Assam has entered the Guinness World Records for the highest number of handwritten notes on the 17th-century Ahom commander Lachit Barphukan as part of a state government campaign last year.

The month-long campaign from October 26 to November 26 last year, held as part of the year-long celebration of the 400th birth anniversary of Barphukan, had received 42,94,350 essays or write-ups on the general.

Barphukan was known for his leadership and valour against the invading Mughals in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.

Swapnil Dangarikar, the official adjudicator of the Guinness World Records, presented the certificate of record to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a function held at the Janata Bhavan in Guwahati on Thursday.

The certificate, dated February 1, 2023, said the “largest online photo album of handwritten notes is 42,94,350 photos and organised by the government of Assam (India) to celebrate Lachit Barphukan’s 400th birth anniversary”.

As part of the year-long celebrations, the state government had on October 26 launched a mobile application or portal titled lachitbarphukan.assam.gov.in to provide a platform to the common people residing in Assam and beyond, including foreign countries, to pay their tributes to the Ahom general in the form of write-ups and essays.

There were over 57 lakh online entries in total, but only the hand-written ones were considered to convey that there was no robot or a group of people to jack up the numbers, an official said.

“Since the handwritten notes had to be uploaded individually in image format, it is referred to as photo album,” the official said, revealing elaborate arrangements were made to receive the entries.

“We had to increase the number of servers from one to 16 and also the bandwidth. A huge team of programmers, data operators and core managers, among others, worked on the project,” he said.

The participant had the option of writing either on any piece of paper or on a pre-formatted booklet that could be downloaded from the application/portal.

Once completed, a printout of it was taken, scanned and uploaded on the application/portal. Sarma in a tweet said: “I thank Guinness World Records Adjudicator Shri Swapnil Dangarikar for handing over the certificate of records. I also thank the hardworking students and others in India and abroad for writing tributes on the brave Ahom General.”

Sarma said the huge numbers of essays and write-ups revealed how deeply embedded the general was in people’s psyche, adding several unknown facts about Barphukan and others involved in the Saraighat battle have also come to light through the essays/articles written in multiple languages, including Assamese, Bodo, English, Hindi and Karbi.

Sarma also said the government would continue to tell the world stories about the culture, heritage and bravery of Assam.

The BJP-led state government had widely celebrated the birth anniversary of the general in the state and in Delhi to ensure more people get to know about the exploits of Barphukan (November 24, 1622 AD - April 25, 1672 AD) in the Battle of Saraighat against the Mughals during the reign of Aurangzeb so that the general gets his rightful place in India’s history.

All government departments, including the police, and educational institutions were involved in the celebrations, which included hosting sporting and cultural events, march pasts, seminars and essay competitions.