Kati Bihu is celebrated in which of the following months in Assam?

Correct — D. Kati Bihu falls in the Assamese month of Kati, which corresponds to mid-October.

It is the sombre one of the three Bihus, also called Kongali Bihu, kongali meaning poor: the granary is empty and the paddy is still standing in the field.

Households light earthen saki lamps at the tulsi plant and in the fields, and the day is about prayer for the crop rather than feasting.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  March — March carries no Bihu. Rongali or Bohag Bihu, the spring festival and Assamese new year, comes in mid-April with the month of Bohag, so March misses even that one.
• (b)
  November — November is a month late. The Kati sankranti falls around the middle of October, when the Assamese month of Kati begins, and the observance goes with it.
• (c)
  January — January belongs to Magh or Bhogali Bihu, the harvest feast of bonfires and community meals. That is the festival of plenty, the opposite of Kati's austerity.

Assam keeps three Bihus, and they mark stages of the paddy cycle rather than one new year.

Rongali or Bohag Bihu comes in mid-April with sowing and the Assamese new year, and is the largest of the three. Magh or Bhogali Bihu comes in mid-January after the harvest, and is the feast.

Kati or Kongali Bihu falls between them in mid-October, when household stocks are lowest and the standing crop is most at risk. That is why its ritual is lamps and prayer rather than food.

Key facts

• Assam celebrates three Bihus — Bohag in April, Kati in October and Magh in January.
• Kati Bihu is also called Kongali Bihu, kongali meaning poor.
• The Kati Bihu ritual centres on lighting lamps at the tulsi plant and in the paddy fields.
• Bohag Bihu marks the Assamese new year.

Common traps

• Answering April because Bohag Bihu is the Bihu most candidates know
• Treating all three Bihus as harvest feasts, when Kati is a lean-season observance

No directly related past PYQ was found.