Art & Culture
🔒 Log in to trackFestivals & Fairs
🔒 Log in to track| Festival / fair | State | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Onam | Kerala | Harvest; King Mahabali; Vallam Kali (snake-boat race) |
| Pongal | Tamil Nadu | Harvest, mid-January; Jallikattu |
| Makar Sankranti / Lohri | Many / Punjab | Lohri the night before Sankranti |
| Baisakhi | Punjab | Harvest & Khalsa foundation (1699) |
| Hornbill Festival | Nagaland | 1–10 December, Kisama Heritage Village — "festival of festivals" |
| Sangai Festival | Manipur | Named after the brow-antlered deer |
| Chapchar Kut | Mizoram | Spring, after jhum clearing |
| Wangala | Meghalaya | Garo harvest ("100 drums") |
| Losar | Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal | Tibetan New Year |
| Hemis | Ladakh | Birth of Guru Padmasambhava; masked Cham dance |
| Ugadi | Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka | New Year |
| Gudi Padwa | Maharashtra | New Year |
| Bonalu, Bathukamma | Telangana | Mahakali / floral festival |
| Nuakhai | Odisha | New rice |
| Chhath | Bihar | Sun worship, fasting at riverbanks |
| Thrissur Pooram | Kerala | Elephant pageant |
| Hareli | Chhattisgarh | First festival of the farming year |
| Kharchi Puja | Tripura | Fourteen deities |
| Moatsu / Sekrenyi | Nagaland | Ao / Angami festivals |
Fairs: Pushkar Fair (Rajasthan, camel fair, Kartik Purnima) · Sonepur Mela (Bihar, Gandak–Ganga confluence — among Asia's largest cattle fairs) · Kumbh Mela (Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik; UNESCO ICH 2017) · Ambubachi Mela (Kamakhya, Assam) · Rath Yatra (Puri) · Suraj Kund Crafts Mela (Haryana).
Detailed notes
Festival ↔ state — the core table
| Festival | State | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Onam | Kerala | King Mahabali's homecoming; Vallam Kali boat race; pookalam |
| Pongal | Tamil Nadu | Mid-January harvest; four days; Jallikattu |
| Baisakhi | Punjab | April harvest; Khalsa founding (1699) |
| Bihu | Assam | Rongali (spring) the famous one |
| Durga Puja | West Bengal | UNESCO ICH 2021 |
| Ganesh Chaturthi | Maharashtra | Public sarvajanik utsav (Tilak's mobilisation) |
| Chhath | Bihar / Jharkhand | Sun (Surya) worship at rivers, Kartik Shukla Shashthi |
| Hornbill | Nagaland | 1–10 December, Kisama; 'festival of festivals' |
| Losar | Ladakh / Arunachal | Tibetan new year |
| Wangala | Meghalaya | Garo harvest festival |
| Sarhul | Jharkhand | Tribal spring festival of the sal tree |
| Makar Sankranti / Lohri | Pan-India / Punjab | Lohri falls the night before Sankranti |
Fairs (melas)
Kumbh Mela — rotates among Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik (UNESCO ICH 2017). Pushkar (Rajasthan) — Kartik Purnima camel and livestock fair at the only Brahma temple. Sonepur (Bihar) — one of Asia's largest cattle fairs at the Gandak-Ganga confluence. Nauchandi (Meerut, UP).
Season logic
Most Indian festivals are harvest-tied: Pongal (mid-Jan, Tamil Thai month), Baisakhi (mid-April), Bihu (April), Onam (Aug–Sep, Chingam), Wangala (autumn). Winter-solstice cluster: Lohri → Makar Sankranti → Pongal → Bihu within a day or two.
UNESCO ICH elements of India
Kutiyattam (Sanskrit theatre, 2001 — the first), Ramlila and the Vedic chanting tradition (2008), Chhau, Kalbelia, Mudiyettu (2010), Sankirtana of Manipur (2013), Yoga (2016), Kumbh Mela (2017), Durga Puja in Kolkata (2021), Garba of Gujarat (2023), Ramman (Garhwal, 2009 — festival-theatre).
