Sarla Behn played a key role in the evolution of the Chipko Movement and influenced a number of Gandhian environmentalists in India including Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Bimala behn and Sunderlal Bahuguna.
14 Facts About Sarla Behn
2.
Sarla Behn, was born Catherine Mary Heilman in the Shepherd's Bush region of west London in 1901 to a father of German Swiss extraction and an English mother.
3.
Sarla Behn worked for a while as a clerk, leaving her family and home and during the 1920s came in contact with Indian students in mannady who introduced her to Gandhi and the freedom struggle in India.
4.
Sarla Behn worked for a while at a school in Udaipur before moving on to meet Gandhi with whom she remained for eight years at his ashram at Sevagram in Wardha.
5.
Sarla Behn made it her home, establishing an ashram and working to empower the women of the hills in Kumaon.
6.
Sarla Behn travelled extensively in the region reaching out to the families of political prisoners and was imprisoned for her actions.
7.
Sarla Behn served two terms in prison during the Quit India Movement for violation of house arrest orders and served time at the Almora and Lucknow jails for nearly two years.
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In 1977, Sarla Behn helped organise activists and consolidate the Chipko movement in its resistance to lumbering and excessive tapping of resin from the pine trees.
9.
Sarla Behn was a prolific author, writing 22 books in Hindi and English on issues of conservation, women's empowerment and environment including Reviving Our Dying Planet and A Blueprint for Survival of the Hills.
10.
Sarla Behn's autobiography is titled A Life in Two Worlds: Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi's English Disciple.
11.
In 1975 Sarala Sarla Behn moved to a cottage at Dharamgarh in Pithoragarh district where she lived until her death in July, 1982.
12.
Sarla Behn was cremated according to Hindu rites at the Lakshmi Ashram.
13.
Sarla Behn was a winner of the Jamnalal Bajaj Award and on the occasion of her 75th birthday called the "daughter of the Himalaya" and the "mother of social activism" in Uttarakhand.
14.
Sarla Behn played a key role in inspiring grassroots organisations in Uttarakahand and helped spread the Sarvodaya movement in the state.