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My Head for a Tree: The Extraordinary Story of the Bishnoi, Guardians of Nature
For readers of Barry Lopez and Wade Davis comes a remarkable journey among India’s Bishnoi people, passionate defenders of nature whose ecological wisdom carries a powerful message for the world.
The story is true, though it reads like a fable. In 1730, the Maharajah of Jodhpur sent his troops to chop down a forest in northwest India. When 363 local villagers, led by Amrita Devi, hugged the trees to protect them, the Maharajah’s men chopped off their heads. Who are these people who love trees so much that they would give their lives to save them?
Meet the Bishnoi, followers of the only religion with nature conservation at its heart. Today, Bishnois remain fierce defenders of trees and animals, living by principles set by their guru Jambhoji in the fifteenth century. They chase down armed poachers, rescue and care for injured animals, save endangered species, and lead heroic reforestation efforts in the Rajasthani desert. In a time of biodiversity loss and climate change, what lessons do they have to teach us?
Martin Goodman was invited deep into the world of the Bishnoi, who asked him to share their message. My Head for a Tree takes us from temples, homes, and schoolrooms to animal sanctuaries, farms, and desert forests, revealing a thriving community of eco-warriors. Their stories inspire and challenge readers to live more kindly and defend nature with a passion. While you can only be born a Bishnoi, Goodman writes, we can all follow their example.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published April 8, 2025
10 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Martin Goodman
60 books27 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Martin David Goodman is a historian and writer on Roman history and the history of the Jews in the Roman period.
Martin David Goodman is a historian and writer on Roman history and the history of the Jews in the Roman period.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 16, 2025
While the subject itself was entirely new to me and very interesting, the way this book was written was a bit off putting. It's written as a series of disconnected chapters where the author meets people from the Bishnoi community, but there's little explanation on who and what this religion is. No map, numbers or all-round overview of the religion is given. Just tidbits strewn across the 18 chapters.
The dedicated Bishnoi themselves seem very admirable people, but how widespread is their dedication in the community? The differences with the Jains are mentioned but never truly explained. Little lessons offered for non-Bishnoi. Also: can you become Bishnoi or not? Both possibilities are mentioned. A bit messy and disappointing, as a whole.
The dedicated Bishnoi themselves seem very admirable people, but how widespread is their dedication in the community? The differences with the Jains are mentioned but never truly explained. Little lessons offered for non-Bishnoi. Also: can you become Bishnoi or not? Both possibilities are mentioned. A bit messy and disappointing, as a whole.
May 14, 2025
The word makes up the world. Woven into stories, it runs the globe and stalls it too. In this, imagination is its ally. It fuels the mind of the inhabitants of the planet (I don’t want to use the word ‘humans’ because nobody knows whether a butterfly or a blue whale can or can’t imagine.) Stories are our fodder. Even when these stories are in the packaging of ‘non-fiction’, the style of writing is more engaging when it is told in a storytelling format and not bogged down by copious data, tables, pie charts and notes. In his eco-non-fic, Martin Goodman clubs many such stories of real people to bring their reality, both in the now and the then, to the foreground. Bishnois, the cover page reads, are the world’s first eco-warriors.
Let me first introduce Bishnois quickly. They are the people indigenous to Rajasthan who have given up their lives to save trees as well as wildlife. They follow 29 rules (Bees- 20, Noi-9 in Rajasthani dialect) hence Bishnoi, all rules pertaining to non-violence and simple life. In a documented incident from 1730 in a village Khejarli of Thar desert of Jodhpur, Amrita Devi along with her three daughters (Asu, Ratni and Bhagu) got their heads chopped off for protesting against cutting of Khjeri tree in a rare green patch in the desert (Khejri tree is crucial to the desert ecology hence pious to Bishnois.) Amrita is said to have said “Sar Santey rukh rahe to bhi sasto jan’ (My head for a tree; it’s a cheap price to pay.) 363 Bishnois, including old men, a bride and a groom gave their lives. Read that again. It was called a Khejarli massacre and was perhaps an inspiration for Sundarlal Bahuguna’s Chipko Movement.
