Kuala Lumpur: The "little India" quarter in Ipoh will be lit with 3,000 oil lamps on Saturday, a feat that could gain it an entry into the Malaysia Book of Records, a news report said on Friday.
Iruthiyam Sebastiar, director of the Sebastiar Arts Academy in Ipoh, said he hoped Malaysians of all ethnic groups would join him and his 500 academy students in lighting the oil lamps in conjunction with Deepavali.
"Deepavali is the festival of lights but many people forget that and think it is only about cultural shows. Some celebrations even start without the symbolic lighting of the lamp. We wanted a feat that would symbolise the victory of light over darkness, so I hope that the public can take part," Sebastiar was quoted by the Star newspaper as saying.
At 1930 hrs on Saturday, participants will have half an hour to light up 3,000 lamps and place them on five 2.4 metre high platforms for a spectacular display. This will be Sebastiar's sixth bid to make it into the country's book of records, the paper said.
In 1999, Sebastiar first attempted to enter the records by giving a non-stop performance for an hour by using the 'urumi', a traditional Indian drum with a troupe of 100 young drummers.
Five years ago, he crafted the country's largest oil lamp out of polystyrene which stood at 9.1 metre in height, 7.3 metre in width and 9.1 metre in length.
In 2002, he set a record for performing the Tamil folk dance Karagaatam, on an 8.66-m structure fixed with fire rings and 10,000 nails, with an 8 kg silver pot on his head. The paper, however, did not mention if he made into the book of records.
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