Auroville’s Inauguration Ceremony

This weekly dose kicks off a series of weekly dose posts on the photos of Auroville’s inauguration ceremony. Many people reading this will already be familiar with photos of the inauguration, which took place on February 28, 1968. Two books that came out in connection with Auroville’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2018 have published many of these photos. These books are Dawn of Auroville published in 2019 by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department, and Inauguration of Auroville, published in 2018 by PRISMA. And then there was the 2018 exhibition at Auroville’s Kalakendra that showcased these photos.

What we will do in this upcoming series is highlight the more unusual themes from amongst the photos, and present one theme every week. This will allow us to focus on a specific (unusual but interesting) aspect of the inauguration. However, this week’s post is an introductory one, and sets the basic context for the photos, so here we’ll highlight the central themes of the inauguration.

An overview of the inauguration, with the Urn at the center of the Amphitheater, and the lone Banyan tree in the background

By the time of the inauguration in February 1968, The Mother had already pointed (on a map) to the Banyan tree as the center of Auroville. The spiritual heart of Auroville – the Matrimandir, its Gardens and the Peace Area – were to come up around the Banyan, as they did. So the Banyan was also chosen as the site of the inauguration.

The central event of the inauguration was the pouring, into a large urn, of earth/soil brought from every state in India and every nation in the world. For this an urn was designed and constructed out of reinforced concrete, and an Amphitheater was excavated and built to house and surround this urn, close to the Banyan. For inauguration day, temporary covered stands for spectators were constructed around the edge of the Amphitheater.

The second event of the inauguration was an exhibition arranged around the base of the Banyan. The exhibition was about the future city that was to come up in the landscape surrounding the inauguration.

The best known photos of inauguration day are of the young boys and girls chosen to walk to the urn in the middle of the Amphitheater, holding placards with the names of the states and nations they were representing, and pour the earth from these states and nations into the Urn. While this took place, various speakers recited the freshly composed Auroville Charter in different languages. The composer of the Charter, The Mother, was the first to read it out, in French, her voice transmitted from her room in the Ashram.