Auroville

Auroville is an international township, near Pondicherry in South India, whose sole purpose is to realize human unity in diversity. As of the latest official census of July 11th, 2005, it is a community of 1813 people (1407 adults and 406 children), 730 of whom are of Indian origin. The Auroville settlement has members from around 35 countries in the world.

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Mirra Alfassa, known as The Mother, had organized the followers of Aurobindo into the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, and originated the idea of the universal township. Later on, with her blessings, the idea was taken up by the Sri Aurobindo Society and along with the Indian government, the concept was presented to the United Nations. In 1966, UNESCO passed a resolution giving their acceptance and support to this unique project.

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The township itself consists of areas in Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry. The Auroville land is owned by the Auroville Foundation through an act of Parliament called the Auroville Foundation Act (1988). The Foundation currently owns about half of the total land required for the township. Additional lands are being aquired by the Foundation through its fundraising activities.

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Pondicherry: Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India. It was formerly ruled by the French. It consists of four non-contiguous districts or enclaves....

South India: South India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India. Geographically, South India traditionally includes the entire Indian Peninsula south of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges and Narmada River, encompassing the Deccan plateau (from the Sanskrit word dakshina, meaning south), the Eastern...

Mirra Alfassa: Mirra Alfassa, later Mirra Morisset and Mirra Richard (February 21, 1878 - November 17, 1973), also known as The Mother, was the spiritual partner of Sri Aurobindo....