Sri Aurobindo Ashram

History

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother founded the Ashram in 1926. It became the centre of a spiritual movement based on Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga and one of India’s best-known spiritual communities, drawing devotees and visitors from around the world. Its school, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, has more than 400 students.

The heart of the community is the main building, a block of interconnected houses that includes those in which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother lived for most of their lives. In its tree-shaded central courtyard is the Samadhi, a white marble shrine where both are laid to rest. Puducherry Tourism’s Ashram walk starts at the Ashram office and passes Ashram buildings across the northern French Quarter, including Golconde, the residence completed in 1942.

What to see

• The Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in the main building’s courtyard
• Golconde, the Ashram residence described as the first modernist building in India
• The Ashram heritage walk through the northern French Quarter

Why visit

The Ashram shaped twentieth-century Pondicherry, and many of the French Quarter’s buildings are its homes and workplaces.

Before you go

It is a living community: the main building is a place of meditation, and the residences are private.