Ask people what they think when they hear the phrase “tree hugger,” and you’ll be met with a litany of cliches and derogatory comments. Even today, as we face the challenge of climate change, it still finds use as a catch-all phrase to denigrate concern for the environment.
Scrape away the stereotypes and years of misunderstanding, however, and you’ll find at the heart of the term a conservation movement called Chipko that continues to inspire people today.
Keep reading to discover how the women of the Chipko movement used tree hugging to resist unjust power and how this act of non-violent form of protest has become part of our collective consciousness over the decades.
The modern Chipko movement’s origin
We can trace the Chipko movement back to 1970s India where reckless destruction of forests led to a series of peaceful protests. The term itself means “to embrace” and stems from the protestor’s non-violent hugging of trees in order to protect them.
It’s believed the initial protest began in a Himalayan village of Mandal, nestled amongst the green mountains of India’s Chamoli district. On an April morning in 1973, representatives from a sports goods company arrived from Allahabad with government approval to begin the felling of ash trees.
Upon news of their arrival, villagers from the Mandal village met with contractors, seeking to negotiate and prevent the destruction of their woodland. After the villager’s pleas were ignored, they organized amongst themselves and marched into the forest, driving the contractors away.
The news of the successful protest spread, and villagers throughout the region began to resist government-sanctioned deforestation at every turn.
Gaura Devi and the women of Reni village
It wasn’t until 1974, however, that the role of women became central to the movement with a government-run auction for the felling of thousands of trees near the village of Reni.
It was here in late March that a little girl informed a respected local woman named Gaura Devi that logging was taking place near the Alaknanda river. At this point, the village was almost entirely devoid of men, with the government drawing them to the city under false pretenses so logging work could commence.
Gaura Devi and the other women of the village appreciated the importance of the trees to the region as well as any of the men. The trees were their lives, with the entire village depending on them. Selflessly, Gaura Devi and 27 other fearless women decided to stop the destruction, chanting:
This forest is our Mother’s home; we will protect it with all our might.
Gaura Devi, alongside the other women, confronted the loggers, explaining the forest is her maika, meaning her mother’s house, and, with unyielding courage, challenged the armed laborers to fire upon her rather than harm the trees. The women told the loggers:
If the forest is cut, the soil will be washed away. Landslides and soil erosion will bring floods, which will destroy our fields and homes, our water sources will dry up, and all the other benefits we get from the forest will be finished.
Inspired by Gaura Devi, the village women successfully prevented any further logging by encircling and hugging the trees to protect them from harm, giving rise to the movement’s name.
After keeping vigil for four days and nights, despite threats of violence, bribes, and lies, the women stood resolute, eventually driving the contractors away and ushered in a ban on tree-felling in the area.
The Khejarli Massacre of 1730
As the backbone of the region’s rural economy, women were directly affected by the intense logging in the Uttarakhand area. It was the women who felt the effects of deforestation keenly with tasks such as fetching water becoming increasingly difficult with known sources becoming affected by deforestation.
Over the decades, women continued to play a central role in the Chipko movement, being at the forefront of protests.
Inspiring these women and the movement as a whole was a story of a woman named Amrita Devi, whose unwavering commitment to nature led to her sacrificing her life to preserve sacred trees.
The event took place in the village of Khejarli, Rajasthan in 1730 in circumstances similar to the story of Gaura Devi.
Early one morning, a village woman named Amrita Devi was informed that logging was taking place nearby. Being Bishnoi, she rushed to protect the trees along with her three daughters and a handful of other villagers. Upon discovering the loggers, Amrita found herself confronted with a party of the King’s men who wanted to use the trees as fuel for the building of a new palace.
As a devoted Bishnoi, Amrita could not stand by and watch the felling of the green trees, especially the Khejri, considered a sacred lifeline to the inhabitants of the arid Thar desert. So, with her pleas ignored, Amrita began to grasp a tree to protect it, claiming:
If a tree is saved even at the cost of one’s head, it’s worth it.
With this, the men cut her down, severing her head. In a display of great courage, her three daughters then followed her lead in hugging the sacred Khejri trees, meeting the same end as their mother.
As news spread of the four women’s sacrifice more and more, Bishnoi began to show up to stop the King’s men. Over the course of that day, 363 people from 49 villages sacrificed their lives to protect the sacred trees of the area, 294 men and 69 women.
Shaken, the King’s men departed, telling the King what had transpired. Upon learning details of the event, the King was ashamed, ordering a stop to the felling of the trees.
Chipko Movement as a Forest Satyagraha
Throughout the movement’s history, Chipko has utilized Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of non-violent resistance, also known as satyagraha. Gandhi used satyagraha to fight colonial rule in India, and his methods have inspired generations since. The word translates as “love” and “firmness” and can be seen with acts of non-violent protest such as fasting, sit-ins, blockades, or other acts of civil disobedience.
The women involved in the Chipko movement have employed Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha over the years to resist environmental devastation in the face of great adversity without committing any violence.
In 1978, for example, alongside environmentalist Dhoom Singh Negi, local women to the Advani forest joined him in tying sacred threads around trees, reading the Bhagavad Gita, protesting India’s forestry policies. Similarly, forest satyagraha took place in the Pulna village, where women confiscated loggers’ tools and left receipts in their stead. The laborers could use these receipts to then reclaim their tools upon leaving the forest.
It’s estimated that by 1979, over 150 villages took part in the Chipko movement’s protests and conservation efforts to protect the Uttarakhand region’s trees. The movement resulted in a 15-year ban on logging in the Uttarakhand region, with similar bans enacted elsewhere.
Despite modern efforts by the movement facing failures due to even greater challenges, Chipko has successfully inspired a generation of people, especially women, to take a village attitude to environmental issues through the use of satyagraha.
Did you know?
Commemorated by GoogleThe 45th anniversary of the Chipko Movement was honoured in a Google Doodle.Remembering the 363A cenotaph in Khejarli commemorates the 363 people who sacrificed their lives in the 1730 massacre.A tree that inspired a movementThe Khejri tree is now the state tree of Rajasthan and remains a culturally & economically significant tree. Sadly today, its numbers are in decline.
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- Featured image: Chipko Movement by NA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Children embracing a tree from Right Livelihood
- Illustration © Cari Vander Yacht
- 45th Anniversary of the Chipko Movement by Google Doodles
- 363 Sacrifice Memorial Site by Sharmila godara, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
