Nashik Sets a Guinness World Record With Its Shankhnaad: 517 Conch Players by Most Counts (501 in Others), Beating the US Mark of 303; Certificate Due on 31 October

The Shankhnaad on Sunday 25 October 2026 (Kojagiri Purnima) worked. A Guinness World Records adjudicator declared a new world record on the spot, on the Godavari bank in Nashik. This follows our timetable story from yesterday morning and the Shankhnaad guide.

What happened (CONFIRMED: announced by the Guinness adjudicator, as reported by PTI and the Times of India)

• Where: Yashwant Maharaj Patangan (Devmamledar grounds), near Ramkund, Nashik.
• The result: "Congratulations! You have set a new World Record," the Guinness adjudicator told the gathering, according to PTI. The crowd responded with "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".
• Record broken: 303 people blowing conches together, set in New Jersey, USA, in 2019 (PTI).
• How it was checked: two observers checked registration records, actual participation and the performance rules before the record was declared (Times of India).
• Organisers: the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority (NTKMA) and the Anant Vijay Shankhnaad Pathak of the Gungaurav Nyas. The Times of India also names the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC).

We have not yet seen the record listed on the Guinness World Records website.

The details, as reported

• The players blew conches for about five and a half minutes (PTI, Saam TV).
• The conches were certified conches brought from Chennai (PTI, Saam TV), and a special tune was composed for the attempt (Saam TV).
• Players were aged 12 to 82: children, women, young people and senior citizens (Saamana). They had practised for about two months (Saam TV, Saamana).
• Present: Kumbh Mela Minister Girish Mahajan, Mayor Himgauri Aher, Divisional Commissioner and authority chairman Dr Praveen Gedam, Kumbh Commissioner Shekhar Singh, NMC Commissioner Manisha Khatri and Collector Ayush Prasad (Times of India, FPJ).

Sources differ

• How many players: 517 in PTI, the Times of India, FPJ, Saamana and ETV Bharat. 501 in UNI, Saam TV and LetsUpp. 501 was the target figure announced before the event. The Times of India says "more than 500" had registered. The number on the certificate has not been published.
• The adjudicator's name: PTI writes Rishi Nath, senior adjudicator. The Times of India, FPJ and Saamana write Rishikesh Nag.
• Duration: about 5.5 minutes (PTI, Saam TV); five minutes (Saamana). Saam TV says the US record was for three and a half minutes.
• The checking team: Saam TV and LetsUpp say a 12-member Guinness team was present; the Times of India mentions two observers who verified the attempt. Both can be true.

What comes next (REPORTED)

• The certificate: PTI quotes an official as saying the Guinness certificate will be handed over at the 31 October flag hoisting at Ramkund, to which President Droupadi Murmu has been invited.
• 251 conches at 12:02 PM on 31 October: PTI, ETV Bharat and LetsUpp repeat that 251 of the same players will sound conches at the moment of the flag hoisting.
• The second record attempt: the Maha Goda Aarti with about 6,500 tribal participants on the evening of 31 October. Girish Mahajan told ETV Bharat it will be at 6 PM.

What Girish Mahajan said

The Times of India quotes him: "This record is not limited to Nashik or Maharashtra, but is an achievement that adds to the country's prestige." He also said: "The Simhastha Kumbh Mela is not merely an event of govt, administration, elected representatives or police. It is a festival of every Nashik resident." He asked residents to welcome pilgrims the way they welcome guests at home.

ETV Bharat reports him as saying that more than 12 crore devotees are expected this time, against about 3.5 crore in 2015, and that the works budget is about ₹35,000 crore, against about ₹3,000 crore last time. These are his estimates, not official counts.

Full flag-hoisting programme, traffic changes and live updates: Dhwajarohan 2026 hub.