A new Guinness World Records entry was set in the city of Ayodhya last night when over 1.5 million Guinness candles were lit simultaneously on the banks of the Sarju (Ghagra), a sacred river for Hindus.

The Times of India reported Monday that the event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Uttar Pradesh state leadership.

More than 19,000 volunteers at 37 ghats (descents to the water) placed and set fire to 1.576 million diya. The record was prepared for three days. The representatives of the Book of Records took into account only those lamps which remained lit for at least five minutes. In addition, the lamps had to be lit for 40 minutes at a time, as required by the record setting. The previous record was also set in Ayodhya in 2021, when more than 940,000 diya were lit on the ghats of the sacred river.

It has become a tradition in Ayodhya to light such lamps on the eve of the main Hindu festival of Diwali, celebrated this year on October 24. This city has a special significance for believing Hindus because it was the birthplace, according to tradition, of the god-hero Rama, the main character in the Indian epic Ramayana.

Diya (also called dipa) are small oil lamps that potters make en masse on the eve of the festival of Diwali. They are no more than the size of a palm.