NEW EPISODE! This is a story about hugging trees. And it is a story about witch hunts and the idea of a radical reimagining of our relationship with nature. About the women who inspired the iconic environmental Chipko movement in India, which literally means to hug, and it’s a story about the Bishnoi faith and the women leaders from that small spiritual minority in the Himalayan foothills, the ones who triumphed, and the ones who were murdered protecting the ancient trees that hold back the all-consuming desert and keep the mountains up. This is the story of Amrita Devi, and Gaura Devi, who lived and fought for trees 300 years apart in the Marwar desert region of western Rajasthan.
Works Cited:
Pam Grossman, Waking the Witch, Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power, Simon and Schuster
https://time.com/5597693/real-women-witches/
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/chipko-an-unfinished-mission-30883
https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/gaura-devia-forgotten-hero-of-chipko-movement-in-gharwal
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-51504992
https://feminisminindia.com/2018/12/03/rural-women-rajasthan-violence/
https://www.newsclick.in/dariba-brand-them-witches-grab-their-land
https://www.sahapedia.org/when-amrita-devi-and-362-bishnois-sacrificed-their-lives-khejri-tree
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhotiya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanda_Devi_Raj_Jat
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=bGJnDwAAQBAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PT4
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Fv1LCgAAQBAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PT97
https://www.thebetterindia.com/176217/uttarakhand-chipko-movement-history-gaura-devi-environment/
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/chipko-an-unfinished-mission-30883
