Fact Check: No, Giant Shaligram Stone Was Not Found After Nepal Floods
Fact check - The shaligram stone featured in the content is man-made, not an ancient fossil.
Several Facebook and Instagram posts claim a shaligram stone, an ancient seashell fossil, surfaced after the flash flood in Nepal on August 26, 2026. One post described the black stone, 140 million years old, as Shaligram. However, a fact-check by Tempo reveals this is not true. The object in circulating photos and videos is a statue created by a Nepalese artist to promote tourism in the Kali Gandaki River valley, Jomsom.
The statue installation was reported by Nepalese media long before the flash flood. The shaligram statue is not the same as the fossil claimed to have emerged from the flood.
Written by urgent.news from Tempo.co English's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
