Bharat Nivas, House of India
The campus of Bharat Nivas in Auroville's International
Zone has been a dynamic and generous centre in the community's
life since it was given to the Aurovilians in 1982 - to
utilise and bring to completion. While presently one of
Auroville's post offices is located there, as well as the
main Auroville Library, office of the township's Working
Committee, Entry Group and Residents Service, administration
of SAIIER, the SAWCHU office and main platform for communal
meetings, as well as quite a number of other Auroville services,
this is a temporary arrangement only. In the not too far
future, when the new 'Town Hall annexe' will be ready for
use, a number of services and units that are now working
from the Bharat Nivas campus will move to their more permanent
and appropriate places future.
Bharat Nivas, the House of India, Pavilion of the Indian
Culture, can then fully grow into its own..
History
Bharat Nivas, the Pavilion of India
in Auroville's International Zone was, naturally, the first
one to be started. The Mother initiated the work and highlighted
the purpose it was meant to serve in the experiment of Auroville:
 With
the first pavilion it was intended to create a process which
other pavilions-to-be could follow in the future. With this
in mind, the Mother announced, in 1970, a national competition
to design 'Bharat Nivas', House of India. The 'Indian Institute
of Architects' sponsored the competition, and a jury consisting
of Auroville architects and other personalities was constituted
with the Mother as its president.
Competition brief
The brief given to the architects was
to design the buildings of Bharat Nivas as a symbolic representation
of the soul of India, seeking inspiration from India's spiritual
past, her thought, her character and perception. The common
zones as well as the sectors presenting the various states
were to be designed in such a way that they would bring
out the essential unity of India, in the midst of her rich
diversity. The buildings and open spaces should reflect
the interaction that is natural to Indian life. And, above
all, the architecture of Bharat Nivas should not be imitative
of the past, but seek to renew itself in dynamic forms.
Press release on competition, 1970
 A
widely distributed press release in August, 1970, carried
three main guidelines for the contestant architects:
1. The first step is to contact such
persons who have an understanding of their culture, live
it themselves, see its future growth and potential and can
advise and give the true perspective. In this manner a group
may form spontaneously to arrive at a complete and total
understanding of a culture in its different aspect.
2. The second aspect of the work will
then be a choosing or selecting the most typical or distinctive
aspect of the culture. These should not of course overlap
with those of other cultures or merely repeat them, but
the underlying unity should be well and truly brought out.
3. The final step would be to represent
this culture in Auroville in a living and concrete manner.
This presentation should also bring out the ultimate aim
towards which that culture is striving. The pavilion, or
better still the structure for this, should be a reflection
of the true spirit and an integral part of this cultural
manifestation.
The winner and first years
At the close of the competition on 27.04.1971,
the Mother chose a design prepared by Sri R. Chakrapani
of Chennai. The construction began in August 1971 with funds
received from the Government of India and from some of the
states. Two years later, with the Auditorium and the adjacent
round building of the restaurant partially completed, the
work came to a halt, in 1973. With differences regarding
the nature of management, the stalemate continued till 1982
when, under a special provision, the Government of India
handed over the unfinished complex of Bharat Nivas buildings
to Auroville to utilise it as it stood, and to work for
its completion.
First round of work after 1982
 1.
A Centre for Research in Indian Culture (CIC) was set up
in one of the partially complete buildings. Its purpose
was two-fold:
a) to re-discover the essential
attitudes, perceptions of Indian life and personality,
which have been affected by many extraneous influences
b) to have recovered them
- to have seized the 'soul' of India in its vibrancy of
spiritual feeling and effectivity, and to then, from that
poise of being, try and deal with contemporary issues
2. At the same time in 1982,
about thirty units and services of Auroville instrumental
in various fields needed to be housed as there was a shortage
of buildings elsewhere in the township. These came to find
their space and moorings in the buildings that had still
to be completed and it is thus that for instance Auroville's
main Library, the Laboratory of Evolution, SAIIER administrative
offices, Auroville's Future planning offices, the Entry
Group office, Auroville International office, Residents
Service, SEWA employee office, the Auroville Post Office,
the Multipurpose Health Centre, Free Store and other such
services are, still, generously housed by Bharat Nivas.
Also the offices of the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation
have Bharat Nivas as their steady address.
However, with the increasing use and beautification of the
site, as well as other developments in the township where
the above mentioned general services would be more appropriately
located, a gradual siphoning off will take place, leaving
the premises for their original intent and function during
the coming years.
3. The process of fundraising
to complete the buildings was started and maintained and,
by now, in 2002; some buildings have been completed, new
ones have been put up, but quite some work still remains
to be done
4. Considering the growth of
centres and activities specific to Bharat Nivas' functioning,
the Pavilion of India has grown in a full measure in spite
of material limitations and has become an important centre
in the daily life of the township
Present development
Presently, in the year 2002, the Bharat
Nivas complex per se consists of:
Gnana Vijnana Kendra:
-
Centre for the Knowledge of Spirit
and Matter
-
School of Sanskrit and other languages
-
Centre of Scientific Knowledge in
India
Kala Kendra:
-
Centre for Research in Indian Culture
-
Studios for music, dance and painting
-
Centre of Perspective Studies (the
present SAWCHU building)
Sri Aurobindo Auditorium
Atithi Griha guesthouse
For more detailed information, please visit: www.bharatnivas.org
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