In the last two decades, Bishnois have made the headlines but because of people present in their periphery. Salman Khan’s black buck case brought a spotlight upon Bishnois in 1998. The superstar along with other film actors and actresses was allegedly hunting black buck, an animal sacred to Bishnois. Here it is imperative to mention that all animals are sacred to Bishnois, even Neel Gaai who are one of the most harmful animals for a farmer’s crop in the field. The mishandling of Khan case (the post-mortem of the animal was allegedly botched up in the investigation) led to snowballing of things. Now, decades later, Lawrence Bishnoi is in news because of threatening Salman Khan for his actions. The book spends minimal time on both these issues. These are done and dusted in the initial pages, like a mother were forcing a bitter pill down the throat of a child before popping a laddu into his mouth. Goodman, rightfully spends briefest number of pages upon Khan-Lawrence conundrum and moves on to better people. The Bishnoi people. For the book is about them, not about gore-flecked, threat-riddled scandals. Good man writes: ‘These children won’t be taught about Lawrence Bishnoi.’
When the author asks his guide Ram Niwas about death threats to film star Salman Khan, he replies: ‘We are non-violent people. What is the difference between us and Salman Khan if we kill him?’
The book moves from person to person, all Bishnois of course, recounting tales of unmatched valour and love for those who don’t have a speaking tongue: the animals and the trees. One of them is Birbal Bishnoi, who was killed by poachers. His statue was erected in the village. He was survived by Pushpa, his better half who now adopts chinkaras into her home. She says: ‘Animals need to be protected first. Humans can defend themselves.’ It’s not uncommon for a Bishnoi woman to breastfeed a young motherless animal.
Many Bishnois have made task forces (the Bishnoi Tiger Force) to patrol the desert. They save wounded animals and keep an eye out for poachers. Many have died fighting them.
Another inspiring story is of Radheshyam Bishnoi who climbed over a several feet high pylon and forced the government to fit reflectors into the electricity lines that came in the route of migratory Great Indian Bustard, electrocuting them. It’s an endangered bird but nobody cared, except Radheshyam. He is also a part of a patrolling force who pull the carcass of dead animals away from the train tracks as it was leading to the death of the vultures who descended upon their food, unmindful of the approaching death. The book is full of such stories which will make some people incredulous. The life of an animal, for many amongst us, isn’t worth a petty penny.
Goodman doesn’t put much emphasis upon issues like caste and female empowerment: two most burning issues in Rajasthan. He skirts around them, shifting the spotlight to focus it upon someone else who’s doing what the planet needs. But that’s ok because the book, being dedicated to the ecology around humans and not humans themselves has another purpose.
I feel deeply for the animals, especially stray dogs, now rechristened as community dogs. It is, however, not because I am a Bishnoi too. The love for the strays didn’t come to me because I was born to this name. It just crept stealthily and I started feeding the dogs and adopted a couple of dogs with leg anomalies into my home. Recently, at my work place, someone shifted (or perhaps drowned it in a nearby pond, there is no way to know) a four or five month old severely handicapped puppy I had been taking care of, from the safe place I had put it in because ‘it was shitting too much’. Shifting a territorial animal is as good as killing them. When I asked after the puppy at my work place, my question was met with constant laughter and an occasional sneer. There is no cost to the life of an animal in our society. It is unfortunate but it is the truth. Dog feeders and caretakers have to constantly go through abuse and heartbreak, former at the hands of cantankerous people who assume that feeding a hungry animal is akin to fuelling a fire and latter when the said animals regularly die, being crushed under the cars or poisoned by animals just because they were barking or ‘creating nuisance.’ (I myself have seen four dogs die/disappear in last six months.) If you are reading this article, please be kind to the dogs who spend their entire lives on violent roads, scampering for a bite or two of rancid food, having to fight for a scrap amongst themselves and suffering grievous injuries because of that.
