journal d'une transition

1211

.Part III – Auroville shifts to its permanent site – Design and Architecture.

On 24-12-1965, that is three and a half months later, the Mother mentions to Huta: “ The place for the Mother’s Shrine is chosen. It is really a very nice place .”

Two months later, on 20-2-1966, the Mother draws a sketch of the entrance of the Matrimandir: this sketch depicts a small bridge, a box-room to keep the cleaning equipment, ad a fountain at which people would wash their feet. This is implying that the water is very close to the Shrine, and yet that the width of water to be crossed by a bridge cannot be very large; the bridge is shown as a small one.

So we remain with the same configuration: the Shrine itself, with its guardian house, situated on a small island.

Three weeks later, on 10-3-1966, The Mother wrote to Huta that, as a result of Roger A’s work, plans and models of the town were ready and about to be exhibited, and She writes: “ I am sure you will be happy as the Truth Pavilion is on a kind of island in the centre of an artificial round lake and looks like an immense lotus opening towards heaven …” No mention is made here of the gardens, or of the Park. These do not clearly appear either on those first plans and maps, which were not yet of the galaxy but followed the pattern of the Mother’s symbol. Yet, in 1966, a first brochure was prepared and issued by the SAS on the project of Auroville. This brochure was read and approved by the Mother, and She Herself wrote its introduction. In this brochure, the description of the central area of Auroville is the following: “The axes of penetration towards the centre create a convergence, a densification of buildings, increasing to a point where they suddenly open out upon the gardens of Unity. In the centre of these gardens, surrounded by a lake will be situated “the Sanctuary of Truth” and the Matrimandir… The “Sanctuary of Truth”, by its form and position, will be the heart of the town, the dominating point of Auroville opening to the light.” The photograph of a model that is shown in this brochure represents the island as a raised volume, rather like a small hill. According to this formal description, the configuration before our eyes resembles closely to the earlier ones: on a small island is “the Sanctuary of Truth” which houses within itself the “Shrine of the Mother”; there is lake around this island, and this lake is surrounded by a crown of gardens which together form the Park of Unity. It I only more tan a year later, on 11-9-1967, that the Mother mentions this configuration to Huta again, while explaining to her about the foundation ceremony for Auroville. At this point in time, the geographical centre for Auroville has shifted completely east of the main Madras road, and has now been fixed by the Mother where a single banyan tree stands, alone on a barren eroded plateau.