Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the Lists : List I (Festivals of North East India) A. Hornbill Festival B. Chapchar Kut C. Nongkrem Dance Festival D. Saga Dawa List II (State) 1. Meghalaya 2. Sikkim 3. Nagaland 4. Mizoram Code:
- (a)2, 4, 1, 3
- (b)3, 1, 4, 2
- (c)3, 4, 1, 2
- (d)2, 1, 4, 3
Correct — C, 3, 4, 1, 2. Two of the four pairings are as firmly documented as anything in this syllabus. The Hornbill Festival is Nagaland's, held every year from 1 to 10 December at the Kisama Heritage Village near Kohima and staged since December 2000 as a single gathering of all the state's ethnic groups, which is why it is called the Festival of Festivals — so A goes with 3. Chapchar Kut is the Mizo spring festival of Mizoram, falling in late February or early March and officially on the first Friday of March, originally a thanksgiving for coming safely through the clearing of hill slopes for jhum cultivation, and danced with the Cheraw bamboo dance — so B goes with 4. Saga Dawa is the Tibetan-Buddhist name for the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar, when the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana are all marked; among the four states listed, Sikkim is the one with a Tibetan-Buddhist tradition, so D goes with 2. That leaves Meghalaya for the Nongkrem Dance Festival, a Khasi observance, giving C with 1. The chain 3, 4, 1, 2 is option (c).
- (a)2, 4, 1, 3 — Swaps the two ends. It sends the Hornbill Festival to Sikkim, when it is Nagaland's, and Saga Dawa to Nagaland, when it is the Tibetan-Buddhist observance kept in Sikkim.
- (b)3, 1, 4, 2 — Right about Nagaland and Sikkim but exchanges the middle two, giving Chapchar Kut to Meghalaya. Chapchar Kut is the Mizo spring festival of Mizoram.
- (d)2, 1, 4, 3 — Misplaces three of the four. Only the Chapchar Kut pairing survives here in altered form, and even the Hornbill Festival is moved out of Nagaland.
The festivals of the North-East divide neatly by what a community lives on and what it believes. Chapchar Kut belongs to the jhum cycle of the Mizo hills — a festival of the pause between clearing a plot and burning it. The Hornbill Festival is a modern state creation, begun in 2000, that gathers the older tribal festivals of Nagaland into ten days at one site. Nongkrem is a Khasi observance of Meghalaya. Saga Dawa is not tribal at all but Buddhist, kept wherever Tibetan Buddhism is practised, which in this list means Sikkim.
Two anchors decide the whole item. Hornbill with Nagaland is the single best-known festival fact in the North-East and is worth almost a mark on its own here, since it removes options (a) and (d). Chapchar Kut with Mizoram is the second, and it has been asked directly by UPSC twice, in 2002 and again in 2018; knowing it separates (b) from (c). Saga Dawa follows from religion rather than region — it is the Tibetan-Buddhist Vesak, so it goes to the Buddhist state on the list. One honesty note on this card: the Hornbill, Chapchar Kut and Saga Dawa pairings were each checked against a source, but the Nongkrem pairing could not be confirmed from a primary source in this pass, so it is authored by elimination — once the other three are fixed, Meghalaya is the only state left, and that is also where every standard listing places the Khasi Nongkrem observance.
- The Hornbill Festival is held at Kisama Heritage Village near Kohima in Nagaland from 1 to 10 December, and has run since December 2000.
- It is called the Festival of Festivals because it brings together all the ethnic groups of Nagaland at one venue.
- Chapchar Kut is the Mizo spring festival of Mizoram, held in late February or early March, officially on the first Friday of March.
- Chapchar Kut began as a thanksgiving after the dangerous clearing of hill slopes for jhum cultivation; its signature performance is the Cheraw bamboo dance.
- Saga Dawa is the Tibetan-Buddhist observance of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana, falling in the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar.
- Assuming a Buddhist festival must be from Ladakh; among these four options Sikkim is the Buddhist state.
- Reading Chapchar Kut as a harvest festival — it marks the clearing of the jhum plot, before sowing.
- Treating the Hornbill Festival as an ancient tribal festival; it is a state-organised event begun in 2000.
Almost always as a festival-to-state match, occasionally as a single-line question on which community keeps a named festival.
Chapchar Kut is a festival celebrated in the state of
- (a) Arunachal Pradesh
- (b) Assam
- (c) Mizoram
- (d) Sikkim
Answer(c) Mizoram
Row B of this matching set, asked on its own two decades earlier. Chapchar Kut with Mizoram is exactly the pairing that separates option (b) from option (c) in the CDS item.
Consider the following pairs: Tradition — State 1. Chapchar Kut festival — Mizoram 2. Khongjom Parba ballad — Manipur 3. Thang-Ta dance — Sikkim Which of the pairs given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 1 and 2
- (c) 3 only
- (d) 2 and 3
Answer(b) 1 and 2
The same tradition-to-state pairing habit, in the form UPSC prefers. It confirms Chapchar Kut for Mizoram and adds two more North-East pairings worth carrying — Khongjom Parba for Manipur and Thang-Ta, which is Manipuri and not from Sikkim.
CDS_GK_2020_I_Q812020‘Naropa’ is an annual festival of
- (a) Sikkim
- (b) Ladakh
- (c) Arunachal Pradesh
- (d) Nagaland
Answer(b) Ladakh
The same question type from the Buddhist Himalaya. Naropa belongs to Ladakh, and keeping it apart from Saga Dawa in Sikkim is the sort of distinction this paper rewards.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Hornbill Festival of Nagaland is held every year at
- (a)Dimapur
- (b)Kisama Heritage Village near Kohima
- (c)Mokokchung
- (d)Tuensang
Answer(b) Kisama Heritage Village near Kohima, from 1 to 10 December.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Cheraw bamboo dance is associated with which festival and state?
- (a)Chapchar Kut, Mizoram
- (b)Wangala, Meghalaya
- (c)Bihu, Assam
- (d)Sangai, Manipur
Answer(a) Chapchar Kut, Mizoram — Cheraw is the signature performance of the Mizo spring festival.