JAIPUR, INDA, November 20, 2007: Jaipur, the city known world over for its traditional lifestyle, has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for recording 3,500 priests participating in a religious ceremony. The attempt made during “Bhoomi Poojan” ceremony on November 17 surpassed the existing record of 2,453 people set by an American company, Providence Newberg Medical Center, in Oregon in 2003. Organized by a private colony developer on Jaipur’s outskirts, “Bhoomi Poojan” is basically a traditional ceremony to worship a piece of land before use. It is considered auspicious in the Hindu religion. All present for the group worship, dug the land as part of the ritual and in the process created a new world record. The huge congregation saw priests sitting all over with pickaxes and hoes striking the earth for the ceremonials.
“I am very excited personally. This is my first visit to India. I am meeting lot of people professionally. I am very excited about this great world record. All the people here have registered themselves,” said Kim Lecy, the Guinness Book of World records’ representative. All participants were expected to register their names before entering the venue. “I have never seen so many priests in a single ritual like this. The presence of so many religious clerics has already made the place pious even before the Bhoomi Poojan. I have already got the list of 3,500 priests who have come here,” said Pandit Vishwanath, a priest attending the ceremony.
Jaipur is already listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, for various feats. The City Palace of Pink City has the world’s largest silver ware with 2 big silver jugs, with each having capacity of holding 1800 liters.