The Khejarli massacre occurred in September 1730 in Northern India, when 363

Bishnoi The Bishnoi, also spelled as Vishnoi, is a Hindu Vaishnava community or panth found in the Western Thar Desert and northern states of India. Bishnoi community is turned into a Hindu caste with time. It has a set of 29 Niyamas (principles/co ...

s were killed while trying to peacefully protect a grove of

Khejri ''Prosopis cineraria'', also known as Persian mesquite or ghaf or khejri, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is native to arid portions of Western Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Ira ...

trees from being chopped down on the orders of the Maharaja of Marwar, Abhai Singh. Abhai Singh had sent his soldiers to cut the trees in the village of

Khejarli Khejarli or Khejadli is a village in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, India, south-east of the city of Jodhpur. The name of the town is derived from the khejri (''Prosopis cineraria)'' trees that were once abundant in the village. In this villag ...

to provide wood for a new palace. The killings were carried out on the orders of his minister, Giridhar Bhandari. The effort had a long-term impact on environmental advocacy, and the massacre later became known as a precursor to the 20th-century

Chipko movement The Chipko movement () is a forest conservation movement in India. Opposed to commercial logging and the government's policies on deforestation, protesters in the 1970s engaged in tree hugging, wrapping their arms around trees so that they coul ...

. Due to the sacrifice of the protesters, the ruler took back his earlier order of felling trees.

History

In 1730, Abhai Singh dispatched one of his ministers, Giridhar Bhandari, to collect wood to be used in the construction of a new palace; some sources report that the wood was needed to build the palace, while others note the Marwars intended to burn the trees to create

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

. Regardless of intended purpose, Bhandari and his entourage of soldiers arrived in Khejarli, where they demanded access to the village's trees. Led by a woman named Amrita Devi Bishnoi, the villagers refused to surrender their trees to the Raj's soldiers. Amrita stated that the Khejri trees were sacred to the

s, and her faith prohibited her from allowing the trees to be cut down.Gottlieb, Roger S. "Bishnois: Defenders of the Environment." This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment. Psychology Press, 1996. pp. 159-160 The situation escalated, and the Marwan party offered to leave the village's Khejri trees alone in exchange for a bribe. However, this was seen as a grievous insult to the Bishnoi values, and Amrita announced that she would rather die than allow the trees to be cut down. She and her family began hugging the Khejris, shielding the trees with their bodies. Angered by the rebuke, the Marwans beheaded Amrita and three of her daughters before beginning to cut down the trees. News of the ongoing desecration of Jehnad's trees quickly spread among Rajasthan's Bishnoi population. In all, Bishnois from 83 villages began to travel to Jehnad in an attempt to save the trees, and a council was convened to determine what could be done about the situation. The council's decision was that each Bishnoi volunteer would lay down their life to defend one of the threatened trees. Older people went forward first, with many of them being killed as they hugged the Khejris. Seeing this as an opportunity, Giridhar Bhandari claimed that the Bishnoi were only sending forward people who they thought were useless to be killed. In response, younger men, women, and children began to hug the trees, resulting in many of them being killed as well. In all, 363 Bishnois were killed while protecting the trees.Reichert A. (2016) Transformative Encounters: Destabilising Human/Animal and Nature/Culture Binaries Through Cross-Cultural Engagement. Shocked by the passive resistance of the Bishnois, Abhai Singh recalled his men and personally travelled to the village to apologise for his minister's actions. He decreed that the village would never again be compelled to provide wood for the kingdom. The village was later renamed Khejarli, and the site of the massacre became a place of pilgrimage for the Bishnoi faith.

Legacy

The Khejarli Massacre was an inspiration for the 20th-century environmentalist

. Several temples and a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

in Khejarli commemorate the massacre, and the village is the site of an annual Bishnoi ceremony held in honour of the event. A fair is organised every year on Shukla Dashmi of Bhadrapad (Hindu month) in September at Khejarli, Jodhpur, to pay homage to the victims. The Government of India has also instituted the Amrita Devi Bishnoi Environment Protection Award, recognising the sacrifice of Amrita Devi. In 2013, the

Ministry of Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

declared the day of the massacre (11 September) as National Forest Martyrs Day.

References

{{Reflist Massacres in India Environmental protests History of Jodhpur History of forestry in India 1730 in India 1730s crimes