Bishnoi

Bishnoi (also known as Vishnoi) is a religious group found in the Western Thar Desert and northern states of India. They follow a set of 29 principles given by Guru Jambheshwar. Jambheshwar, who lived in the 15th century, said that trees and wildlife should be protected, prophesying that harming the environment means harming oneself.

Bishnoism was founded by Guru Jambheshwar of Bikaner, who was born in 1499, and is buried in Talwa/Mukam in Bikaner. He announced a set of 29 tenets.The name Bishnoi was derived from "Vishnu". His spiritual name was Jambhaji. These were contained in a document written in the Nagri script called Shabdwani, which consists of 120 shabds. Of his 29 tenets, ten are directed towards personal hygiene and maintaining good basic health, seven for healthy social behaviour, and four tenets to the worship of God. Eight tenets have been prescribed to preserve bio-diversity and encourage good animal husbandry. 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.

Bishnois are found in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The adherents of the sect are the descendants of immigrants from Bikaner, parts of Haryana and Punjab and are exclusively Jats and Rajputs by caste, though they often abandon the caste name and describe themselves simply as Bishnois. They do not allow intercaste marriage.

The most prominent places of pilgrimage of the Bishnois is situated at village called Mukam in a temple in Nokha Tehsil, Bikaner District, Rajasthan.

The Bishnoi narrate the story of Amrita Devi, a Bishnoi woman who, along with more than 363 other Bishnois, died saving the Khejarli trees. Nearly two centuries ago, Maharajah Abhay Singh of Jodhpur required wood for the construction of his new palace. So the king sent his soldiers to cut trees in the nearby region of Khejarli, where the village is filled with a large number of trees. But when Amrita Devi and local villagers came to know about it, they opposed the king's men. The feudal party told her that if she wanted the trees to be spared, she would have to give them money as a bribe. She refused to acknowledge this demand and told them that she would consider it as an act of insult to her religious faith and would rather give away her life to save the green trees. This is still remembered as the great Khejarli sacrifice. Some of the 363 Bishnois who were killed protecting the trees were buried in Khejerli village near Jodhpur, where a simple grave with four pillars had been erected. Every year, in September, the Bishnois assemble there to commemorate the extreme sacrifice made by their people to preserve their faith and religion.

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