If you can’t be good to the animals, at least don’t harm them. Also, contrary to what Goodman says, you can be a Bishnoi too.
Kindness is free and sometimes, if it wants, it can be infectious too. Let the goddess of kindness smile upon ourselves one more time.
Let me first introduce Bishnois quickly. They are the people indigenous to Rajasthan who have given up their lives to save trees as well as wildlife. They follow 29 rules (Bees- 20, Noi-9 in Rajasthani dialect) hence Bishnoi, all rules pertaining to non-violence and simple life. In a documented incident from 1730 in a village Khejarli of Thar desert of Jodhpur, Amrita Devi along with her three daughters (Asu, Ratni and Bhagu) got their heads chopped off for protesting against cutting of Khjeri tree in a rare green patch in the desert (Khejri tree is crucial to the desert ecology hence pious to Bishnois.) Amrita is said to have said “Sar Santey rukh rahe to bhi sasto jan’ (My head for a tree; it’s a cheap price to pay.) 363 Bishnois, including old men, a bride and a groom gave their lives. Read that again. It was called a Khejarli massacre and was perhaps an inspiration for Sundarlal Bahuguna’s Chipko Movement.
In the last two decades, Bishnois have made the headlines but because of people present in their periphery. Salman Khan’s black buck case brought a spotlight upon Bishnois in 1998. The superstar along with other film actors and actresses was allegedly hunting black buck, an animal sacred to Bishnois. Here it is imperative to mention that all animals are sacred to Bishnois, even Neel Gaai who are one of the most harmful animals for a farmer’s crop in the field. The mishandling of Khan case (the post-mortem of the animal was allegedly botched up in the investigation) led to snowballing of things. Now, decades later, Lawrence Bishnoi is in news because of threatening Salman Khan for his actions. The book spends minimal time on both these issues. These are done and dusted in the initial pages, like a mother were forcing a bitter pill down the throat of a child before popping a laddu into his mouth. Goodman, rightfully spends briefest number of pages upon Khan-Lawrence conundrum and moves on to better people. The Bishnoi people. For the book is about them, not about gore-flecked, threat-riddled scandals. Good man writes: ‘These children won’t be taught about Lawrence Bishnoi.’
When the author asks his guide Ram Niwas about death threats to film star Salman Khan, he replies: ‘We are non-violent people. What is the difference between us and Salman Khan if we kill him?’
The book moves from person to person, all Bishnois of course, recounting tales of unmatched valour and love for those who don’t have a speaking tongue: the animals and the trees. One of them is Birbal Bishnoi, who was killed by poachers. His statue was erected in the village. He was survived by Pushpa, his better half who now adopts chinkaras into her home. She says: ‘Animals need to be protected first. Humans can defend themselves.’ It’s not uncommon for a Bishnoi woman to breastfeed a young motherless animal.
Many Bishnois have made task forces (the Bishnoi Tiger Force) to patrol the desert. They save wounded animals and keep an eye out for poachers. Many have died fighting them.
Another inspiring story is of Radheshyam Bishnoi who climbed over a several feet high pylon and forced the government to fit reflectors into the electricity lines that came in the route of migratory Great Indian Bustard, electrocuting them. It’s an endangered bird but nobody cared, except Radheshyam. He is also a part of a patrolling force who pull the carcass of dead animals away from the train tracks as it was leading to the death of the vultures who descended upon their food, unmindful of the approaching death. The book is full of such stories which will make some people incredulous. The life of an animal, for many amongst us, isn’t worth a petty penny.
Goodman doesn’t put much emphasis upon issues like caste and female empowerment: two most burning issues in Rajasthan. He skirts around them, shifting the spotlight to focus it upon someone else who’s doing what the planet needs. But that’s ok because the book, being dedicated to the ecology around humans and not humans themselves has another purpose.
