Fairs and Tribal Culture of India: Melas, Tribes and PYQs

The correct answer is D, Assam. The Ambubachi Mela is held every year at the Kamakhya temple, which stands on Nilachal Hill in Guwahati, the largest city of Assam. It falls in the Assamese month of Ahaar, which corresponds to June, and marks the belief that the goddess passes through her annual cycle of rest. The temple doors are closed for three days and are opened on the fourth, when prasad is distributed, so the fair is also known as the Ambubachi or Ameti festival.

Option A, Manipur, holds the Lai Haraoba and Yaoshang festivals, not Ambubachi. Option B, Nagaland, is the state of the Hornbill Festival at Kisama and of Moatsu and Sekrenyi. Option C, Mizoram, is the state of Chapchar Kut, its spring festival. All three are North Eastern states, which is exactly why the paper setter offers them together, but the Kamakhya temple is in Assam alone.

The correct answer is C, Assam. Ali Ai Ligang is the spring sowing festival of the Mising tribe of Assam. The name itself describes the occasion, for it refers to the sowing of roots and seeds, and the festival begins on the first Wednesday of the month of Fagun. Villagers plant the first paddy of the season, and the Gumrag dance is performed to drums and cymbals, with rice beer and pork served at the community feast.

Option A, Kerala, is the state of Onam, Vishu and Thrissur Pooram. Option B, Bihar, holds Chhath and the Sonepur cattle fair. Option D, Chhattisgarh, has Bastar Dussehra and the Karma dance of its tribal belt. Each is a real festival state, but Ali Ai Ligang belongs to the Mising, an Assamese tribe of the Brahmaputra valley, so C is the only correct pairing.

The correct answer is B, Nilgiri Hills. The Toda are a small pastoral people of the upper Nilgiri plateau in Tamil Nadu. They live in hamlets called munds, herd buffaloes and treat dairy work as a sacred duty carried out at the conical or barrel-vaulted temple huts that appear in every photograph of them. Their embroidery, the putukuli shawl worked in red and black, is a registered craft of the hills. The Kota, Kurumba, Irula and Badaga share the same hills with them.

Option A, the Kumaun Hills, and option D, the Garhwal Hills, are in Uttarakhand, where the Tharu, Bhotia, Jaunsari and Raji live. Option C, the Khasi Hills, are in Meghalaya, the home of the matrilineal Khasi. All three are genuine tribal regions, but only the Nilgiris of the Western Ghats are the Toda homeland.

The correct answer is D, Jharkhand. Bhagta Parab is observed by the tribal communities of Jharkhand in the weeks between spring and summer, and it is dedicated to Budha Baba. Devotees called bhagtas fast, carry water from a tank to the shrine and take part in feats of endurance, and the Chhau dance of the Seraikela and Purulia tradition is performed through the nights of the festival. Sarhul, Karma and Sohrai belong to the same festival calendar of the state.

Option A, Mizoram, celebrates Chapchar Kut, Mim Kut and Pawl Kut. Option B, Maharashtra, is the state of Ganesh Chaturthi and of the Warli people. Option C, Madhya Pradesh, holds the Bhagoria Haat of the Bhil and Bhilala before Holi, which sounds close to Bhagta Parab and is the trap in this question. Bhagta Parab, however, is a Jharkhand festival.

The correct answer is B, Maasai. The Maasai are a cattle-keeping people of East Africa, living in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania around the Rift Valley and the Serengeti. They are known for their red shuka cloth, their beadwork and their jumping dance, and they have no presence in India at all, which makes them the odd one out here.

Option A, the Gond, are the largest tribe of India and are spread across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Odisha. Option C, the Santhal, are the largest tribe of eastern India, found in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar, and their language Santhali is listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Option D, the Tharu, live in the terai belt of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar along the Nepal border. All three are Indian Scheduled Tribes.

The correct answer is B, Rajasthan. The Pushkar Fair is held at Pushkar in the Ajmer district of Rajasthan, on the bank of the Pushkar lake and beside the temple of Brahma. It runs up to Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the month of Kartik, which falls in November, and it is the best known camel and cattle fair of the country, with camel races, moustache contests and a large craft bazaar.

Option A, Gujarat, holds the Tarnetar fair at Surendranagar and the Rann Utsav in Kutch. Option C, Madhya Pradesh, has the Bhagoria Haat of the Bhil and the fair at Ujjain during the Simhastha Kumbh. Option D, Haryana, hosts the Surajkund Crafts Mela at Faridabad in February. Each is a fair state, but the Brahma temple and the camel fair of Pushkar are Rajasthan's own.

