Inside Auroville: Power, profit, and plans for a federal enclave

This story is part three of our series: 'The Spirituality Industry: A Deep Reporting Project', in which we will look at various religious cults in the country, where they get their funds from, their secrets and why they are attractive among certain age groups, communities, etc. Read the first two parts here.

In the heart of lush green Auroville lies a fenced-off plot of land—now referred to by many as the ‘mass graveyard for trees’. What we saw was overwhelming: hundreds of thousands of tree trunks stacked in massive piles. Our source alleged that the most valuable trees, like red sanders and chinar, were missing. Were they stored elsewhere, or had they simply vanished? “No one really knows—because there are no clear answers,” he said.

In the first part of our series on Auroville’s conflict, we explored the ideological and cultural shifts unsettling the township’s community as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) assert their presence.

Read Part 1: RSS and BJP’s quiet takeover of Auroville 

Since 2021, the once laidback spiritual township of Auroville, located in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district, has become a battleground of conflicting visions. The so-called tree graveyard is just one of its many outcomes. 

In this second part, we focus on the core issues: questionable land deals, large-scale felling of trees, visa cancellation threats, marginalisation of Tamils, and allegations that Auroville is being reshaped into a federal enclave—a foothold for the BJP in Tamil Nadu.

Dr Jayanti Ravi, an IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre and Secretary of the Auroville Governing Board (GB), has pushed ahead with rapid infrastructure projects—actions that have sparked both strong opposition and some support.

The internal delays and lethargy in executing Auroville’s long-standing expansion plans appear to have given the BJP-led Union government ample room to step in—and drive a wedge between residents.

The Crown Road: A faultline

As we passed through Auroville, we were struck by a strange sight. An old and rusted Ambassador car, painted in yellow and covered in graffiti, was ‘planted’ in the earth. With the words “love, peace, unity” scribbled across, it seemed like a relic from the swinging 60s. Our guide told us this was in protest against the partial demolition of the youth centre on December 4, 2021.

The youth centre was demolished to make way for the construction of the contentious Crown Road. The Galaxy—and the Crown Road—was part of a schematic diagram by Auroville founder Mirra Alfassa and has never actually been built. Now, as efforts to bring it to life gain momentum, it has become the face of development—and the heart of controversy.

The township of Auroville is spread over 20 sq km of what once was a desertified patch along the Bay of Bengal. Most people think Auroville is in the Union Territory of Puducherry. In fact, the largest chunk lies within Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram, with just a tiny patch falling under the Union Territory. The people who live here belong to over 60 nationalities, mostly French, Spanish, and German.

In 1965, Mirra Alfassa—known to her followers as ‘The Mother’—had drawn a basic plan for the township based on a divine vision, which she claimed came to her in a dream. It only outlined two things prominently. A circular city and four zones within Auroville. 

The Mother is believed to have shared the “dream vision” with the French architect Roger Anger. Over the years, the vision came to be known as The Galaxy Plan or The Master Plan. The Crown road goes through Auroville in the vision.  

When the first patches of land were given to Auroville along the Coromandel coast in Villupuram, it is said to have been dry and barren. 

Auroville historians have recorded that when The Mother was asked where she wanted her experimental township to come up, she pointed to a barren land, north of Puducherry (then Pondicherry) that had just one large Banyan tree. That Banyan tree became the focal point from where Auroville was built.

And since then, Auroville has pushed forward reforestation, sustainability, and ecological restoration, turning dry land into a thriving green sanctuary. The residents say that decades of this effort has supported thousands of residents and nearby villages such as Irumbai, Kuilapalayam, and Alankuppam by ensuring drinking water supply and a healthier environment.

Generations that have lived there continued to contribute by planting more trees and created several groves. The residents call them ‘forests’ and have given them names like Bliss, Udumba, Revelation, Sadhana, and Pitchandikulam.

“Auroville has never seen such violence… such destruction,” said 73-year-old Frederich Buxloh, a resident. “They have reduced our spirituality to a game of symbols. They think an external form, a circle of a certain diameter can bring the higher force here. Only people with no inner experience can think this way,” he lamented.

As an early settler in Auroville who had watched the saplings on a barren red land grow into mighty trees, Frederich had been amongst the foreigners who had stood in front of the bulldozer in December 2021 and even climbed the shovel to prevent further damage. In a matter of a week, he witnessed over 900 trees being felled, some of them protected species.