of the rare photo of SHIRDI SAINATH MAHARAJ … TAKEN ON 10TH OCTOBER 1918, JUST BEFORE HIS SAMADHI ON 15TH OCTOBER.”

SMHoaxSlayer team got requests for the fact-check of the image and claims about the image.

Above is the viral image which is viral on social media claiming to be an original photograph of Shirdi Saibaba.

Facebook

People started circulating the image along with the claim on other social media platforms like Facebook where they mentioned the source of image as Whatsapp.

Twitter

Netizens started sharing the image assuming it to be a real photograph. We found a tweet regarding the same on twitter by the account of Dinesh Joshi who has 7 thousand followers.

#OmSaiRam Rare photo
of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba… Received via WA .. 🙏 @BesuraTaansane @TandonRaveena @MahimaShastri pic.twitter.com/Zm5M5VYcxr

— Dinesh Joshi. (@dineshjoshi70) September 8, 2020

Truth

The widely circulated picture of Hindu Saint and God Shri Saibaba is not a real photograph, it is a hand-made painting by an artist named Sunil Shegaonkar.

Comparison of the viral image and clipped part from the painting –

An edited and photoshopped version of the above painting by Sunil Shegaonkar is being circulated as a rare photograph of Saibaba. Sunil Shegaonkar makes these painting with his hands and not on a computer. He is a renowned painter known for his Saibaba paintings which look very real. It is hard to distinguish his paintings from a photofraph. Below are few examples of his work.