By what name is the festival of Makar Sankranti celebrated in Assam?

Correct — C. Assam's mid-January harvest festival is Magh Bihu, also called Bhogali Bihu for the feasting that defines it — the Uruka night of communal cooking, and the burning of the meji the next morning.

Makar Sankranti is one festival with many regional names, and in Assam that name is Magh Bihu — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Pongal — Pongal is Tamil Nadu's celebration of the same Sankranti harvest moment. Right festival family, wrong state.
• (b)
  Thai Pongal — Thai Pongal is the principal day of Pongal, named for the Tamil month of Thai. It is the same Tamil observance under a fuller name, so it cannot be the Assamese one.
• (d)
  Pedda Padunga — The Telugu-speaking states call Sankranti Pedda Panduga, printed in this paper as 'Pedda Padunga'. That points to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, not to Assam.

Makar Sankranti is a solar festival. It marks the Sun's transit into Makara, so it falls on nearly the same date every year, around 14 January, while lunar festivals drift across the calendar.

The name changes with the region — Magh Bihu in Assam, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Lohri and Maghi in the north-west, Uttarayan in Gujarat.

Assam observes three Bihus across the year, and the January one is the Sankranti festival.

Key facts

• Makar Sankranti marks the Sun's entry into Makara and falls around 14 January each year.
• Assam celebrates Makar Sankranti as Magh Bihu, also known as Bhogali Bihu.
• Assam's other two Bihus are Bohag or Rongali Bihu in April and Kati or Kongali Bihu in October.
• Tamil Nadu's counterpart festival is Pongal, whose principal day is called Thai Pongal.

Common traps

• Picking Pongal because it is the best-known Sankranti name. The stem fixes the state as Assam.
• Reading Bihu as a single festival when Assam observes three of them in different months.
• Assuming a harvest festival must fall at harvest everywhere. Sankranti is fixed by the Sun's position.

No directly related past PYQ was found.