Auroville's monthly news magazine since 1988

History

Commemorating the second caravan

Departure from Paris on 10-10-1974

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.

Statement on Auroville’s current situation

Issued by two members of the International Advisory Council and supported by eight International personalities

Charlie and the Aurogreen Farm

The first house in Aurogreen

Covering about 25 acres in the northeast part of the Greenbelt, Aurogreen is one of Auroville’s oldest farms and was the first to go organic.

50 years on Victory of the Spirit 1971: The liberation of Bangladesh

Fifty Years on Victory of the Spirit - bookcover

For Claude Arpi, the Bangladesh Liberation War symbolises a promising uniting event. Claude is an Aurovilian, historian, and journalist, whose journey of historical discovery of Tibet, China, and the Subcontinent started with a visit to the Himalayas in 1972.

Life in Kottakarai: reflections on an early Auroville community

Lisbeth milking a cow

The following is a selection of reminiscences about Kottakarai community in the 1970s by its members. These were first published in the 2020 Fall-Winter issue of AVI-USA Connect magazine.

What’s in a community name?

Krishna (left) and Mail fixing the name board of Utilité signed by The Mother with her blessing on their keet hut (1971)

In the Indian satirical film PK, a humanoid alien comes to study planet earth. Something of an idiot savant, he naively questions the customs and dogmas of the human race (located firmly in India, in this case).

A delegate remembers Auroville’s Inauguration

Depositing the soil of Spain

The guardian of the Banyan

2 The Banyan Tree with Andhayee's hut behind

Andhayee ‘Ammal’ was born in Edayanchavady. In a love marriage, she married a man from a higher caste, a temple builder from Naidu caste, but this was not acceptable to either family and they were sent out of the village.

The more things change...the more they stay the same

Looking at some of the old issues of Auroville Today, it’s fascinating to see how some of the articles could have been written just last week.

Planning for the wider bioregion: Auroville- Pondicherry-Villupuram-Cuddalore

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An important meeting in terms of planning for the larger bioregion took place on 11th September in Pondicherry. Hosted by Citizen’s Action Network, PondyCAN and the Puducherry Planning Authority, with participation of civil society from all the sub-regions, the consultation meeting was also addressed by Lt.

Ideal cities and Auroville

Sketch of layout of The City of the Sun

Auroville can be seen as the latest in a chain of ideal city experiments stretching back thousands of years.