The temple town of Ayodhya metaphorically mirrored its starlit skyline when more than 2.6 million ‘diyas’ (earthen lamps) illuminated the banks of Saryu river on the eve of Diwali or ‘Deepotsav’ yesterday.
The feat earned the Uttar Pradesh government a Guinness World Records entry for lighting the maximum number of diyas at one place.
Moreover, the UP government made another world record of 2,128 devotees performing an ‘arti’ simultaneously on the Saryu banks.
In 2023 and 2024 Deepotsav celebrations, the state government had illuminated the banks of Saryu with more than 2.2 million and 2.5 million diyas.
This year, the volunteers had also created a massive ‘Swastik’ Hindu religious symbol with 80,000 lamps to convey a message of auspiciousness on the eve of the festival of light.
UP Chief MInister Yogi Adityanath, sporting a saffron turban, offered prayers at the Lord Ram temple, and later participated in different rituals including arti and lighting of diyas.
With Deepotsav fostering Ayodhya’s global tourism appeal, the number of pilgrims and tourists visiting the temple town has been steadily rising.
The visitor count has further jumped after the consecration of Lord Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, 2025.
Ayodhya, which logged a tourist inflow of just 17.8 million in 2017, saw its visitor count jump to 164.4 million in 2024 and 238.2 million during Jan-June 2025, including 50,000 foreign backpackers.
Deepotsav is aligned with the Yogi government’s vision to enhance Ayodhya’s spiritual and cultural grandeur, and transform it into a major global pilgrimage and tourism hub.