The Bishnoi Community

The bishnois a barefoot Environmentalist believe strongly in protecting the environment and wildlife. The community is concentrated in the western part of the Rajasthan, Bishnois are also known as vishnoi slave of lord Vishnu. In 1730, a local woman called amrita devi, this woman is one of the tenet of those stood against A royal troop assigned to cut khejri trees in their village by the king of Mewar. Their religion was founded by Lord Jambheshwar who is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the preserver of all that’s created on earth, though there are 29 tenets in this belief system, the most important of them all is ‘praan daya’ or compassion for all living things. For close to 525 ages, every Bishnoi, young and old, has lived and even died for this spirit of regard.

a lactating woman nursing a fawn

 the Bishnoi women take maternal care of the rescued fawn or black bucks sometimes they breast feeding them if they are newly born. When they are able to walk and fend for themselves, they are released back into the forest.

The Bishnoi villages have the largest number of blackbucks and chinkaras in the region.

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Reacting to Chipko in 1980, Indira Gandhi told Nature magazine in an interview, “Well, frankly, I don’t know all the aims of the movement. But if it is that trees should not be cut, I’m all for it.” When informed that Chipko was concerned also about poverty in the region, she replied, “Naturally, anybody who lives in a backward country has to be concerned with that, too.” But clarifying that trees are important in themselves, she added, “The cutting of trees has immediately brought havoc because it has increased our drought, it has increased our floods and it has made vast areas much more difficult to live in.” source : down to earth

Chipko rally (1730)
Photo by Anupam Mishra

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.

—Gandhi