India, Oct. 19 -- The elegant Chinkara (Indian gazelle) will bolt into the blue when human shadows loom on the desert horizon. But when rescued from dog bites, poachers, road accidents, etc, and lovingly cared for by the Bishnois of Western Rajasthan, the shy creature adapts and embraces the household just as a domesticated goat. 'Sundari', as she was christened by Pharsaram Bishnoi Godara, was a Chinkara orphan whose mother was killed by dogs in village Denok on December 15, 2024. Godara's sister, Bhawri, who is married in Denok, buried the mother. Bhawri had found her fawn, barely able to stand on its legs, in the bajra fields and bleating faintly, piteously. Godara had taken the waif under his wing, and to his village of Barjasar. "We procured goat milk and nursed Sundari. We treated her like another daughter, at par with our own Shivani (11). Sundari wholeheartedly accepted me as 'mother'. Adapted to my body odour, she would feel secure sleeping on the bed alongside me. She would dismount from the bed, urinate etc and occupy her position again. If we tried to dislodge her, she would poke us with her small horns, sometimes drawing blood. She never slept on the floor and looked a queen sitting regally on my bed. Sundari was a 'bezubaan' but expressed affection and reposed faith in us, and sought love and companionship, just as a human," said Godara, who is Phalodi district president of the Jambeshwar Environment & Wildlife Society Deora. After nine months, it was time for 'alvida' and cutting the Gordian knot of emotional entwinements. Sundari was to be rehabilitated in the 100-bigha deer park in Sathri Lohawat. "I refused to eat food in protest against my father's decision to tear my 'sister' away from me. But then he told me, it was time for Sundari to start her own family, just as one day I would leave the parental home for my 'sasural' (in-laws)," Shivani told this writer. Godara frequently visits Sundari at Sathri, where his 'daughter' has blended with her bloodlines. "When I call out her name, her ear will twitch, she will detach from the herd and amble cautiously towards me. She will first smell my feet. Realising it is indeed her 'mother', she will place her head between my feet. She sits by my side, I stroke and tickle her body, and feed her 'channa'. When I turn my back to go home, I can feel her eyes so puzzled at my departure. Her last look plays with my heartstrings. Tears stream quietly down my cheeks as the gates creak to a close behind me," Godara told this writer. In the Bishnoi canon of eco-spiritual beliefs, the 'hiran' is revered as the manifestation of desert Guru Jambeshwar. In their next life, Bishnois believe they will reincarnate in deer form. Hence, they move heaven and earth to shield the 'hiran'. A Chinkara had been savaged by dogs but rescued by school children at village Kelansar. "The haunches were torn by bites and it was in danger of bleeding to death. There were no four-wheel vehicles and the forest department told me it would take hours to send a rescue jeep. The Chinkara was bucking with great force and lashing out with its horns. I could not hitch a motorbike ride with the struggling Chinkara as I would have lost balance. I asked my brother-in-law, Gopi Ram Saran, to grip the horns and I walked 7 km in the desert heat with the Chinkara (25 kg) on my shoulder. We reached the Aau veterinary facility in time and saved the Chinkara," recounted Godara, who is otherwise a pastoralist of modest means....