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Thimmakka, icon who planted hundreds of saplings, dies at 114
Thimmakka was born on 30 June, 1911, in Gubbi taluk in Tumakuru district. With no formal schooling and unable to have children, she began planting saplings as a way to fill an emotional void. Over the years, she cared for the young trees with the tenderness she said she would have given her own children
Bengaluru: Saalumarada Thimmakka, whose decades of patient tree planting turned her into one of India’s most admired environmental figures, died on Friday at a private hospital in Bengaluru. She was 114. Her family said she had been unwell for some time and had been receiving treatment when she passed away.
Thimmakka was born on 30 June, 1911, in Gubbi taluk in Tumakuru district. With no formal schooling and unable to have children, she began planting saplings as a way to fill an emotional void. Over the years, she cared for the young trees with the tenderness she said she would have given her own children.
Her commitment eventually reshaped a stretch of rural Karnataka.
She became widely known as Saalumarada, meaning row of trees, after planting and nurturing 385 banyan trees along a 4.5 kilometre route between Hulikal and Kudur in Bengaluru South district. The line of trees became an enduring marker of her belief that individual action could have lasting environmental impact.
The recognition she received was both national and sustained. Thimmakka was honoured with several awards, including the Padma Shri in 2019, the Nadoja Award from Hampi University in 2010, the National Citizen Award in 1995 and the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award in 1997.
Tributes poured in soon after her death. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said he was deeply saddened by the passing of “Saalumarada Timmakka,” adding that she had devoted her entire life to planting and protecting thousands of trees. Her connection to nature, he said, had made her “immortal,” and the state had become “poorer” with her loss.
