Fact Check: This video DOES NOT show Vedic hymns being chanted in White House

A video circulating on social media shows a group of white people chanting Indian Vedic mantras. Those sharing the video claimed that the event took place in the White House, the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States.

"‘Shri Rudram Stotram’ was recited at the White House in America. It is impossible to imagine that Americans can pronounce it so cleanly,” wrote a Facebook user while sharing the video.

India Today found that the video in question is from Croatia, and not related to the White House at all.

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We conducted a keyword search and found the same video shared on Facebook and YouTube in 2018. According to these posts, the video showed the Vedic chant "Shri Rudram" performed by the European Veda Union in Croatia, a country located in Central and Southeast Europe. Croatia shares its international borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.

The description of one such video uploaded to a YouTube channel on April 28, 2018, noted, “Shri Rudram and Chamakam performed by 400+ Europeans in Croatia. The European Veda association will be doing this across many places in Europe for world peace.”

Veda Union is a network that aims to unite all European Veda chanting groups. According to their website, between March 3 and 4 of 2018, the organisation conducted 11 continuous chantings of "Sri Rudram Camakam" hymns at 11 different locations in Europe as part of a project titled "Rudram 11."

The final Rudram chanting event was held in Zagreb, Croatia. Several photographs from the same event are also available on this website.

The two founders of the Veda Union, Vojko Kercan from Slovenia and Branimir Gonan from Croatia, can be seen in the now-viral video chanting the Vedic slogans.

It is hence clear that the video in question is old and not from the White House. It shows Vedic chanting in Croatia in 2018.