We already know that the Bihu is a cultural festival celebrated in the Indian state of Assam. It is a significant and popular festival among the Assamese people and holds great importance in their cultural identity.
Hey everyone! Welcome back to another important and fresh article on Magh Bihu Question Answer Class 12 English for HS Final Exam 2024.
Magh Bihu Question Answer 2024 HS Final Exam
In this article, we have added Magh Bihu’s very short Question Answer, Magh Bihu’s long Question Answer and some additional Question Answers for the next HS Final Exam 2024.
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If you are preparing yourself for the HS final Exam 2023, then this article on Magh Bihu Question Answer will definitely help you to get 100% marks in English.
Textual Question Answer: Think as you Read
1. Who is the writer of ‘Magh Bihu or Maghar Domahi’ ?
Ans: Dr Prafulla Dutta Goswami is the writer of ‘Magh Bihu or Maghar Domahi’.
2. When and why is the Magh Bihu celebrated?
Ans: Magh Bihu is a post-harvest festival widely celebrated in lower Assam including the tribals. It is a festival and enjoyment.
3. What is meant by Domahi?
Ans: Domahi means a junction of two months. The junction is the last day of the preceding month and the first day of the coming months.
4. Why is Uruka significant? Or, Give a brief description of Uruka celebrations. Or, Give an elaborate account of the celebration associated with Uruka, the important part of Magh Bihu.
Ans: The day before the Domahi is called Uruka. It is significant for the womenfolk. They get ready for the next day with chira, pitha, laru, curd etc. In fact, Uruka is not a one-day affair. Preparation started for sometimes before the Uruka as fuel for meji and Bhelaghar had to be collected; fish had to be gathered from ponds and streams and if possible some meet had also to gathered. In the tribal setting, women prepare rice beer. In winter it takes four to five days for the beer to get matured.
Temple-like structures called mejis are built with green bamboo, dry banana leaves and hay. Bhelaghars are hut-like structures in which the builder lads spend the night. Family feasting or communal feasting is held on Uruka night. The mejis and the Bleachers are burnt at the dawn of the Domahi day. People worship Agni in the fire of the mejis.
5. What like are the meji and the Bhelaghar? How and by whom are they built?
Ans: Mejis are temple-like structures made of green bamboo, dry banana leaf and straw. The Bhelaghar are hut-like in shape and made of the same materials as the mejis. The lads build them. Among the Kacharis the cowherds build them.
6. How is Domahi Day celebrated? Or, Give a brief description of the Magh Bihu celebration.
Ans: Celebrations of Magh Bihu or Maghar Domahi commence with the burning of the meiji and the Bhelaghar. People take purifying baths and gather near the meji. Eatables are offered to Agni, the fire God. Brahmins or some elderly people show blessings and put ash marks on the forehead. Half burnt sticks are taken home and placed in the garden.
It is believed that the ashes and half-burnt sticks increase the fertility of the soil. After burning the Meiji people sing hymns, and kettle drums and cymbals accompany of the hymn. On the Bihu day rice and curry are not taken in the lunch. Chira, pitha, curd etc are eaten as lunch. Various sports events like wrestling, running, egg fighting and buffalo fighting are held on Domahi Day. In the evening people eat rice, black gram and yam fry. On the Domahii day the kacharis feed the birds, fish and the animals like dogs. They take part in the various sports festival.
7. What are the different kinds of food items that people have for lunch on Domahi or Sankranti day?
Ans: People do not take the usual rice and curry on the Domahi day. No meat is allowed on Domahi Day. People take chira, pitha, curd, gur and so on in their lunch. Mah-karai a combination of roasted rice, black gram, sesame and pieces of ginger is a special preparation for the Domahi. Tekeli-pitha, sunga-pitha and sunga chaul are the favourite dishes for the Domahi. Tekeli pitha is prepared from salted rice powder steamed in the mouth of a small pitcher or a kettle. It is something like an idli of large size. Chunga pitha is prepared from moist rice powder. The moist rice powder is put in green bamboo tubes and roasted in a fire. People add either salt or gur to the moist rice powder to get the derived taste. In upper Assam chunga – chaul us a favourite dish. Sticky Bora chaul is steamed in a bamboo tube. When prepared the sticky roll is made into pieces and eaten mixed with milk and gur. People of upper Assam prefer fried pithas. Thus homemade delicacies abound in Magh Bihu.
