Tendulkar reached the milestone in fading light in Delhi

The 32-year-old passed Sunil Gavaskar's mark with a single in the second Test against Sri Lanka.

"There have been very few moments in my life that I have felt emotional. This was one of them, so it is very special for me," Tendulkar said.

"I was addressing my father. I'm sure he would have enjoyed a few moments from up there."

Tendulkar punched the air and then raised his bat and looked skywards and said a silent prayer.

And he also admitted to feeling honoured to beat Gavaskar's record.

"He was one of my heroes. I have scored 35 hundreds but your heroes are always heroes," he added.

Tendulkar, who was sent a personal message of congratulations by national president Abdul Kalam, ended the first day's play unbeaten on 100, with India on 245-3.

Former India captain Kapil Dev, who was in the Indian team when Tendulkar made his Test debut as a 16-year-old in 1989, was among the first to pay tribute to his achievement.

And despite Tendulkar's injury problems in the past couple of years, he believes there are plenty more runs in him should he choose to prolong his international career.

"I think it's important he sets another target, another challenge, because it's very hard once you achieve everything. It's entirely up to him now, how long he wants to play," Dev told BBC Asian Network Sport.

When he comes back to Bombay we'll have our own celebration Anjali Tendulkar

Family duties meant that Tendulkar's wife, Anjali, missed his big moment.

"I was watching until he scored his fifty and then I had to take the children to school. They had something which they had to attend, so I was with them.

"Suddenly when my phone started ringing and I started getting many messages, I thought 'Maybe he's got his hundred," she revealed.

Anjali said her husband was not overly concerned with records.

"His main thing when he was injured was to try and get back to complete fitness and start playing again.

"Only when people used to keep saying 'Sachin, we're waiting for your 35th hundred' - that's when it would play on his mind a bit, but that wasn't his main focus, I don't think.