Human belief in protection of the animal and plant kingdom reaches its apotheosis in 1730 when two hundred and ninety-four men and sixty-nine women of the Bishnoi sect lay down their lives to protect the khejri tree.

A highly revered tree among Hindus, it grows in desert areas devoid of any obvious sources of water, and helps combat desertification.

A senior officer of Jodhpur state arrives to cut down the trees, which are needed for burning lime for cement to build a new place for Maharajaj Abhai Singh of Marwar.

The first to challenge him is a woman, who upon refusing to pay a bribe hugs one of the trees and is promptly decapitated.

Her three daughters do the same, with the same consequences.

News of the deaths spread and summons to a meeting are sent to eighty-three Bishnoi villages.

The meeting determines that one Bishnoi volunteer will sacrifice their life for every tree that is cut down.

Older people begin hugging the trees that are intended to be cut and many are killed.

These efforts fail to have the desired impact and Bhandari claims that the Bishnois sre sacrificing aging people whom they no longer see as useful to society.

In response to this, young men, women and children begin to follow the example of the old.

The development shocks the tree-felling party.

The group leaves for Jodhpur with their mission unfulfilled and the Maharaja Abhai Singh of Marwar subsequently orders that no more trees should be felled in any Bishnoi village. (To this day, Bishnoi villages are wooded oases in the otherwise harsh Rajasthan desert, where wildlife congregates in proximity to the people.

The Thar region of Pakistan is adjacent to the Rajasthan desert of India.

Although the Thari people are now mostly Islamic, their traditional teachings about the sanctity of life somewhat resemble those of the Bishnoi.

The Sindh desert is farther west in Pakistan.

The Sindhi people, related to the Thari, have similar beliefs, but are now culturally divided: Sindhis who practice Hinduism long ago migrated into the Mumbai region of India, while those who practice Islam remain in Pakistan.