The correct answer is C, Bihar. The Sonepur Mela is held at Sonepur in the Saran district of Bihar, where the Gandak joins the Ganga. It begins on Kartik Purnima, the same full moon as the Pushkar Fair, and is named the Harihar Kshetra Mela after the Harihar Nath temple there, which tradition links to Rama. Cattle, horses, birds and elephants were traded at it for centuries, and it remains one of the largest livestock fairs in Asia.

Option A, Odisha, holds the Bali Yatra at Cuttack on the same full moon, which is the neatest trap in this question. Option B, Uttar Pradesh, has the Nauchandi Mela at Meerut and the Magh Mela at Prayagraj. Option D, West Bengal, holds the Gangasagar Mela on Sagar Island at Makar Sankranti. Only Sonepur carries the Harihar Kshetra name.

The correct answer is A, Garo. Wangala is the post-harvest thanksgiving festival of the Garo of Meghalaya, offered to Saljong, the sun god who grants the harvest. It is popularly called the festival of the hundred drums, because rows of dancers move to long drums, gongs and the buffalo-horn trumpet in the Garo Hills, and it is held around November.

Option B, the Angami, are a Naga tribe of Nagaland whose great festival is Sekrenyi, a purification festival in February. Option C, the Apatani, live in the Ziro valley of Arunachal Pradesh and celebrate Dree, an agricultural festival, and Myoko. Option D, the Bhutia, live in Sikkim and observe Losar and Losoong, the Tibetan new year festivals. All four are genuine tribes, but only the Garo keep Wangala.

The correct answer is B, Nagaland. The Hornbill Festival is held at the Naga Heritage Village at Kisama, near Kohima, from 1 to 10 December, and it opens on the day Nagaland became a state. Every major Naga tribe puts up its morung, or dormitory house, and the days are filled with log-drum pulling, wrestling, Naga chilli eating contests and folk songs. The festival takes its name from the hornbill, the bird whose feathers appear on Naga headgear.

Option A, Manipur, holds the Sangai Festival in November. Option C, Tripura, is the state of Kharchi Puja and the Garia festival. Option D, Meghalaya, holds Wangala, Behdienkhlam and the Shad Nongkrem dance. All three are North Eastern states with their own showpiece festivals, which is why they appear as distractors, but Kisama is in Nagaland.

The correct answer is C, Telangana. The Sammakka Saralamma Jatara, usually called the Medaram Jatara, is held at Medaram in the Mulugu district of Telangana, once in two years in the month of Magha. It honours Sammakka and her daughter Saralamma, remembered as Koya women who fought the rulers of the Kakatiya kingdom, and the Koya tribe leads the rituals. Devotees offer bellam, or jaggery, equal to their own weight, and the fair draws a tribal crowd larger than any other in the country.

Option A, Chhattisgarh, holds the long Bastar Dussehra. Option B, Odisha, holds the Puri Rath Yatra and the Bali Yatra at Cuttack. Option D, Jharkhand, has Sarhul and Bhagta Parab. All are strong tribal states, but the Medaram Jatara is Telangana's.

The correct answer is C, the 89th Amendment. Until 2003 a single National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes worked under Article 338. The 89th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003 split it, leaving Article 338 with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and inserting Article 338A to create a separate National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, with a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and other members appointed by the President.

Option A, the 73rd Amendment of 1992, added Part IX and gave panchayats constitutional status. Option B, the 86th Amendment of 2002, inserted Article 21A and made free and compulsory education for children a fundamental right. Option D, the 97th Amendment of 2011, dealt with cooperative societies. Only the 89th Amendment concerns the tribal commission, so C is correct.

The correct answer is A, Mizoram. Chapchar Kut is the best known festival of the Mizo, held in March once the jhum fields have been cleared and burnt and the villagers wait for the sowing rains. Men and women in thangchhuah puan and vakiria headgear dance to drums, and the Cheraw, in which dancers step between bamboo staves clapped together on the ground, is its signature performance. Mim Kut and Pawl Kut are the other two Mizo festivals.

Option B, Sikkim, observes Losar, Losoong and Saga Dawa. Option C, Arunachal Pradesh, holds Mopin of the Galo, Solung of the Adi and Nyokum of the Nyishi. Option D, Assam, celebrates Bihu and Ali Ai Ligang. The bamboo dance itself is the clue, because Cheraw is Mizoram's own and is often confused with the similar dances of the region.