Sahyadri Devrai — Tandulner, Ahmednagar
A Forest Rising on the Plains of Ahmednagar
On the open, sun-bleached terrain of Tandulner in Ahmednagar district, where the soil has long carried the weight of dry summers and uncertain rains, Sahyadri Devrai is planting a new beginning. Indigenous trees, suited for this exact climate, are taking root across once-barren land. Slowly, season by season, a sacred grove is rising where shade has been a luxury for far too long.
The Land and Its Story
Tandulner lies in the Ahmednagar belt, a part of Maharashtra shaped by the rain-shadow of the Sahyadris — where rainfall is unforgiving and summers stretch long. The soil is rich in places and stony in others, but for decades, expanding agriculture, grazing, and shrinking green cover have stripped much of the native forest from this landscape.
Trees like neem, khair, palas, hirda, behda, and chinch — built for this dry climate — have grown rare in the open countryside. Sahyadri Devrai chose Tandulner to plant them back where they belong. The Devrai here is a quiet act of repair — returning to this land the trees it was meant to wear like a crown.
- Rain-shadow region
- Drought-prone terrain
- Lost native species
- Restoring dryland forest
