Amrita Devi and her three daughters were the first to be killed when the Bishnoi protested the felling of their trees.
Today in the West, it’s often used as a flippant pejorative (or worn as a badge of honour), but it stems from a story of stunning defiance and vicious bloodshed.
In 1730, a reported 363 Bishnoi people in India sacrificed their lives to stop their trees from being cut down, inadvertently laying the foundation for a strategy of peaceful resistance that has come to be used the world over.
The tale of the Bishnoi, and later the Chipko movement that it inspired, would even go on to provide a “beacon” during the early years of Australia’s environmental protest movement.
The Bishnoi are a Hindu community from northern and north-western India who adhere to the teachings of Guru Jambhoji, according to historian, environmentalist and author Nanditha Krishna.
“ started in a little desert village called Samrathal Dhora in Rajasthan in 1485,” Dr Krishna says.
“Guru Jambhoji gave 29 principles of life, most of which concerned plants and trees and animals.”
For the Bishnoi, which literally translates as 29 in the local language, the teachings include being merciful to all living things — it’s encouraged, for instance, to clean firewood of living organisms before burning.
Most significantly here, one of these principles instructs the Bishnoi not to cut down green (living) trees.
Enter Abhay Singh, the Maharaja of Jodhpur, who as Dr Krishna explained, needed fuel in order to construct a new palace.
“In 1730, the Maharajah of Jodhpur sent professional woodcutters to get him fresh green trees to burn for fuel to make lime — lime was the base to seal the bricks together, like we use concrete today,” Dr Krishna says.
When the woodcutters arrived at the village of Khejarli in the north-west, it’s likely the men of the village would have been working elsewhere, Dr Krishna said.
Despite being an arid environment, the villagers had nurtured large stands of khejri trees that the woodcutters planned to fell.
“But Amrita Devi, this Bishnoi mother of three daughters, she refused to let them cut the trees,” Dr Krishna says.
“The woodcutters offered to take a bribe and again she refused.”
Though difficult to verify, it’s reported in popular accounts that Amrita Devi said to the men, “it’s a small price to pay if at the cost of my head, the tree is saved”.
“She hugged a tree,” Dr Krishna says.
“The woodcutters said ‘fine’, and cut off her head. Then, her three daughters did the same.”
As news of the killings spread, others from Khejarli and surrounding villages joined the protest, clinging to the khejri trees.
“A total of 363 Bishnoi died — one for every tree.”
When the Maharaja got word of the massacre, it’s reported he was remorseful and declared the Bishnoi trees protected.
The bravery of the Bishnoi women became legend in India. And more than 200 years later, “tree hugging” would again be used as a tool of resistance for a movement that would come to be known as Chipko — “to cling”.
The movement would reach boiling point in a small mountain village called Reni in far northern India in 1974, in a stand-off that would inspire environmentalists across the world.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-08-07/tree-hugger-bishnoi-chipko-defiance-deep-historical-roots/101247020