Auroville pioneers

Roy, who passed away in Auroville on 6 November 2025 at the age of 76, came to Auroville from the USA in 1971. Roy had learned about Auroville when seeing an image of the Galaxy in a bookshop in New York.

On 17 April, long-term Aurovilian Frederick Schulze Buxloh was informed that his application for visa extension had been denied. The decision sparked widespread concern, leading to a petition addressed to Indian authorities that garnered over 4000 signatures.

Frederick, an 85-year old German national who was among the first to be admitted as an Aurovilian by the Mother and who has been living in and working for Auroville for over 60 years, was denied the extension of his visa and has been requested to leave India.

Jean-Claude Bieri passed away at his home in France, Pyrenees-Orientales, on 11 March. He was 79. He lived with his partner, Marie-Jo, and was the father of two daughters born in Auroville, Hebaragui and Mindelai.

Joya Diane Skye left her body on 19 February. Born 13 April 1945, Skye (known as Diane from the early days), arrived in Auroville in May 1970 with her partner Philip and unborn child Lunaura.

Last December, there was a photographic exhibition in the Tibetan Pavilion which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the second caravan in Auroville.

Long-term Aurovilian Goupi (Jean-Pierre Bunel) peacefully passed away at Marika’s Home in the evening of Monday, June 24th. He had just turned 82 years old.

Auma is a second-generation Aurovilian, born to Indian and French pioneers, Marie Babu and André Tardeil. While she raises her third generation child, she shares insights with us about what makes Auroville unique to her.

Judith joined Auroville in 1971. Here she talks about her journey.

Many people have met The Mother. Some were blessed by Her responding to their questions in writing. One of those is Frederick Schulze Buxloh, who first came to India in 1960 when he was 20 years old and then met The Mother for the first time.

In April word spread that Frederick was seeking personal testimonies of what drew us to and kept us living in Auroville. He wrote, “In Delhi a senior friend and supporter of Auroville asked me: ‘What brought you to India 60 years ago?’

David Nagel passed away in his Aurodam home on June 23rd. He had been struggling with health issues since a number of years, and had just this year become 80.

On June 24th, Mallika left her body at the age of 86. Mallika (Claude Leandre) was born in French Guyana in 1936. She grew up in France, living and working there until a chance viewing of a television program featuring Auroville called her to come and join in the “adventure of consciousness”.

Robert (Bob) Lawlor passed away peacefully on 29 November in the hospital on King Island, Tasmania at the age of 84. After studying Art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., Bob discovered the Sri Aurobindo Ashram during his world travel in the 60s.

On July 3rd 2022, Daniel Brewer, one of Auroville’s early pioneers and co-founder of the Kottakarai community, passed away at the age of 84 in his home in Sayulita, Mexico.

Bryan Walton, one of Auroville’s early pioneers, left his body on March 8 in Wisconsin, USA at the age of 80. Bryan left the USA in the mid-sixties for India in search for a better life, and eventually came to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in June 1971.

Born in Tunis, Tunisia, on the 4th October 1946, Bernard Borg moved in 1961 with his family to Marseille, in France, while he was still a young boy of 15.

In the early morning of 15 December, Peggy, the mother of Jehangir and Rishad Rustomji, first generation of students of Auroville, passed away in her home in Kodaikanal.

Janet Fearn was one of the very first people to settle in Auroville. In 1997, along with her friend, Philip Melville, she decided to create a programme for Newcomers which would tell them about the early history of Auroville.

Auroville’s pioneer Peter Kuhrt – also known as Stream – passed away on January 28th in a Munich hospital due to heart failure. He was 76.

It is sometimes difficult to place the 1980s in Auroville. The 1970s was a period of pioneering and high drama – including, as it does, Mother’s passing and the conflict with the Society – while the 1990s witnessed a Cambrian explosion of projects.

Long-term Aurovilian Hervé Millet left his body on August 19th at Marika Home at the age of 75, due to complications of cancer which he had been battling since several years.

Former Auroville resident Joan Tomb left her body on June 23rd at the age of 85 in her apartment in Tucson, Arizona, USA, with three of her four children by her side.

In the late afternoon of April 25th, Roma Hira peacefully left her body at her home in Dana due to renal failure. She would have turned 73 in September this year.

Navoditte (Norman Thomas) came to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1967 with his wife, Alice, and in February, 1968 attended the inauguration of Auroville.

Francis was one of the first settlers on the Auroville plateau. Since then, he has been involved in many activities in the community.

Gérard Maréchal, one of Auroville’s early pioneers, left his body in his Sukhavati home on January 2nd due to a fall caused by a heart failure.

In 1968 a young woman landed in Pondicherry, attracted by nothing in particular but her interest in India. She has stayed ever since, except for a two year period from 1970-1972.

Paulette has been a particularly energetic contributor to the 50th anniversary celebrations. She has put up two photographic exhibitions and released a book.

Bob and Deborah Lawlor established Forecomers, the first community in Auroville, in 1968. They left in 1972, to work on the translation of a book on ancient Egypt, “The Temple of Man”.

On January 19th Chris Gray left his body in his Yantra after suffering a stroke. He was 75 years old. Chris first arrived in Auroville in the early seventies, travelling overland in his blue Mercedes van.

In March, 2015, we interviewed three Aurovilians, Gérard Maréchal, Janaka and François Gauthier, who had journeyed to Auroville in the first caravan in 1969, to learn more about the caravan story.

Louis Cohen, who first came to Auroville in 1971, is one of the original pioneers. He continues to be very active in the development of the town.

Sharanam (Maria Desamparados Aznar Arce) passed away on September 1st in the General Hospital in Pondicherry after suffering a heavy lung infection.

In 1969, I was attending the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, studying engineering physics. It was through a librarian there that I was put in touch with Sri Aurobindo’s writings.

On February 7th, the ‘Landing Auroville Celebration’ held at the Unity Pavillion was an encouraging success. Organised by the joint land fundraising teams of Acres for Auroville, GreenAcres and LFAU, the event’s central message was the sacredness of the land, and the need for an intense collective effort to acquire land in Auroville’s Master Plan area now.

On February 15th, long-term Aurovilian and pioneer, Jayant Thakkar, who lived in Promesse, passed away in the Ashram’s nursing home at the age of 94.

Long-term Aurovilian Lachmanben (Lachman Melvani) peacefully left her body in the early morning on the eve of the Mother’s Birthday, February 20, in her house in Aurobrindavan.

Aurovilian R. Kannan, passed away on August 8th in his home at Meera Youth Camp at the age of 71. Kannan was one of the early Aurovilians. In 1970, he left Abhay Singh’s workshop in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, and joined Auroville.

Aurovilian of the first hour, Toshi (Santosh) Malik, wife of late Prem Malik, left her body on June 20th after a year’s illness in New Delhi.