Guwahati, May 1: The Braille edition of ‘Hemkosh’, the first etymological dictionary of the Assamese language, has been officially acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the largest bilingual Braille dictionary at the official certificate handover ceremony here on Monday.
An adaptation of Hemkosh’s 14th edition’s regular dictionary, the Braille edition of ‘Hemkosh’ has 90,640 words printed in 21 volumes and six parts, across 10,279 pages and weighing 80.800 kilograms.
The official adjudicator for Guinness World Records Rishi Nath handed over the Guinness World Records certificate to Jayanta Baruah, the publisher of Hemkosh, at the ceremony held at the Birinchi Kumar Baruah (BKB) Auditorium, Gauhati University
The certificate was received in the presence of Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and several other distinguished personalities, academicians and litterateurs.
Notably, the official certificate handover ceremony on Monday coincided with the 127th death anniversary of ‘Bhaxar Oja’ Hemchandra Baruah, who had compiled ‘Hemkosh’ in the last part of the 19th century. The first edition of the dictionary was published four years later after his demise.
The subsequent editions of the dictionary were published by the next generations of his family.
It may be mentioned that an email communication from Guinness World Records on April 24, 2023 confirmed Hemkosh’s Braille edition as the largest bilingual Braille dictionary.
