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Reading with Insight 

Q1. The Uruka happens to be an important aspect of Magh Bihu. Give an elaborate account of the celebrations associated with Uruka.
Answer: Uruka is the eve of Magh Bihu. On this day, women prepare a variety of foods like chira, pitha, laru, and curd. People also gather fuel and get fish and meat for the feast. Young lads take part in building structures called meji and bhelaghar with green bamboo, dried banana leaves, and hay. These structures are often temple-shaped or hut-like. Sometimes, cowherds spend the night in the bhelaghar to keep warm. The Uruka feasting can be a family or communal affair.

Q2. People do not take the usual rice and curry on the Domahi or Samkranti day for their lunch. What are the different kinds of food items that people have for lunch on this particular day?
Answer: On the Domahi or Samkranti day, people have a special lunch of traditional foods. These include chira (flattened rice), pitha, and curd. A special preparation called mah-karai, made of roasted rice, black gram, sesame, and ginger, is also eaten. Tekeli-pitha, a type of steamed rice cake, and sunga-pitha, rice powder roasted in a bamboo tube, are also common.

Q3. Although the Kacharis, the most numerous tribe of Assam, have similar customs like the Magh Bihu, they differ in certain features. Describe the manner in which the Kacharis celebrate their festival during the time of Assamese Magh Bihu.
Answer: The Kacharis have similar customs but with some differences. They also tie cords around fruit-bearing trees. They offer rice to birds, fish, and animals. They put a mark of water mixed with cow dung around their granaries on the Domahi day. They consider the building of bhelaghars and setting fire to them a special right of the cowherd boys. They also go carol singing and collecting eatables, a custom they call magan or begging. On the seventh day of Magh Bihu, they sacrifice fowls to their god, Bathou.

Q4. Describe the different kinds of sports and martial games associated with Magh Bihu. How did the young people in earlier times prepare themselves for participating in the martial arts?
Answer: The sports and martial games associated with Magh Bihu include wrestling, racing, jumping, buffalo fighting, and egg fighting. In earlier times, more martial games like swordplay and javelin throwing were customary. Young people would prepare for these martial arts by setting up camps on dry river banks weeks ahead of time and practicing their skills, which were necessary to defend their land.

Q5. Kati Bihu, according to the author, cannot be called a festival as such. How is Kati Bihu celebrated in Assam?
Answer: The author says Kati Bihu is a festival of little significance. In the family yard, a light is placed at the foot of the Tulasi plant, and women and children sing devotional songs. The ploughman plants a small bamboo in the field and lights an earthen lamp to protect his crop. Some people light a sky-lamp called akash-banti from a tall bamboo. The Kacharis place lamps at the foot of the Siju cactus, their granary, and their field. It is more of a ritual than a festive celebration.