Millions of Indian citizens came out to celebrate Diwali, breaking a Guinness Book of Records for a number of bright earthen oil lamps.
Although there have been major concerns of air pollution in the country, devotees celebrated the annual Hindu festival of light symbolizing the victory of light over darkness.
The lighting of the oil lamps took place as usual at Saryu River, in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state, the birthplace of their most revered deity, the god Ram.
On Saturday dusk, Diwali devotees lit up a record 2.2 million lamps and kept them burning for 45 minutes as Hindu religious hymns filled the air at the banks of the river.
Last year, they only lit up a little over 1.5 million lamps.
After counting the lamps, Guinness Book of World Records representatives presented a record certificate to the state’s top elected official Yogi Adityanath.
The Diwali festival involves the exchange of gifts from family and friends, the lighting of lamps, and fireworks. These last two events have reduced the air quality in India.
A “hazardous” 400-500 level was recorded on the air quality index last week, more than 10 times the global safety limit, which can cause acute and chronic bronchitis and asthma attacks.
Last week, officials in New Delhi shut down primary schools and banned polluting vehicles and construction in an attempt to stop activities that would reduce the air quality.
New Delhi tops the list almost every year among the many Indian cities with poor air quality, particularly in the winter due to the burning of crop residues.
