Last updated: 5 Jun, 2023

The Inauguration of Auroville with the participation of 124 nations on February 28th, 1968

On February 28th, 1968, the bare, concise and yet far-reaching words of the Charter of Auroville were read out in French by the Mother from her room in Pondicherry, and broadcast live. Thereafter the Charter was read in 16 languages, in the following order: Tamil, Sanskrit, English, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Tibetan.

Her words were, at the time, directed to five thousand persons gathered around an amphitheatre on a barren, almost treeless plateau in south India.

They were gathered for the foundation ceremony of Auroville.

Nearby, only a lone banyan tree stood in an expanse of dust and sun-baked earth...

As the soil from 124 nations and 23 Indian states was placed by youth from those countries and states in a raised marble urn, a challenging experiment was born on Indian soil.


The late Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi described Auroville as:

An exciting project for bringing about harmony among different cultures and for understanding the environmental needs of man's spiritual growth.

Present were:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. Albania
  3. Algeria
  4. Argentina
  5. Australia
  6. Austria
  7. Belgium
  8. Bhutan
  9. Bolivia
  10. Brazil
  11. Bulgaria
  12. Burma
  13. Burundi
  14. China (Nationalist)
  15. China (Communist)
  16. Cambodia
  17. Cameroon
  18. Canada
  19. Central African Rep.
  20. Ceylon
  21. Chad
  22. Chile
  23. Columbia
  24. Congo
  25. Congo (Kinshasa)
  26. Costa Rica
  27. Cuba
  28. Cyprus
  29. Czechoslovakia
  30. Dahomey
  31. Denmark
  32. Dominican Rep.
  33. Equador
  34. El Salvador
  35. Ethiopia
  36. Fiji
  37. Finland
  38. France
  39. Gabon
  40. Germany
  41. Ghana
  42. Greece
  43. Guatemala
  44. Guinea
  45. Haiti
  46. Honduras
  47. Hungary
  48. Iceland
  49. Indonesia
  50. Iran
  51. Iraq
  52. Ireland
  53. India (23 States)
  54. Israel
  55. Italy
  56. Ivory Coast
  57. Jamaica
  58. Japan
  59. Jordan
  60. Kenya
  61. Korea
  62. Kuwait
  63. Laos
  64. Lebanon
  65. Liberia
  66. Libya
  67. Luxembourg
  68. Malagasy
  69. Malta
  70. Malaysia
  71. Mauritius
  72. Mali
  73. Morocco
  74. Mauritania
  75. Mexico
  76. Mongolia
  77. Mozambique
  78. Nepal
  79. Netherlands
  80. New Zealand
  81. Nicaragua
  82. Niger
  83. Nigeria
  84. Norway
  85. Pakistan
  86. Panama
  87. Paraguay
  88. Peru
  89. Philippines
  90. Poland
  91. Portugal
  92. Qatar
  93. Rhodesia
  94. Romania
  95. Rwanda
  96. Saudi Arabia
  97. Senegal
  98. Sikkim
  99. Singapore
  100. . Somalia
  101. . South Africa
  102. . South Yemen
  103. . Spain
  104. . Sudan
  105. . Sweden
  106. . Switzerland
  107. . Syria
  108. . Tanzania
  109.  Thailand
  110.  Togo
  111.  Tunisia
  112.   Turkey
  113.   Tibet
  114.   Uganda
  115.   USSR
  116.   UAR
  117.   UK
  118.   USA
  119.   Upper Volta
  120.   Uruguay
  121.   Venezuela
  122.   Vietnam
  123.   Yugoslavia
  124.   Zambia