God save the tree

The BBC is running a story on a Bihari NGO named Gram Vikas Parishad who have thought up an ingenious way to protect trees in danger of being cut down. What they do is cover tree trunks with Madhubani paintings of gods and goddesses thereby hoping to prevent "god-fearing Indians" from chopping them down.

Using a tribal art form called Madhubani - which takes its name from a district - they are decorating tree trunks with colourful paintings.

The subjects of the 16th century art are usually Hindu gods and goddesses like Krishna, Radha, Durga and Saraswati. The artists hope that the drawings would deter god-fearing Indians from cutting the trees.

As you drive along highway 52 in Madhubani district, you will pass more than 100 trees that have already been decorated with the paintings.

"Not a single painted tree has been cut down yet," says Arti Kumari, one of the dozens of artists who have joined the campaign.

This story was covered in the Indian media a few weeks ago. The BBC article links to an interesting slideshow on the "ancient art of Madhubani paintings". Some additional eye candy can be viewed here.

(via @sepiamutiny)