Bishnois and blackbucks


Salman Khan was released on bail in a case which prolonged for 20 years. It was regarding the case of hunting down blackbucks.

The case was made by the Bishnoi community of Jodhpur (Rajasthan). They form a congregation of people following the principles of Guru Jambeshwar. Bishnoi is a mix of two words meaning "twenty" and "nine". Thus there are 29 principles which they need to follow. The sect was formed by the spiritual leader at  Samrathal Dhora (1485 AD).

There are 29 tenents which form the essence or the guiding principles of the community. The core among them refer to nature, the preservation of it. 

Ten are directed towards personal hygiene and maintaining good basic health (the famous one is drinking filtered water), seven for healthy social behaviour, and four tenets to the worship of God. Eight tenets have been prescribed to preserve bio-diversity - although most adherents are unaware of that, or such things as global warming, as a concept. These include a ban on killing animals and felling green trees, and providing protection to all life forms. The community is also directed to see that the firewood they use is devoid of small insects. Wearing blue clothes is prohibited because the dye for colouring them is obtained by cutting a large quantity of shrubs.

Khejarli village, close to Jodhpur bears the testimony to the fact that Bishnois believe that every living creature has as much right to live as human beings. Towards this, a Bishnoi namely Amrita Devi sacrificed her life clinging herself to a tree which was supposed to felled for the land acquisition for a new palace for the King of Jodhpur. Her famous quote was: "Sar sāntey rūkh rahe to bhī sasto jān" (सर सान्टे रूख रहे तो भी सस्तो जाण) meaning: If a tree is saved even at the cost of one's head, it's worth it.

The adamancy of preventing the death of a tree was also shown by her three daughters (Asu, Ratni and Bhagu) who also fell to death in the hands of the royal courtiers. 363 more Bishnois also joined them to death. The king was forced to order a decree that not a single tree be touched in the 83 villages of Bishnois. This incident of 1730 is considered as a precursor to the famous Chipko movement.

In honour of the lady, Amrita Devi Bishnoi Wildlife Protection Award has been constituted. The award is given for significant contribution in the field of wildlife protection, which is recognised as having shown exemplary courage and valour or having done exemplary work for the protection of wildlife in the country.

The community today is still not economically strong but it’s the adherence to the 500 years old principles is a things to reckon. Today, we are conscious (atleast on lips and in discussions) about the environment because we have damaged too much and the damage is visible and publicly available on the internet. I believe there was no such urgency in 1730; yet they were conscious of it. Can we still claim that we as a generation are better educated than the previous ones?


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