Art & Culture
🔒 Log in to trackFestivals & Fairs
🔒 Log in to trackMost festival questions pair a festival with its state. Others ask about fairs, harvest seasons or India's UNESCO cultural elements. Learn each festival with one feature word. Then learn the Kumbh cities and the year ladder of UNESCO entries.
Festival and state
| Festival | State | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Onam | Kerala | Harvest; King Mahabali; Vallam Kali (snake-boat race); pookalam |
| Pongal | Tamil Nadu | Mid-January harvest; four days; Jallikattu |
| Makar Sankranti / Lohri | Many / Punjab | Lohri is the night before Sankranti |
| Baisakhi | Punjab | April harvest; Khalsa founded (1699) |
| Bihu | Assam | Rongali (spring) is the famous one |
| Durga Puja | West Bengal | UNESCO ICH 2021 |
| Ganesh Chaturthi | Maharashtra | Public utsav (Tilak's mobilisation) |
| Chhath | Bihar / Jharkhand | Sun worship at rivers, Kartik Shukla Shashthi |
| Hornbill | Nagaland | 1-10 December, Kisama; "festival of festivals" |
| Sangai | Manipur | Named after the brow-antlered deer |
| Chapchar Kut | Mizoram | Spring, after jhum clearing |
| Wangala | Meghalaya | Garo harvest ("100 drums") |
| Losar | Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal | Tibetan New Year |
| Hemis | Ladakh | Birth of Guru Padmasambhava; masked Cham dance |
| Ugadi | Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka | New Year |
| Gudi Padwa | Maharashtra | New Year |
| Bonalu, Bathukamma | Telangana | Mahakali / floral festival |
| Nuakhai | Odisha | New rice |
| Thrissur Pooram | Kerala | Elephant pageant |
| Hareli | Chhattisgarh | First festival of the farming year |
| Kharchi Puja | Tripura | Fourteen deities |
| Moatsu / Sekrenyi | Nagaland | Ao / Angami festivals |
| Sarhul | Jharkhand | Tribal spring festival of the sal tree |
Tip: Hornbill runs 1-10 December in Nagaland. December is when Nagaland's year closes.
Fairs (melas)
- Kumbh Mela rotates among Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. UNESCO listed it in 2017.
- Pushkar (Rajasthan) is a camel and livestock fair on Kartik Purnima. It is held at the only Brahma temple.
- Sonepur Mela (Bihar) is among Asia's largest cattle fairs. It is at the Gandak-Ganga confluence.
- Ambubachi Mela is at Kamakhya, Assam.
- Rath Yatra is at Puri.
- Suraj Kund Crafts Mela is in Haryana.
- Nauchandi is at Meerut, UP.
Watch: Varanasi, Ayodhya and Mathura are decoys. They do not host the Kumbh.
Season logic
Most festivals follow the harvest.
- Pongal falls in mid-January (Tamil Thai month).
- Baisakhi falls in mid-April, and so does Bihu.
- Onam falls in August-September (Chingam).
- Wangala falls in autumn.
The mid-January run goes Lohri, then Makar Sankranti, then Pongal, then Bihu within a day or two.
UNESCO cultural elements of India
| Year | Element |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre (the first) |
| 2008 | Ramlila; Vedic chanting |
| 2009 | Ramman (Garhwal, festival-theatre) |
| 2010 | Chhau, Kalbelia, Mudiyettu |
| 2013 | Sankirtana of Manipur |
| 2016 | Yoga |
| 2017 | Kumbh Mela |
| 2021 | Durga Puja in Kolkata |
| 2023 | Garba of Gujarat |
Note: Kutiyattam was proclaimed in 2001. It moved to the ICH list in 2008.
Two questions that repeat
- Which city does not host the Kumbh? The four are Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik.
- Which dance belongs to which festival? Garba with Navratri, Bhangra with Baisakhi, Bihu with Rongali Bihu, Jallikattu with Pongal, Vallam Kali with Onam.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Festival to state
A festival with four state options: Onam, Pongal, Chhath, Hornbill, Bihu and others.
Recall the one-to-one pairs.
Onam Kerala, Pongal TN, Chhath Bihar, Hornbill Nagaland, Bihu Assam.
