Two World-Record Attempts Before the Flag Hoisting: 501 Conches on 25 October, a 6,500-Strong Maha Goda Aarti on 31 October

The Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority (NTKMA) is planning two world-record attempts around the Simhastha flag hoisting. NTKMA Commissioner Shekhar Singh and NMC Commissioner Manisha Khatri set out the plans at a joint press conference on Sunday 18 October 2026, and the District Information Office, Nashik posted the same day that two world records are planned. Both events are officially announced. Whether either actually becomes a record depends on the record body's own verification.

25 October: 501 conches at once

• 501 people will blow conch shells together on Kojagiri Purnima, Sunday 25 October, at about 6 PM, near the Devmamledar grounds (Patangan) on the Godavari bank in Nashik.
• The aim is to beat an existing record of 303 people, which the organisers say was set in the USA.
• Participants will include members of local organisations and NGOs. The conch shells are being brought from Chennai.
• On 12 October NTKMA had said Guinness World Records would record the Shankhnaad and that the certificate would be presented at the flag hoisting. The 18 October reports speak only of a "world record" and do not name the record body again. See our earlier report.

31 October evening: Maha Goda Aarti with 6,500 tribal participants

• A Maha Goda Aarti will be held at Ramkund on the evening of the flag hoisting. Prahaar, reporting the press conference, gives the time as 6 PM.
• About 6,500 people from tribal (janjati) communities will take part: 10 from each of 650 villages in Nashik district, six men and four women from every village. The villages are from areas including Niphad, Trimbakeshwar, Dindori, Surgana and Harsul.
• The District Information Office lists this aarti as the second world-record attempt.
• The stated purpose is to spread a message about protecting the Godavari, local rivers, streams, lakes and traditional water sources. After the Ramkund aarti, aartis will also be held in the 650 villages.
• Meals and changing rooms for participants are planned at KTHM College.
• Office-bearers of the Ramtirth Godavari Seva Samiti, including president Jayantrao Gaidhani, were at the press conference.

Singh also said, according to the Times of India, that another Shankhnaad will be held during the flag hoisting on 31 October, followed by Goda aarti on the right bank of the Godavari near Ramkund.

The aarti dispute appears settled (reported)

The Times of India says the Nashik Purohit Sangh, the priests' body that performs rituals at Ramkund, and the Ramtirth Godavari Seva Samiti had initially been unwilling to hold a common Godavari aarti. After a meeting with Kumbh Mela and Guardian Minister Girish Mahajan last week, both agreed to perform the aarti jointly on 31 October, TOI reports. The Purohit Sangh did not attend the 18 October press meet; Singh and Khatri met office-bearers of both groups afterwards.

Super Fast Nashik reported on 18 October that a joint meeting called by Singh and Khatri settled the differences between the Samiti and the Panchkoti Ganga-Godavari Purohit Sangh. These are media reports. Neither organisation has issued its own statement that we could find.

What is still unclear

• Timing: our Dhwajarohan programme post listed the Maha Aarti at 7 PM with about 5,000 seats, from reports in late September. Prahaar now gives 6 PM. No official printed programme has been published, so we report both.
• Guests: on 8 October the Samiti told Pudhari that President Droupadi Murmu would attend the Maha Aarti, and that it had invited Sringeri Shankaracharya Vidhushekhara Bharati. The President's official itinerary has not been published.

If you plan to attend

Ramkund is still under works and restricted, and access around the VVIP events of 31 October will be limited. See Ramkund and ghats closed before the flag hoisting and our Dhwajarohan 2026 guide.

Related: Kumbh dates, Kumbh countdown.