8. Describe the manner in which the kacharis celebrate their festivals during the time of Magh Bihu.
Ans: The Kacharis are the most numerous tribe of Assam. They have similar customs. But such customs differ in certain aspects. Like the Assamese, they too tie the cord around the fruit tree. On the Domahi day, they feed ‘the flying, the sinking and the moving’. They feed the birds, the fish and the animals like dogs and pigs. They make a mark around the granary with water mixed with cow dung.
On the seventh day of Magh Bihu which is on the sixth day of Magh, they clean the utensils and sacrifice fowls to Bathou, their God. Then they go out for magan singing carols and collecting eatables. Bhela Ghar (or bilaghar as they pronounce it) making and burning is a prerogative of the kachari cowherd. The Bhelaghar is burnt before the crows fly out of their nest. The leading cowherd prays for the glory of the village. He prays to God so that diseases do not visit their village, that the village remains full of paddy and riches and that their cows grow as big and strong as the rhinoceros and elephants. Various sports events like wrestling, running, egg fights, and buffalo fights are also held on the occasion.
9. Describe the different kinds of sports events and martial games associated with Magh Bihu. How did the young people in earlier times prepare themselves for participating in martial art?
Ans: One interesting feature of the Magh Bihu is the holding of various sports events. Such sports events are wrestling, racing, jumping, buffalo fighting and egg fighting. In earlier it was customary to take part in martial games like swordplay and javelin throwing. From weeks before the magh bihu young people used to make camps on dry river banks and exercise themselves in martial art. Practising martial arts helped In defending to the motherland from aggressors.
10. How is Kati Bihu celebrated in Assam?
Ans: Kati Bihu is celebrated during autumn. It has little public significance. It is generally celebrated within the family circle. In the courtyard, a light is put at the foot of the Tulsi plant. Women and children sing praising Tulsi as lord Govinda’s favourite. The Tulsi plant is regarded as symbolic of Vrinda, a devoted to Krishna. Another notable aspect of Kati Bihu is that farmers die for certain things for the protection of the crops. He plants a small bamboo in the field and lights an earthen lamp at its foot. He may also whirl a piece of bamboo and chant certain mantras to protect the maturing paddy from pests. Some people light akash-banti or the sky lamp hanging from tall bamboo poles. During the Kati Bihu, the kacharis put lamps at the foot of the siju cactus which is the symbol of the chief God Bathou. They also light lamps in the garden and at the granary. As Kati Bihu is celebrated within the family circle, it is called having little public relevance.
11. Why does the writer say that ‘the fire rituals have apparently an Indo-European origin’?
Ans: Fire rituals are associated with the burning of meji and Bhelaghar. Meji and Bhelaghar are associated with Magh Bihu celebrations. The temple like mejis and huts like Bhelaghar are built with green bamboo, dry banana leaves and straw. They are burnt on the Bihu day.
They are set to fire before the crack of dawn. Fire God, Agni is worshipped by burning the meiji and Bhelaghar. Brahmins or elderly people shower blessings on the gathering near the meji. Ash mark has put a forehead. Half-burnt bamboo is strewn in the field and taken from and placed among the fruit-bearing trees. Ashes and half-burnt bamboo are believed to enhance the fertility of the soil.
Europeans too light lanterns and Midsummer fire. They too believe in the efficacy of ashes and embers as means of fertility. Because it is observed both in Europe and India, fire worshipping is called a culture of Indo-European origin.
Magh Bihu Question Answer AHSEC PDF
12. What is sunga chaul and how is it prepared and eaten?
Ans: Sunga chaul is a kind of delicacy prepared during the Magh Bihu. It is a favourite food in Upper Assam. Sticky Bora chaul is steamed in a green bamboo tube. When prepared the sticky roll is made into pieces and eaten with milk and gur.
Previous Year Question Answer
1. What does the term Domahi means? What do people usually have for lunch on that day? (2019)
Ans: The word Domahi means the junction of two months.