I feel deeply for the animals, especially stray dogs, now rechristened as community dogs. It is, however, not because I am a Bishnoi too. The love for the strays didn’t come to me because I was born to this name. It just crept stealthily and I started feeding the dogs and adopted a couple of dogs with leg anomalies into my home. Recently, at my work place, someone shifted (or perhaps drowned it in a nearby pond, there is no way to know) a four or five month old severely handicapped puppy I had been taking care of, from the safe place I had put it in because ‘it was shitting too much’. Shifting a territorial animal is as good as killing them. When I asked after the puppy at my work place, my question was met with constant laughter and an occasional sneer. There is no cost to the life of an animal in our society. It is unfortunate but it is the truth. Dog feeders and caretakers have to constantly go through abuse and heartbreak, former at the hands of cantankerous people who assume that feeding a hungry animal is akin to fuelling a fire and latter when the said animals regularly die, being crushed under the cars or poisoned by animals just because they were barking or ‘creating nuisance.’ (I myself have seen four dogs die/disappear in last six months.) If you are reading this article, please be kind to the dogs who spend their entire lives on violent roads, scampering for a bite or two of rancid food, having to fight for a scrap amongst themselves and suffering grievous injuries because of that.
If you can’t be good to the animals, at least don’t harm them. Also, contrary to what Goodman says, you can be a Bishnoi too.
Kindness is free and sometimes, if it wants, it can be infectious too. Let the goddess of kindness smile upon ourselves one more time.
June 9, 2025
What an amazing reframing of human response to climate change this is! Martin Goodman, author of Client Earth, is invited by the followers of a sect of Hinduism in India, the Bishnoi, to share their story with the world of eco-activists.
Founded in 1485 by Guru Jambhoji in the Jodhpur desert region, Bishnoism began as a religious and practical response to a world wide drought, so the precepts sound aware of our current crisis. The Bishnoi's 29 principles include many green approaches, especially the emphasis on saving wildlife and saving trees. And by "saving" the Bishnoi mean that saving animals and trees is more important than their own human life. Often they work just to support their wildlife activities, like chasing armed poachers off land or spending all their resources on planting and sustaining trees, or founding a shelter for injured wildlife that consumes their families' time and money. Much discussed in the book is the 1730 massacre of Bishnoi villagers who worked to thwart a monarch's desire to burn their village trees for fuel. It was literally a "my head for a tree" experience in that the 363 people murdered were all tree huggers the loggers attacked by cutting off their heads. In fact, there are many recent martyrs to Bishnoism who have gone unarmed to stop poachers and have been killed.
Reading this was almost life-changing. It reminds me of St. Paul's saying, "In your struggle against sin (sub: degradation of God's creation) you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your own blood." Although I do not envision throwing myself between an armed poacher and his target, the clarity of this approach does throw into relief our Western insistence that we'll only mitigate climate change if it is convenient to do or doesn't cost more money.
The book is short and the writing is clear, mostly minimizing the author's editorial comments. This book presents an older vision of eco-sustaining work than our recent experiences watching Greta Thumberg and others world wide like her. Both have deep value, especially if we change as a result.
Founded in 1485 by Guru Jambhoji in the Jodhpur desert region, Bishnoism began as a religious and practical response to a world wide drought, so the precepts sound aware of our current crisis. The Bishnoi's 29 principles include many green approaches, especially the emphasis on saving wildlife and saving trees. And by "saving" the Bishnoi mean that saving animals and trees is more important than their own human life. Often they work just to support their wildlife activities, like chasing armed poachers off land or spending all their resources on planting and sustaining trees, or founding a shelter for injured wildlife that consumes their families' time and money. Much discussed in the book is the 1730 massacre of Bishnoi villagers who worked to thwart a monarch's desire to burn their village trees for fuel. It was literally a "my head for a tree" experience in that the 363 people murdered were all tree huggers the loggers attacked by cutting off their heads. In fact, there are many recent martyrs to Bishnoism who have gone unarmed to stop poachers and have been killed.
