Gaura Devi: The Woman Who Led the Reni Chipko Stand

A widow with no formal schooling led 27 women to save 2,500 trees. She only became famous after her own death.

MCQ Questions

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Gaura Devi

The widow who led 27 women to save 2,500 trees, and became famous only after her death.

1925

Born in the Neeti Valley

Gaura Devi is born into a Marchaya family, in Chamoli district. Widowed at 22, she raises her son alone through the family wool trade.

Early 1970s

Heads the Mahila Mangal Dal

The women of Reni village elect Gaura Devi to lead their Mahila Mangal Dal, a women’s welfare organisation.

25–26 March 1974

Saves the Reni forest

Warned by a young girl, Gaura Devi leads 27 women to embrace about 2,500 trees, holding off loggers through a four-day standoff.

4 July 1991

Dies in Reni village

Gaura Devi dies at 66, having received little formal recognition during her own lifetime.

Fame arrived after death: unlike most well-known Chipko Movement figures, Gaura Devi received no major honour while she was alive. Wider recognition of her role grew mostly through later documentation, after 1991.

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Must Know

• Gaura Devi was born in 1925, into a Marchaya family, in the Neeti Valley, Chamoli district, in what is now Uttarakhand.
• She was widowed at 22, with a young son to raise, and supported her family through the traditional wool trade.
• In the early 1970s, the women of Reni village elected her head of their Mahila Mangal Dal, a women’s welfare organisation.
• On 25 March 1974, a young girl warned her that loggers were approaching the forest near Reni village, to fell trees.
• On 26 March 1974, Gaura Devi led 27 women into the forest. They embraced the trees, physically blocking about 2,500 trees marked for felling.
• The women held their ground through a four-day standoff, until the contractors withdrew.
• She died on 4 July 1991, in Reni village, aged 66.

Good to Know

• The Reni action became one of the most famous moments of the Chipko Movement, a non-violent forest-protection campaign across the Himalayan foothills.
• After the standoff, the state government imposed a ten-year ban on commercial deforestation in the area.
• During her own lifetime, Gaura Devi received little formal recognition. She was largely excluded from official conversations about forest policy.
• Wider public appreciation for her role grew mostly after her death, especially through later documentation of the Chipko Movement’s history.
• In Uttarakhand, some people remember her as a “modern-day Jhansi ki Rani,” a reference to the 1857 warrior-queen Rani Lakshmibai.

Test Yourself

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1. Which village did Gaura Devi lead 27 women to defend from loggers, on 26 March 1974?

Chamoli

Reni

Gopeshwar

Joshimath

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Great to Know

• Don’t confuse Gaura Devi with Sunderlal Bahuguna, the Chipko Movement’s better-known public face. See EnvEco0035 — Sunderlal Bahuguna for his own story. Bahuguna worked through longer marches and national advocacy. Gaura Devi’s own role was this single, decisive, local confrontation.
• Her fame arrived almost entirely after her death. This is a different recognition pattern from most well-known Chipko Movement figures, who received formal honours during their own lifetimes.
• The date sequence matters here. She was warned on 25 March, but the actual tree-hugging confrontation happened the next day, on 26 March. Some sources only cite one of the two dates, so both are worth knowing.