Shivay Jeevseva Foundation — gaushala in Kothar, Bali, Pali, Rajasthan Skip to content
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The herd coming down the village road at sunrise with Pooja Jodhani and the herders

Gaushala · Kothar, Rajasthan

A Home in the Hills

Every cow who comes here stays for life.

We are a gaushala in the Aravalli hills at Kothar. At Shivay Jeevseva Foundation, we shelter around hundred cows, most of them abondoned, injured and too old. We take care of them till their final days of life. 

Food · Shelter · Lifelong care

Our story

More Than a Shelter.

The foundation began in 2021 with a handful of cows nobody else would take. Today a hundred of them live here, in Gaon Kothar, Bali tehsil, Pali district. Gau seva here is daily and unglamorous: fodder before sunrise, wounds cleaned and dressed, water tanks filled, every animal counted before dark.

What we do
Green chara being laid out by hand for the cows in the yard
Green chara laid out by hand, morning feed at Kothar.

100+

cows in our care

250 kg+

of fodder every day

2021

caring since

17

rescues this year

What we do

What a day here looks like

Volunteers treating a downed cow on the ground

Rescue

Someone calls about a cow hit on the highway, or one left tied outside a village with nobody coming back for her. We promptly go for her rescue and bring her back to her new home. 

A veterinarian giving an injection to a brown cow at the shelter

Medical care

We provide utmost care, like dressing wounds, deworming,  vaccinating, etc. by expert caretakers. When an injury is beyond us a veterinarian comes out from Bali, and that cow is watched through the night.

The herd under the shed roof, feed troughs along both walls

Shelter & feed

Shade through the summer, dry ground through the monsoon, and 250+ kg of green chara and dry fodder carried out to the troughs across the day. The water tanks are filled twice. Every cow is counted before dark.

A woman holding a cow's head against her shoulder in the yard

Sponsorship

One cow, one family. You take on her chara and her care for a month or a year, she is kept in your name, and we send you her photograph.

Meet the cows

A hundred cows. These four, to start.

Nandi, a white bullock with a beaded browband

Nandi

About six years old. Came in last winter, thin and lame. Now first at the trough.

Gauri, a young calf standing in the shelter yard

Gauri

Just over a year old. Brought in as a week-old calf, she follows the feed cart everywhere.

Nandini, a young calf standing under a tree

Nandini

About two. Found on the Bali road with a broken leg. Walks well now, slowly.

Ganga and her calf feeding on green fodder

Ganga

Around eight. Rescued with her calf; the two of them still graze side by side.

Special days

Celebrate a birthday or anniversary with the herd

Give the day to the cows. We feed them in your name that morning, call you on video while they eat, and send you the photographs afterwards. Special-day seva starts at ₹2,100.

Birthday bhog

₹2,100 / the day

Gur and dry chara for the whole herd on your date, fed in the name you choose. Photographs the same evening.

Anniversary seva

₹5,100 / the day

A full day of feed and water for the herd, and a video call at the seven o'clock feeding so your family can watch the cows eat.

In someone's memory

₹11,000 / the day

A day of feed for the herd, and a neem or peepal planted in their name on the shelter land. We send a photograph of the tree every year it grows.

1 · Tell us the date

WhatsApp us the date and the name it is for — a week ahead if you can, a day ahead is enough.

2 · Send the amount

Any time before the day, by UPI or bank transfer. The 80G receipt comes back in the name you give us.

3 · Be there for it

We call you on video at feeding time, read out the name at the gaushala, and send the photographs after.

Book a date on WhatsApp

Come and see

Visitors are welcome, any day

Feeding is at seven in the morning and again at four. Come at either hour and you will see the herd at its best. Call before you set out and someone will meet you at the gate.

A visiting group standing with one of the cows in the shed
Visiting hours
Daily, 7–10 am and 4–6 pm
Where we are
Gaon Kothar, Tehsil Bali,
Zilla Pali, Rajasthan 306504
Get directions on Maps →
Getting here
Nana station is 25 mins away 
Jawai bandh is 45 mins 
Udaipur airport is 3 hours and jodhpur airport is 3.5 hours
Call ahead
88799 53122 · 79768 43701
Volunteer mornings
7–10 am, any day. Feeding, cleaning, dressing wounds.

Around the gaushala

Stay longer than an hour

Kothar sits at the edge of the Aravalli hills, so there is more to a visit than the hour you spend at the shed. Tell us what interests you when you call and we will set it up with the village.

Visitors in the fields beside the gaushala with a village elder

Working with the land

A morning in the fields beside the gaushala — sowing, watering, and cutting the green chara the herd will eat that same afternoon. The farmers who grow it will happily put you to work.

Every morning, 6.30 am · call to confirm

Volunteers watering a newly planted sapling

Tree plantation

Plant neem, peepal and khejri on the shelter land and along the village path. You put them in the ground, we water them through the dry months, and we send you a photograph when they take.

Monsoon only — July and August · call to confirm

An evening sitting by candlelight in the courtyard

Meditation retreats

Quiet half-days and weekend sittings on the grounds, with simple sattvik food from the village kitchen. The herd is usually somewhere behind you, chewing.

Winter Only, 5–7 am · call to 8879953122

Two performers dressed as Radha and Krishna on the festival stage

Cultural gatherings

Bhajan sandhya, festival evenings and Gopashtami at the gaushala — cooked, decorated and sung by the families who live and work here. Sit in for as long as you like.

Festival days — Gopashtami, Janmashtami, Holi · call to confirm

School students sitting along the wall sharing a meal at the gaushala

For schools and kids

School groups spend a morning with us — feeding the calves by hand, walking the sheds, seeing where chara, milk and khaad actually come from. For most of the children it is the first time standing next to a cow.

On request — any weekday morning · call to confirm

Call to plan a visit
Bilona ghee in a jar A cow-dung diya held in hand A handful of cow-dung khaad
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From the gaushala

Panchgavya, made here

Bilona ghee, gaumutra ark, cow-dung diyas and khaad, prepared at the shelter by the people who look after the herd. Everything you buy pays for fodder.

Ask what's available

In their words

People who have been here

“They sent me a photograph of the cow I sponsor, standing in the shade, eating. That was all I wanted to know.”
Meena Bhandari · monthly donor, Jodhpur
“I came for one morning to carry chara and stayed till the evening count. Nobody here talks about the work, they just do it.”
Rakesh Solanki · volunteer, Bali
“Forty of our students fed the calves by hand. Two weeks later they were still writing about it.”
Sunita Parmar · teacher, Sumerpur

The people here

Pillars of Trust

A small group looks after the shelter day to day. Any of them can show you around.

Pooja Jodhani, founder

Mrs. Pooja Jodhani

President

Harshad Kumar Rawal

Mr. Harshad Kumar Rawal

Chairman

Uttamchand Jain

Mr. Uttamchand Jain

Treasurer

Harshita Jodhani

Ms. Harshita Jodhani

Working Committee

Jeetendra Shah

Mr. Jeetendra Shah

Working Committee

Registered and accountable

Shivay Jeevseva Foundation is a registered non-profit, set up at Pali in November 2021. We hold our income-tax registration, 80G approval, PAN and NGO Darpan listing, and we are happy to share any of those documents with a donor who asks.

Non-profit, since 2021 80G approved Listed on NGO Darpan Every donation receipted

Shivay Jeevseva Foundation

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