SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 24 of 98

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following festivals is celebrated as the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev?

(a)Hola Mohalla
(b)Baisakhi
(c)Gurpurab
(d)Chappar Mela

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Gurpurab is the term for the anniversary of a Sikh Guru, and Guru Nanak Gurpurab, also called Prakash Parv, marks the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh Guru. That is option (c).

It falls on Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the month of Kartik, so the date shifts each year on the Gregorian calendar.

The other three are genuine Punjabi festivals, but none of them marks a birth anniversary.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Hola Mohalla — Hola Mohalla is held at Anandpur Sahib the day after Holi, a martial gathering begun by Guru Gobind Singh. It is a display of arms and horsemanship, not a birth anniversary.
(b)
Baisakhi — Baisakhi is the spring harvest festival of Punjab and the day the Khalsa was founded in 1699. It marks a founding, not a birth.
(d)
Chappar Mela — Chappar Mela is a village fair held at Chhapar in Punjab's Ludhiana district, associated with the folk deity Gugga. It has no connection with a Guru's birth.

Concept

A Gurpurab is any anniversary connected with a Sikh Guru, a birth or a martyrdom. The best known is Guru Nanak Gurpurab, on Kartik Purnima, marking the birth of Guru Nanak Dev in 1469 at Rai Bhoi ki Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan.

The observance follows a set form: an Akhand Path, the unbroken forty-eight-hour reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, a Nagar Kirtan procession through the town, and langar at the gurdwara.

Punjab's festival calendar mixes religious and agricultural occasions, and this option set does the same. Baisakhi is both a harvest festival and a Sikh anniversary, so the deciding words in the stem are birth anniversary.

Key facts

Gurpurab marks the birth or martyrdom anniversary of a Sikh Guru.
Guru Nanak Gurpurab is observed on Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the month of Kartik.
Guru Nanak Dev was born in 1469 at Rai Bhoi ki Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan.
Hola Mohalla is held at Anandpur Sahib the day after Holi and was begun by Guru Gobind Singh.

Study next

The ten Sikh Gurus and the events associated with eachMajor festivals of Punjab and what each one marksThe founding of the Khalsa in 1699 and Baisakhi

Common traps

Choosing Baisakhi because it is the most familiar Punjabi festival.
Treating Gurpurab as the name of one festival rather than a class of Guru anniversaries.

The same festival set is reused across shifts — Hola Mohalla and the religion it belongs to is asked at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.2.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.