Auroville's Background

With the present psychological developmental stage of the human race a sound and durable human unity is not yet possible, but there is no reason why a temporary approximation to it should not be the reward of a deep aspiration and untiring effort. "By constant approximations and by partial realisations and temporary successes Nature advances", writes Sri Aurobindo, and this reality stands central in Auroville and acts as perpetual encouragement for the residents to persevere. During all our meetings, deliberations and plannings, we are acutely aware of how vast and how high our aim is, for "... in it must be found the means of a fundamental, an inner, a complete, a real human unity which would be the one secure base of a unification of human life". A spiritual oneness which would create a psychological oneness not dependent upon any intellectual or outward uniformity.

Auroville's location in south India is connected with the fact that the Mother had been living in Puducherry since 1920. It was there, in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1964 that the idea of Auroville was conceived. Both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had expressed in their earliest writings the necessity of starting, at some point, a collective experiment under optimum conditions - ideally in the form of a city - to create a crucible for a new consciousness which was seeking to manifest in the world. The Ashram itself, formally created in 1926, was a first attempt in that direction. It was only in 1964 that the Mother felt that the time had come for such a bold experiment to be started on the bigger scale of a township.

The name 'Auroville' was given in homage to Sri Aurobindo, while also meaning 'City of Dawn'. The idea was recognised and taken up by the Government of India. A location near Pondicherry was found. The time was right, the wheel set in motion, and support started coming in. The inauguration took place on February 28th, 1968.

Since the very beginning, Auroville has received the unanimous endorsement of the General Conference of UNESCO in 1966, 1968, 1970, 1983, 2007. Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations in India and abroad have funded various development programmes, and donations have been received from foundations in Europe and the USA, from Auroville International Centres, and from private donors around the world. The residents themselves have also made, and continue to make, a major contribution of their resources and energy to the project.

Auroville is intended as a city for up to 50,000 inhabitants from around the world. Today its inhabitants number around 3300 people, drawn from some sixty countries. They live in settlements of varying size, separated by village and temple lands and surrounded by Tamil villages. Their activities are multifarious and include afforestation, organic agriculture, educational research, health care, village development, appropriate technology, and building construction, information technology, small and medium-scale businesses, town planning, water table management, cultural activities and community services.

In 1988, the Government of India passed the Auroville Foundation Act to safeguard the development of Auroville according to its Charter. This Act established three constituent bodies: the Governing Board, which would oversee the development of the township in collaboration with its inhabitants, the Residents Assembly and the International Advisory Council, which can provide international support and advice, when required, to the Governing Board.

As the world is rapidly changing and groping for new paradigms to re-model itself, so Auroville stands ready to enter a new phase of its development and growth, and aware of a new flowering of the faith in humanity's future that it represents.