Barefoot at Rashtrapati Bhavan: Tulsi Gowda, the Woman Who Knew Every Tree

In November 2021, at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan, an elderly woman in a simple traditional sari, with beads around her neck, walked up to receive one of India’s civilian honours. She was barefoot.

Her name was Tulsi Gowda. She had never been to school. Yet she was receiving the Padma Shri for a lifetime of planting and caring for trees ^[3].

Photographs of her that day, greeting leaders with folded hands, travelled across the country ^[3]. For many Indians, they captured what the Padma awards can be at their best: recognition for people who serve quietly, far from the spotlight.

Read her full profile: Tulasi Gowda.

A child of the forest

Tulsi Gowda belonged to the Halakki tribal community of Karnataka and lived in Honnalli village, in Uttara Kannada district on the state’s west coast ^[1]. She grew up poor, with no schooling ^[3].

She lost her husband when she was young. To support her two children, she went to work for the Forest Department as a daily-wage worker ^[1]. There she tended plants far beyond what anyone asked of her ^[1]. Her dedication was noticed, and the department later gave her a permanent job ^[3].

The encyclopedia of the forest

Over the decades, Tulsi Gowda built up a deep, practical knowledge of plants. She could tell a huge range of species apart and knew how to help each one grow, which is why people called her the “Encyclopedia of the Forest” ^[3]. In Karnataka she was also called Vruksha Maate, the Mother of Trees ^[1].

She is said to have planted more than 30,000 saplings a year, and hundreds of thousands of trees over her lifetime ^[1].

Honours and recognition

The Ministry of Home Affairs named Tulsi Gowda among the Padma Shri awardees for 2020, in the field of social work, from Karnataka ^[2]. She received the award at the November 2021 ceremony ^[3]. She was also given an honorary doctorate by the agricultural university in Dharwad ^[1].

Through it all she stayed humble, living in her village close to the forests she loved.

A life complete

Tulsi Gowda died on 16 December 2024 at her home in Honnalli, at the age of 86 ^[1]. The Prime Minister paid tribute to her, recalling a life given to caring for nature ^[4].

The Halakki community

Her story also drew attention to the Halakki community, known for its close relationship with nature and its rich tradition of folk songs. Another Halakki woman, the folk singer Sukri Bommu Gouda, received the Padma Shri in 2017 ^[5]. Together, they showed the country how much knowledge tribal communities hold.

Why it matters

A woman with no formal schooling helped green a region and passed her knowledge to generations of foresters. Her barefoot walk to receive the Padma Shri said, without words, that true greatness often grows from the soil, from patience and from a lifetime of quiet service.