Assam’s Bihu dance on Thursday made it to the Guinness World Records with a performance by 11,304 dancers at the Sarusajai Stadium in Guwahati.

The announcement for creating the record was made by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who watched the event along with his cabinet colleagues, government officials and official adjudicator of the Guinness World Records Rishi Nath, who said the number to beat for the “largest Bihu dance” was 500.

“We have created not one but two world records. One is the Bihu dance with 11,304 bihuwa and bihuwati (dancers) and the other for the largest dhulia (drummer) performance. The dhulia performance involved 2,548 participants, breaking the earlier record of 1,356 dhols. It is a historic day for the Assamese community. I thank everyone for their contributions,” Sarma said to an enthusiastic audience and the performers, who had been practising for the day for nearly two months.

The Guinness World Records adjudicator handed over both certificates to the chief minister in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evening, when the dance performance was repeated at the same venue. Sarma’s office tweeted with the hashtag ModijiCelebratesBihu, “A sight to behold! Hon PM Shri @narendramodi Ji joins the beautiful cultural extravaganza as many dance together on the beats of #Bihu in #Assam. LARGEST BIHU DANCE IN A SINGLE VENUE.”

Bihu is a vibrant folk dance form and symbolises Assam’s culture and identity. The attempt to enter the record book for the largest Bihu at one venue was initially scheduled for April 14 with the Prime Minister in attendance but since the Guinness certificate would be handed over a day later, the mega dance performance was organised on Thursday, Sarma had said on Wednesday.

The performance, sponsored by the BJP-led state government, was scheduled for April 14 also because Bohag Bihu, which heralds the Assamese New Year, gets underway on that day. The whole state will get into a festive mood for the next one week.

The Bihu dance participants were from all 31 districts of the state and the correspondence with the Guinness office had started in October.

On Wednesday evening, after a cabinet meeting, Sarma announced Rs 25,000 to each of the performers, master trainers and reserve dancers (around 400) of the mega dance event as a “mark of gratitude” for their efforts and enthusiasm.

With these two records, Assam made three entries into the Guinness World Records since February. On February 1, Assam entered the Guinness World Records for the highest number of handwritten notes received as part of a campaign organised by the state government last year on the 17th century Ahom general Lachit Barphukan.

The month-long campaign from October 26 to November 26 was held as part of the year-long celebration of the 400th birth anniversary of the Ahom general and the government received 42,92,350 essays/write-ups on Barphukan.