Fill in the blank: Ladakhi new year (Losar) is welcomed with symbolic dough models of ______, sun, and moon placed in households.

Correct — A. The Ministry of Tourism's Utsav portal describes Ladakhi Losar in these words: the new year is welcomed with dough models of ibex, sun and moon, and flour-painted lucky signs on the kitchen walls.

The same page says the celebrations include dances and songs in honour of the ibex. The blank takes Ibex.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Yak — The yak is a Ladakhi herd animal, but the Losar dough figures the Tourism Ministry lists are the ibex, the sun and the moon.
• (c)
  Snow leopard — The snow leopard lives in Ladakh's mountains, yet it is not a Losar dough figure. The animal the festival honours in song and dance is the ibex.
• (d)
  Buddha — Losar is kept by Ladakh's Buddhists, which makes Buddha tempting, but the dough models placed in homes are of the ibex, the sun and the moon.

Losar is the new year of Ladakh's Buddhists. The Tourism Ministry's Utsav portal counts it among the major attractions for tourists in the winter season.

Homes set out dough models of the ibex, sun and moon and paint lucky signs in flour on the kitchen walls. Lamps are lit, and monasteries and stupas are illuminated.

The third day marks the sighting of the year's first moon, with a prayer for good crops.

Key facts

• Ladakhi Losar dough figures: ibex, sun and moon (Ministry of Tourism, Utsav portal).
• Lucky signs are painted in flour on kitchen walls at Losar.
• The third day of the Ladakhi new year marks the sighting of the year's first moon.

Common traps

• Picking the snow leopard or the yak because they are Ladakh's best-known animals, when the festival honours the ibex.
• Picking Buddha because Losar is a Buddhist festival.

No directly related past PYQ was found.