Video Authentically Shows 188-year-old Indian Man Found Living in Cave?

A rumor circulating online claims a video shows the discovery of a 188-year-old Indian man who unidentified people found living in a cave. The clip showed young men helping a frail and very old-looking man take steps with the help of his walking stick.

For example, on Oct. 3, X user @BGatesIsaPyscho posted (archived) the video to their over 620,000 followers, captioning the clip, “This Indian man has just been found in a cave. It’s alleged he’s 188 years old. Insane.” Within 12 hours, the post had already received around 16 million views and 24,000 likes.

Other users on X also shared the same clip with similar captions written in Arabic or Turkish. One person’s post (archived) — which did not receive many likes — expanded upon the story, claiming, “An Indian rescue team accidentally found a caveman who claimed himself 188 [years] old. Can you believe? Authorities couldn’t believe their ears upon hearing the age of a man who was accidentally found in a cave in India. Now, he is transferred to a hospital for treatment.”

However, the truth was the video did not show a 188-year-old man who rescuers or anyone else found in a cave. While we were not able to determine his exact age, we did find data claiming the man — identified in reports by the Indian fact-checkers at D-Intent Data (archived) as Siyaram Baba — was around 110 years old as of 2024. The rumor possibly originated from a Facebook account named On Zero. That account hosted the earliest post (archived) we found that displayed both the video and false caption.

Siyaram Baba Is Reportedly Around 110 Years Old

According to an article published by the Hindi-language newspaper Navbharat Times (archived), the clip showed a man named Siyaram Baba. According to both Dictionary.com and Wisdom Library, the word “baba” has several meanings, including “holy man,” “spiritual leader,” “saint” and others.

The reporting from July 2, 2024, said Siyaram Baba was believed to be 109 or 110 years old — not 188. The Google translation from Hindi to English read, in part:

Siyaram Baba is a saint of Bhatyan Ashram situated on the banks of Narmada river in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh and lives here. No one knows his actual age but it is said that he is about 109 or 110 years old. There is a difference of opinion in the surrounding areas regarding his age. Due to which no one knows his actual age. Some people even say that Baba is 130 years old. However, Baba also did not give any information about his age.

…

Be it severe cold or heavy rain, it is said about Baba that he remains only in a loincloth. Through meditation, he has adapted his body to the weather. Even at this age, he does all his work himself and cooks his own food. Baba remained in silence for about 12 years.

An article published by the Hindi-language website Satyaagrah.com (archived) in December 2022 said Siyaram Baba was 110 years old. A video (archived) created in November 2023 by the Argus Digital YouTube channel also claimed he was 110 years old. The channel is associated with Argus News, a news outlet serving the Indian state of Odisha.

Also, a person posting on the Instagram page displaying the handle @siyaram_baba00 appeared to regularly publish photos and videos showing Siyaram Baba. The account had over 248,000 followers.

The page hosted a video showing an alternate angle of the same moment shown in the popular clip that wrongly claimed he had lived for 188 years. The page’s manager uploaded that video on Sept. 25.

We messaged the account’s manager to ask for documentation of Siyaram Baba’s age and to ask for his date of birth. We will update this story if we receive a response.

Oldest Credibly Documented People Ever

The user @BGatesIsaPsycho later replied (archived) to their own post, “I’m embarrassed I even wrote 188. Anything over 120 would have been ridiculous.“

According to The Associated Press, the oldest man ever recognized by Guinness World Records was Japan’s Jiroemon Kimura, who died in 2013 at the age of 116 years and 54 days. Meanwhile, the oldest woman named by Guinness was France’s Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived 122 years and 164 days until her death in 1997.

For further reading, we previously reported on a similar rumor claiming a video showed a 163-year-old man.

Sources