A photograph of a Bishnoi community woman breastfeeding a fawn has taken social media by storm after well-known Indian-origin chef Vikas Khanna told the story about the extraordinary human-animal bond.

Khanna, who posted the photograph on Twitter and Instagram, said he shot it in a village in Rajasthan, a state in northern India, where a majority of the Bishnois reside, reports The Hindustan Times.

‘The greatest form of humanity is compassion,’ Khanna quoted the woman as saying in his post which was accompanied by hashtags #highestrespect #belovedIndia.

The New York-based chef and the judge of MasterChef India said the woman told him that she had breastfed and saved the lives of many injured baby fawn in Rajasthan.

In the picture, the woman is seen wearing a colourful traditional Rajasthani attire with a fawn suckling her.

Khanna’s Instagram post received more than 15,000 likes, with users ‘saluting’ the woman for her incredible gesture.

Hindustan Times, however, could not confirm the authenticity of the picture.

The Bishnoi people are known for their compassion for animal and nature.

One of the most important beliefs of the religious sect, founded about 500 years ago by one Guru Jambheshwar, is about treating all living beings equally.