The Sammakka Saralamma Jatara at Medaram, regarded as the largest tribal fair of India, is held in which state?

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.