Auroville

 city, community, interesting place, autonomous community

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an "experimental" township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, near Pondicherry in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (also known as "The Mother") and designed by architect Roger Anger. The universal township in the making, 'Auroville' celebrated its 47th anniversary on 28 February 2015. The Auroville Foundation made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the anniversary. The celebrations included a bonfire followed by a series of cultural, spiritual and literary activities. It was on this day in 1968 the township was formally inaugurated in the presence of Sri Aurobindo's spiritual collaborator Mirra Alfassa fondly referred as the Mother and representatives from 124 nations including India. A representative from each state in India took part in the inaugural function. More than 5,000 followers of Sri Aurobindo took part in the inaugural function. The representatives brought with them soil from the homeland which they mixed in a white marble-clad, lotus-shaped urn, which can be now sited at the focal point of Amphitheatre. The Mother blessed the initiative and gave a four-charter objective, The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) had passed unanimous resolution commending and encouraging Auroville as a project of importance to the future of humanity. The project was given special status by the India government when it established Auroville Foundation by an act of the Parliament in 1988.