Two questions that repeat
- Which city does not host the Kumbh? The four are Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik — Varanasi, Ayodhya and Mathura are the decoys.
- Which dance belongs to which festival? Garba-Navratri, Bhangra-Baisakhi, Bihu-Rongali Bihu, Jallikattu-Pongal, Vallam Kali-Onam. Pair them and half the festival questions answer themselves.
Quick revision
- Onam-Kerala (Mahabali, Vallam Kali); Pongal-TN (Jan); Baisakhi-Punjab (Khalsa 1699).
- Chhath = Bihar sun worship; Hornbill = Nagaland, Dec; Losar = Ladakh new year.
- Kumbh: Prayagraj-Haridwar-Ujjain-Nashik; Pushkar = camel fair; Sonepur = Bihar cattle.
- ICH ladder: Kutiyattam 2001 → Ramlila/Veda 2008 → Chhau-Kalbelia-Mudiyettu 2010 → Sankirtana 2013 → Yoga 2016 → Kumbh 2017 → Durga Puja 2021 → Garba 2023.
Types of questions asked
Every way this subtopic shows up in exams — how to recognise it, the formula or logic to use, and a solved example.
Type 1: Festival ↔ statevery common5 practice Q
A festival with four states as options — Onam, Pongal, Chhath, Hornbill, Bihu and friends.
Pin the one-to-one pairs: Onam-Kerala, Pongal-TN, Chhath-Bihar, Hornbill-Nagaland, Bihu-Assam, Durga Puja-WB, Losar-Ladakh, Wangala-Meghalaya, Sarhul-Jharkhand.
Example: Chhath, the sun-worship festival, is most identified with —
Bihar (and eastern UP/Jharkhand) — offerings to Surya at river ghats.
Type 2: Fair ↔ placecommon2 practice Q
Pushkar, Sonepur, Kumbh-location questions, or 'which fair is famous for camels/cattle'.
Kumbh rotates: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik. Pushkar = camels (Rajasthan); Sonepur = cattle (Bihar); Nauchandi = Meerut.
Example: The Pushkar fair, famous for its camel trading, is held in —
Rajasthan — around Kartik Purnima at the Brahma temple town.
Type 3: Festival ↔ season / harvestcommon2 practice Q
Which festival falls in January/April, harvest-festival clusters, or ordering Lohri-Sankranti-Pongal.
January cluster: Lohri (13th night before) → Makar Sankranti/Pongal (14–15th) → Bihu (Rongali is April, not January). April harvest: Baisakhi, Bihu.
Example: Which festival falls immediately after Lohri in mid-January?
Makar Sankranti (celebrated as Pongal in Tamil Nadu).
Type 4: UNESCO ICH elementscommon3 practice Q
'Which Indian element entered the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in…', or matching elements to years.
Keep the ladder: Kutiyattam 2001 (first), Ramlila + Vedic chanting 2008, Chhau-Kalbelia-Mudiyettu 2010, Sankirtana 2013, Yoga 2016, Kumbh 2017, Durga Puja 2021, Garba 2023.
Example: Which was the first Indian element on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list?
Kutiyattam — Sanskrit theatre (2001).
Shortcut tricks
⚡ Nagaland December — "Hornbill closes the year"
Hornbill Festival runs 1–10 December (Nagaland Statehood Day is 1 December).
Example: The Hornbill Festival is held every year in —
Nagaland, 1–10 December.
⚡ Two cattle fairs
Pushkar = Pink city state (Rajasthan) camels; Sonepur = Saran/Bihar cattle & elephants.
Where students lose marks
Bonalu and Bathukamma are Telangana festivals, not Andhra Pradesh.
Sonepur Mela is in Bihar; Pushkar is in Rajasthan.
Hemis is a Ladakh monastery festival; Losar is the Tibetan New Year.
Practice sets — 14 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Each answer comes with a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 10 questions
Suggested time 3 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.