On the ‘Domahi’ or ‘Sankranti’ people do not take the usual rice and curry for their lunch instead they take various food items like chira, pitha, laru, curd and so on.
2. How is the delicacy ‘Sunga-pitha’ prepared? (2019)
Ans: ‘Sunga-pitha’ is a type of pitha which is made from moist rice powder put in a green bamboo tube and roasted in a fire. The ingredient mixed with the powder used to be salt but nowadays some people prefer a sweet variety.
In upper Assam, the people make ‘Sunga-saul'(another name for sunga pitha) which is made from the sticky bora rice steamed in a bamboo tube. When it is done, the sticky roll is made into pieces and eaten mixed with milk and gur.
3. What are the different sports held on the occasion of Magh Bihu or Maghar Domahi? (2020)
Ans: The different sports held on the occasion of Magh Bihu or Maghar Domahi are wrestling, racing, jumping, buffalo fighting, egg fighting.
4. Give an elaborate account of the celebration associated with Uruka, The important part of Magh Bihu? (2020)
Ans: See Qno. 1 (Reading with insight)
Important Additional Question Answer
1. Magh Bihu is celebrated in which month?
Ans: Magh Bihu is celebrated in the month of Magh (January).
2. What is the other name of Magh Bihu?
Ans: Bhogali Bihu.
3. What is the night before Magh Bihu is called?
Ans: Uruka.
4. What do the temple-shaped structures call?
Ans: Meji.
5. What do the hut-like structures call?
Ans: Bhelaghar
6. In which month Kati Bihu is celebrated?
Ans: October.
7. What is the other name of Kati Bihu?
Ans: Kongali Bihu.
8. Which tree is planted during Kati Bihu?
Ans: Tulsi plant.
9. How does the womenfolk prepare for the celebration of ‘Uruka’?
Ans: On the day of ‘Uruka’ womenfolk prepare various food items like ‘chira’, ‘pitha’, ‘laru’, ‘curd’, and so on. In tribal societies, tribal women indulge in brewing rice beer, usually, undistilled which takes four to five days to get matured during winter.
10. What is the importance of ‘Meji’ and ‘Bhelaghar’ built for Magh Bihu?
Ans: The ‘Meji’ and ‘Bhelaghar’ bear great significance in Magh Bihu. The young boys build a temple-like structure called ‘meji’ in fields with green bamboo, dried banana leaves and hay. ‘Bhelaghar’, a hut-like structure constructed and the cowherds sometimes pass the night in a ‘bhelaghar’ warming themselves by a fire. They also feast on the vegetables stolen from the villagers’ gardens and the eatables given to them.
11. Why does the author believe that the fire rituals associated with Magh Bihu have an Indo-European origin?
Ans: The author believes that the fire rituals associated with Magh Bihu have an Indo-European origin. In Magh Bihu, ‘meji’ is burnt and half-burnt bamboos are scattered in the fields or thrown near the fruit-bearing trees with a belief that the ashes and half-burnt bamboos increase the fertility of fields and gardens. Similarly, the Europeans who lighted lanterns and Midsummer fire also have belief in the efficacy of aches and embers as a means of fertility. Even some follow the custom of tying bands of straw around tree trunks to render them fruitful.
12. How can we assume the influence of Vaishnavism in the celebration of Magh Bihu?
Ans: In Magh Bihu, after the ‘meji’ and ‘Bhelaghar’ are burned, people hold a session of hymn-singing in the accompaniment of kettledrums and large cymbals. The holding of hymn-singing or ‘nam-prasanga’ is a noted feature of this month of Magh. In this aspect, one can assume the influence of Vaishnavism in the celebration of Magh Bihu.
13. Briefly describe the custom of ‘magan’ or begging associated with the Kachoris.
Ans: The Kacharis, the most numerous tribe of Assam, follow similar customs during the time of Assamese Magh Bihu, but these customs differ in certain features. On the seventh day of Magh Bihu i,e. sixth Magh, they again clean their utensils, sacrifice fowls to Bathou, their god and go out carol singing, collecting eatables. This custom in their word is known as ‘magan’ or begging.