Durga Puja WB, Losar Ladakh, Wangala Meghalaya, Sarhul Jharkhand.
Each festival has one home state.
The sun-worship festival Chhath is most identified with which state?
Show solutionHide solution
Offerings go to Surya.
They are made at river ghats.
Bihar
Fair to place
Pushkar, Sonepur, Kumbh locations, or which fair is famous for camels or cattle.
Kumbh rotates: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik.
Pushkar is camels in Rajasthan.
Sonepur is cattle in Bihar.
Each fair has one place and one animal or purpose.
The Pushkar fair, famous for camel trading, is held in which state?
Show solutionHide solution
It happens around Kartik Purnima.
It is at the town of the Brahma temple.
Rajasthan
Festival to season or harvest
Which festival falls in January or April, harvest clusters, or the order of Lohri, Sankranti and Pongal.
Place Lohri first, the night before Sankranti.
Then Makar Sankranti, which is Pongal in Tamil Nadu.
April harvest: Baisakhi and Bihu.
Harvest time sets the date of most festivals.
Which festival falls immediately after Lohri in mid-January?
Show solutionHide solution
Lohri is the night before.
Tamil Nadu celebrates it as Pongal.
Makar Sankranti
UNESCO ICH elements
Which Indian element entered the ICH list in a given year, or matching elements to years.
Keep the ladder in order.
Kutiyattam 2001, then 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2023.
Match the element to its year.
The ladder gives every year in one string.
Which was the first Indian element on UNESCO's ICH list?
Show solutionHide solution
It is Sanskrit theatre.
It comes from Kerala.
Kutiyattam (2001)
Kumbh city trap
Which city does NOT host the Kumbh Mela, or which city hosts it.
List the four: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik.
Spot the decoy: Varanasi, Ayodhya or Mathura.
Choose the decoy.
The decoy cities sound sacred, so students choose them.
Which of these does not host the Kumbh Mela: Ujjain, Nashik, Varanasi, Haridwar?
Show solutionHide solution
Ujjain is a host.
Nashik and Haridwar are hosts.
Varanasi is not.
Varanasi
Festival to dance or activity
Which dance or event belongs to which festival.
Recall the pairs.
Garba goes with Navratri, Bhangra with Baisakhi.
Jallikattu goes with Pongal. Vallam Kali goes with Onam.
Pair the two and half the festival questions answer themselves.
Vallam Kali, the snake-boat race, goes with which festival?
Show solutionHide solution
It is a boat race.
It happens in Kerala at harvest.
Onam
Shortcuts that save time
The Hornbill Festival runs 1-10 December. Nagaland Statehood Day is 1 December.
The Hornbill Festival is held every year in which state?
Show solutionHide solution
The site is Kisama Heritage Village.
The dates are 1-10 December.
Nagaland
Pushkar is in Rajasthan, the Pink City state, for camels. Sonepur is in Bihar, for cattle and elephants.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Placing Chhath in Punjab.
Chhath is Bihar (and Jharkhand): sun worship at rivers.
Adding Varanasi to the Kumbh cities.
The four are Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik.
Giving Onam to Tamil Nadu.
Onam is Kerala. Pongal is Tamil Nadu.
Placing Pushkar fair in Bihar.
Pushkar is Rajasthan (camels). Sonepur is Bihar (cattle).
Saying Bihu is celebrated in Bihar.
Bihu is Assam. Bihar has Chhath.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Onam is Kerala (Mahabali, Vallam Kali). Pongal is Tamil Nadu (January). Baisakhi is Punjab (Khalsa 1699).
Chhath is Bihar sun worship. Hornbill is Nagaland, December. Losar is the Ladakh new year.
Kumbh cities: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik. Pushkar is a camel fair. Sonepur is a Bihar cattle fair.
UNESCO ladder: Kutiyattam 2001, Ramlila and Vedic chanting 2008, Chhau-Kalbelia-Mudiyettu 2010, Sankirtana 2013.
Then Yoga 2016, Kumbh 2017, Durga Puja 2021, Garba 2023.
Practice: 14 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 10 questions
Suggested time 3 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.