The Hemkosh Braille Edition has indeed set a Guinness World Record as the largest bilingual Braille dictionary. The dictionary consists of over 90,000 words printed across more than 10,000 pages. It is divided into 21 volumes and 6 parts, weighing a total of 80.800 kg. The Braille Edition of Hemkosh is significant because it is the first complete language dictionary in Braille since Oxford. This remarkable achievement is the result of Jayanta Baruah’s efforts to continue his family’s groundbreaking work from the 19th Century.
Jayanta Baruah, the publisher of Hemkosh and Chairman of Pratidin Media Network, received the Guinness World Records certificate for “Largest Bilingual Braille Dictionary” from Rishi Nath, the official adjudicator for Guinness World Records. The certificate presentation took place in the presence of the Governor of Assam, Gulab Chand Kataria.
This edition is an adaptation of the regular dictionary from Hemkosh’s 14th Edition. The original Hemkosh dictionary, the first Assamese language dictionary, was compiled by Late Hemchandra Baruah in the late 19th Century. It was published four years after his passing. Subsequent editions were published by successive generations of his family, particularly from the fourth edition to the fourteenth edition, which were compiled and edited by Late Debananda Baruah. The fifteenth edition of Hemkosh is currently being compiled under the leadership of Jayanta Baruah.
To carry forward the legacy of Hemkosh, as the grandson of Late Hemchandra Baruah, Jayanta Baruah conceptualised and published the Braille edition of Hemkosh. It is worth noting that this Braille version of Hemkosh is the first comprehensive language dictionary in Braille since Oxford.
In a generous gesture, Baruah has donated copies of the Hemkosh Braille Edition to educational institutions for visually-impaired students, universities, state and central libraries, as well as the national library. This ensures that this valuable resource is accessible to those who can benefit from it.