The aim of Auroville is for it to be a universal town where people of all nations can live in peace and progressive harmony, disregarding creeds, politics and nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise, understand and accept human unity.
Auroville is a place of an unending education, of constant progress, and of a youth that never ages. It wants to be the bridge between the past and the future, taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, from which the township will move to future realisations. Auroville is a site of material and spiritual research for Human Unity.
The Mother, Mirra Alfassa, a devotee of Sri Aurobindo who set up Auroville, is quoted as saying: "Let your highest aspiration organise your life." The call had come.
Auroville, near Pondicherry, is barren. Vast stretches of inhospitable red clay guard several promises for the future. Clumps of dry bush, a stray hut, mongrels, burning firewood and the smoke - nothing more.
There was not much to distinguish Pondicherry from the rest of India. The Aurobindo ashram and the "white" enclave are spartan in design and cleanliness. Roads are named in French, tiny shops on street corners are filled with goods; women pass by on bicycles.
But walk away from all that and the poverty of India hits you in the face. Miles away, Auroville has just taken birth. Red dry earth, and large Tamil settlements with perennial water problems remain.
The Mother said that the new world would begin from here [Auroville]. Several people, many foreigners among them, started digging. The new world would begin from the red earth: It would sprout like the grass.
Auroville, a universal township in the making, aims to have a population of 50,000 from around the world. The concept of Auroville came to the Mother as early as the 1930s. In the mid 1960s, the Sri Aurobindo Society in Pondicherry proposed to her that such a township should be started. She gave her blessings.
The idea was then put before the Indian government, which gave its backing and took it to the United Nations General Assembly. In 1966 UNESCO commended it as a project of importance for humanity. Today, Auroville is recognised as the only internationally endorsed project of its kind.
On February 28, 1968 about 5,000 people assembled near the banyan tree at the centre of the future township for an inauguration ceremony attended by representatives of 121 nations, and 23 States of India.
The representatives brought with them some soil from their homeland, to be mixed in a white marble-clad, lotus-shaped urn, now sited at the focal point of the amphitheatre. At the same time, the Mother gave Auroville its four-point charter.
The township is divided into six divisions, or zones, each with its own particular characteristic.
These zones are colloquially known as:
The Peace Area: This is at the centre of the town and comprises the Matrimandir (Temple of The Mother), and its gardens, the amphitheatre with the Urn of Human Unity, which contains the soil of the 121 nations and 23 Indian states that was brought at the initial inauguration of the township. A lake, centrally siutated, helps create an atmosphere of calm and serenity, but has a practical side, too, as it helps serve as an area for groundwater storage replacement.
The Industrial Zone: A 109-hectare area, north of the Peace Area, the Industrial Zone, has been established to manufacture items that are considereed environmentally friendly, from natural products.
It focuses on Auroville's efforts at being self-supporting and contains many small and medium-size industries, training centres, arts and crafts, as well as the city's administration.
The Residential Zone: This is the largest of the four zones, comprising of 189 hectares. The Residential Zone is bordered by parks on the north, south and west. The main access to the zone is through the Crown Road, with further traffic distribution via five radial roads that divide the zone into sectors of increasing densities.
This zone seeks to provide a well-adjusted habitat between individual and collective living. Fifty five per cent of the area will be green and only 45 per cent of it will be built upon, thereby creating an urban density balanced by nature.
The International Zone: 74 hectares to the west of the Peace Area, will host national and cultural pavilions, grouped by continents. Its central focus is to create a living demonstration of human unity in diversity through the expression of the genius and contribution of each nation to humanity.
The Cultural Zone: Planned on a 93-hectare area, situated to the east of the Peace Area, the Cultural Zone will be a site for applied research in education and artistic expression. Facilities for cultural, educational, art and sports activities will be located in this zone.
The Green Belt: The city area, with a radius of 1.25 km, will be surrounded by a Green Belt of 1.25 km width. As a zone for organic farms, dairies, orchards, forests, and wildlife areas, this belt will act as a barrier against urban encroachment, provide a variety of habitats for wildlife, and serve as a source for food, timber, medicines etc. and as a place for recreation.
Presently, an area of 405 hectares, the Green Belt – though incomplete – stands as an example of successful transformation of wasteland into a vibrant eco-system.
Its further planned extension with an additional 800 hectares will make it a remarkable demonstration site for soil and water conservation, groundwater recharge, and environmental restoration. As lungs for the entire township, it will complete the healing process that Auroville started several decades ago.
Auroville is packed to the brim with stories. Every person has an interesting tale to tell. Auroville is a 36-year-old experiment, constantly evolving and still moving in the direction that was intended. As with other alternative lifestyle communes, Auroville attracts the brilliant and offbeat minds at the same time I visited Auroville again last year. It was bustling with people and activity.
Exquisite guest houses and residences had sprung up. Small scale industry had taken root and there were many healing centres. A visible prosperity had visited the land. Two wheelers roared through the undergrowth and the "divine anarchy" of Auroville was in full bloom.
Window to Auroville: La Boutique D'Auroville, in the busiest thoroughfare of Pondicherry, is the window to Auroville. Tastefully decorated, it exhibits and sells at reasonable rates everything that is manufactured in Auroville.
It is a shopper's paradise. So enticing are the goodies displayed! Managing the boutique is C. Bhoominathan, a Tamilian who lives in Aspiration in Auroville. "I am from Kuilapalayam village. My mother used to work in Auroville. One day she ask