Reading this was almost life-changing. It reminds me of St. Paul's saying, "In your struggle against sin (sub: degradation of God's creation) you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your own blood." Although I do not envision throwing myself between an armed poacher and his target, the clarity of this approach does throw into relief our Western insistence that we'll only mitigate climate change if it is convenient to do or doesn't cost more money.
The book is short and the writing is clear, mostly minimizing the author's editorial comments. This book presents an older vision of eco-sustaining work than our recent experiences watching Greta Thumberg and others world wide like her. Both have deep value, especially if we change as a result.
November 19, 2025
I have lived in India and visited several times over the years, but I'd never heard of the Bishnoi. I picked up this book because of my interest in the environment as well as India, and I enjoyed it but not as a scholar of India. In the end, the book's weaknesses are really the result of the author being unfamiliar with India's caste system and overall social/political structure, and unfamiliar with perhaps anthropological approaches.
The Bishnoi grew out of a devotion to keeping the natural world intact partly out of necessity--without the trees in their area, the villagers would either die or have to migrate. This is not an exaggeration. Conflicts with the local raja or landowners led to deaths, and stories about these confrontations grew into the stories binding together the communities we see today. There is some discussion about the origins of this group within the Jat community, an agrarian caste.
Each short chapter covers one aspect of the Bishnoi world--the main animals, particularly the chinkara, the inspirational founders of the group/movement and founding myths, main figures through history, and the like.
The book can seem disjointed but in the end I enjoyed it, learned a great deal about an important environmental movement with significant success coming out of a very marginal community in a bitterly challenging landscape, and its occasional links with similar groups in other parts of India.
I enjoyed and admired Martin Goodman's book "The Hidden Life of Trees, and this topic is not at all the same even though both are ostensibly about trees. It is a welcome reminder that the poorest people in India are often the most successful in starting and maintaining movements to improve their part of the country.
The Bishnoi grew out of a devotion to keeping the natural world intact partly out of necessity--without the trees in their area, the villagers would either die or have to migrate. This is not an exaggeration. Conflicts with the local raja or landowners led to deaths, and stories about these confrontations grew into the stories binding together the communities we see today. There is some discussion about the origins of this group within the Jat community, an agrarian caste.
Each short chapter covers one aspect of the Bishnoi world--the main animals, particularly the chinkara, the inspirational founders of the group/movement and founding myths, main figures through history, and the like.
The book can seem disjointed but in the end I enjoyed it, learned a great deal about an important environmental movement with significant success coming out of a very marginal community in a bitterly challenging landscape, and its occasional links with similar groups in other parts of India.
I enjoyed and admired Martin Goodman's book "The Hidden Life of Trees, and this topic is not at all the same even though both are ostensibly about trees. It is a welcome reminder that the poorest people in India are often the most successful in starting and maintaining movements to improve their part of the country.
July 23, 2025
Its an easy read and for me a new entry into India, i lived there for 7 years without hearing of the Bishnoi except for the Salman Khan episode. Martin records all he is told. So are these measures really impactful? Martin is a Uni Prof and a bit of independant assessment would have been nice. The stories get a bit repetitive once we reach the 500th chinkara. Pleasant light read for a plane journey
January 27, 2025
The men laugh and clap their hands. ‘It’s true! And we are still fierce. But now we wouldn’t tie them and beat them,’ they say. ‘We would cast them out.’
April 6, 2025
A thinker for sure. I won’t forget this one
May 19, 2025
Inspirational
October 17, 2025
Really amazing subject matter, we are nothing without the earth, very awkward writing.
December 26, 2025
Excellent story, very inspiring, skimmed a few chapters diving into the history
July 13, 2025
The book My Head for a Tree is an excellent motivational work. It gives people a way to live with nature, be a part of it, and contribute to it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews