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