BISWAJEET BANERJEE, Associated Press

3 hours in the past

Lamps gentle up the banks of the river Saryu on the eve of the Hindu competition of Diwali, in Ayodhya, India, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023. Ayodhya metropolis within the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Saturday set a report by lighting over 2.2 million earthen oil lamps throughout Deepotsav celebrations on the eve of Diwali, creating a brand new Guinness World Record for lighting lamps in such a big quantity, in keeping with state tourism division. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Millions of Indians celebrated Diwali on Sunday with a brand new Guinness World Record variety of vivid earthen oil lamps as issues about air air pollution soared within the South Asian nation.

Across the nation, dazzling multi-colored lights decked houses and streets as devotees celebrated the annual Hindu competition of sunshine symbolizing the victory of sunshine over darkness.

But the spectacular and much-awaited huge lighting of the oil lamps passed off — as normal —at Saryu River, in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state, the birthplace of their most revered deity, the god Ram.

At nightfall on Saturday, devotees lit over 2.22 million lamps and stored them burning for 45 minutes as Hindu non secular hymns crammed the air on the banks of the river, setting a brand new world Record. Last 12 months, over 1.5 million earthen lamps had been lit.

After counting the lamps, Guinness Book of World Records representatives offered a report certificates to the state’s prime elected official Yogi Adityanath.

Over 24,000 volunteers, largely school college students, helped put together for the brand new report, mentioned Pratibha Goyal, vice-chancellor of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, in Ayodhya.

Diwali, a nationwide vacation throughout India, is well known by socializing and exchanging presents with household and mates. Many gentle earthen oil lamps or candles, and fireworks are set off as a part of the celebrations. In the night, a particular prayer is devoted to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who’s believed to carry luck and prosperity.

Over the weekend, authorities ran additional trains to accommodate the massive numbers attempting to achieve their hometowns to hitch household celebrations.

The competition got here as worries about air high quality in India rose. A “hazardous” 400-500 degree was recorded on the air high quality index final week, greater than 10 occasions the worldwide security threshold, which may trigger acute and continual bronchitis and bronchial asthma assaults. But on Saturday, surprising rain and a robust wind improved the degrees to 220, in keeping with the government-run Central Pollution Control Board.

Air air pollution degree is predicted to soar once more after the celebrations finish Sunday evening due to the fireworks used.

Last week, officers in New Delhi shut down main colleges and banned polluting automobiles and building work in an try to scale back the worst haze and smog of the season, which has posed respiratory issues for folks and enveloped monuments and high-rise buildings in and round India’s capital.

Authorities deployed water sprinklers and anti-smog weapons to regulate the haze and many individuals used masks to flee the air air pollution.

New Delhi tops the listing virtually yearly among the many many Indian cities with poor air high quality, notably within the winter, when the burning of crop residues in neighboring states coincides with cooler temperatures that entice lethal smoke.

Some Indian states have banned the sale of fireworks and imposed different restrictions to stem the air pollution. Authorities have additionally urged residents to gentle “green crackers” that emit much less pollution than regular firecrackers. But related bans have typically been disregarded previously.

The Diwali celebrations this 12 months had been marked as authorities ready to inaugurate in January an under-construction and long-awaited temple of the Hindu god Ram on the web site of a demolished Sixteenth-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya metropolis in Uttar Pradesh state.

The Babri Masjid mosque was destroyed by a Hindu mob with pickaxes and crowbars in December 1992, sparking huge Hindu-Muslim violence that left some 2,000 folks useless, most of them Muslims. The Supreme Court’s verdict in 2019 allowed a temple to be constructed instead of the demolished mosque.