In March 2018, who released Rs. 1,000 and 10 commemorative coins on the occasion of the Nabakalebara festival at a function held in Puri, Odisha?

The correct answer is C, Kerala. Thrissur Pooram is held at the Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur during the Malayalam month of Medam, which falls in April and May. Thirty caparisoned elephants, the panchavadyam and pandimelam percussion ensembles, the umbrella exchange called Kudamattam and a long fireworks display make it the largest temple festival of the state.

Option A, Tamil Nadu, is the commonest trap because the state borders Kerala and has its own great temple festivals, such as the Chithirai festival of Madurai. Option B, Orissa, now Odisha, is the state of the Puri Rath Yatra and of Bali Yatra at Cuttack, both of which are separate topics in the same syllabus. Option D, Karnataka, is known for the Mysuru Dasara procession and the Hampi festival, not for Pooram, which is a Kerala word for a temple gathering.

The correct answer is D, Odisha. Bali Yatra is held on the bank of the Mahanadi at Cuttack on Kartik Purnima and remembers the days when merchants of Kalinga sailed to Bali, Java and Sumatra. People float small boats of paper, banana bark or cork with lamps in them, and a very large trade fair runs beside the river for a week.

Option A, Tamil Nadu, had its own sea trade under the Cholas, who actually sent naval expeditions to Srivijaya, but its festival calendar has Pongal and the temple festivals, not Bali Yatra. Option B, Rajasthan, is a landlocked state whose big gatherings are the Pushkar Fair and the Desert Festival of Jaisalmer. Option C, Kerala, has Onam and Thrissur Pooram. The word Yatra and the Kalinga sea link should point the candidate to Odisha at once.

The correct answer is A, Nubra. The first ice climbing festival of Ladakh was held in the Nubra valley in January 2021, on the frozen waterfalls near the villages of the upper Nubra, as a way of building winter adventure tourism in a region that otherwise earns only in summer. Nubra lies north of Leh across the Khardung La and is watered by the Shyok and the Nubra rivers.

Option B, Ripchar, is a side valley on the Lamayuru to Chilling trek and hosts no such festival. Option C, Markha, is the valley of Ladakh's best known summer trek, between the Zanskar range and the Stok range. Option D, Dras, spelt Drass, lies in the Kargil district and is famous instead for being one of the coldest inhabited places in India and for the Kargil war memorial.

The correct answer is B, Nagaland. The Hornbill Festival is held at the Naga heritage village of Kisama near Kohima from 1 to 10 December, the state formation day being 1 December. It is called the festival of festivals because every major tribe of the state sets up its own morung and presents its dances, songs, crafts, wrestling and food at a single venue, and it is named after the hornbill bird that appears in Naga folklore and headgear.

Option A, Mizoram, celebrates Chapchar Kut in spring with the bamboo dance Cheraw. Option C, Meghalaya, has Wangala of the Garo and Ka Pomblang Nongkrem of the Khasi. Option D, Manipur, has Yaoshang with the Thabal Chongba dance and Lai Haraoba. Each of these is a single-tribe or single-community festival, not a gathering of all the tribes of a state.

The correct answer is C, Rongali Bihu. Rongali Bihu, also called Bohag Bihu, falls in mid-April at the start of the Assamese month of Bohag and opens the new year and the sowing season. It runs for several days, begins with Goru Bihu for the cattle, and is the Bihu of the husori singing and the Bihu dance.

Option A, Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu, is the January harvest feast of Assam, celebrated with the meji bonfire and community eating, and it falls on the same day as Makar Sankranti. Option B, Kati Bihu or Kongali Bihu, in October, is the sober one, when lamps are lit before the tulsi plant and in the paddy fields at a time when the granary is empty. Option D, Ambubachi, is not a Bihu at all but the annual mela of the Kamakhya temple at Guwahati in June.