Indian city sets record with dazzling display of 409,000 lamps

AYODHYA, India - Indian city of Ayodhya has set a Guinness world record by illuminating hundreds of thousands of earthen lamps as part of an annual Hindu festival.

Representatives from the Guinness World Records on Saturday handed over the certificate to Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, after having witnessed the lighting of 409,000 oil lamps on the banks of river Sarayu.

They monitored the effort with the aid of drone cameras

"Over 6,000 volunteers, majority of them college students, laboriously worked to ensure that lamps burn in a systematic pattern for the prescribed time frame," Anuj Jha, district magistrate of Ayodhya, told The Associated Press.

Last year Ayodhya had set a record by lighting 300,150 oil lamps.

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  Earthen lamps illuminate the banks of the River Sarayu as part of Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya, India, India, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. The Hindu festival of lights, marked by lighting lamps and offering prayers to the goddess of wealth Lakshmi, will be celebrated on Oct 27. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)