In this blog I've shared an inspiring and a true story which I came to know about it when I visited wax museum in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

KHEJARLI was a small estate IN JODHPURGARANA , granted to THAKUR SURAT SINGH by MAHARAJA ABHAY SINGH OF MARWAR IN 1726 AD, and he became the first “THAKUR OF KHEJARLI”.

In that village, there were many KHEJRI trees that were sacred to all villagers. In august 1730, GIRIDHAR BHANDARI, the minister of Maharaja of Marwar, came to village with the intention of cutting down some Khejri trees and turning them down to produce lime for the construction of new palace and this led to "CHIPKO ANDOLAN"

AMRITA DEVI BISHNOI, a local woman of that village protested against it because the act was prohibited by the Bishnoi's religion. The feudal party offered that they will stop it if she paid them a bribe. 

But she refused;  because she felt like an insult to her faith and those sacred trees. She said, "SHE WOULD GIVE AWAY HER LIFE TO SAVE THOSE TREES". She hugged a tree and urged other people in village to do so by saying “ A CHOPPED HEAD IS CHEAPER THAN A FELLED TREE”.

Nearby people from other villages also gathered and hugged trees. But they were be-headed by the soldiers. This continued until 363 Bishnoi villagers including AMRITA DEVI BISHNOI and her three daughters - ASU, RATNI and BHAGU were killed in the name of sacred Khejarli forest. The very soil of khejrali tree turned red with their blood.

Who king heard the dreadful news, he put an end to the felling of trees and apologised to the Bishnoi's community. He also honoured the bravery of Bishnoi's. He then prohibited forever that no trees should be cut down; no hunting of animals within and near Bishnoi villages. This protection is still valid today.

P.S. Nearly after 230 years, this Khejrali story inspired another environmental movement like CHIPKO ANDOLAN (1973) in Tehri - Gharwal Himalaya; JUNGLE BACHAO ANDOLAN (1982) in Bihar Jharkand; the APPIKO CHALUVALI (1983) in the western ghats of Karnataka and other similar protests. All these came to light for preserving and protecting our natural environment. Let's join together and SAVE OUR NATURE by the utmost ways we can.