On November 17th 2011 – the anniversary of the Mother’s passing – at 1.30pm, a very special child of the Mother, born Savita D. Hindocha, quietly left her body in the Ashram Nursing Home. She had been there for about a month with her condition gradually deteriorating, after ailing for several months. When she joined the Ashram permanently on February 10th 1955 in her late teens the Mother gave her the name ‘Huta’ meaning ‘The Offered One’. Although she had no artistic training, the Mother perceived in her a potential artist and a soul belonging to a world of beauty. She trained her in painting, and worked with her from 1961 to 1966 to create the series of oil paintings illustrating passages from the whole of Savitri called Meditations on Savitri. During this time Huta recorded the Mother’s readings of the passages corresponding to the paintings, which are now familiar to many accompanied by the compositions of Mother’s musician Sunil.
Huta had a very special connection with Auroville – a letter of hers to the Mother in 1965 inspired the creation of Matrimandir, the Mother’s Shrine; and it was to Huta that the Mother first explained, with sketches, her concept for the town-plan of Auroville. In 1966 Huta produced the painting which the Mother named ‘The Spirit of Auroville.’ All this is told in her books Matrimandir – the Mother’s Truth and Love and The Spirit of Auroville. In 2001 Huta entrusted the care of the Meditations on Savitri paintings and a lot of other related art works and materials to Savitri Bhavan.
She has also become well-known for her many books, beautifully designed by Huta herself, all inspired by her contacts with the Mother, such as White Roses (translated into Tamil, French and Russian by Aurovilians), The Story of a Soul, About Savitri, and most recently ‘You said So …’ a record of some of the Mother’s talks with her. In fact she was still working on her latest project, My Savitri Work with the Mother, when she became too weak to continue. She was extremely happy to learn, some six weeks before her passing, of the completion of a series of 18 DVDs made by Italian Aurovilian Manohar of her Meditations on Savitri paintings, and even more recently of another film made by him of her Paintings Inspired by Sri Aurobindo’s Poems. This film will be premiered at Savitri Bhavan on December 5th.
Huta had no fear of death. During the time when she was working with the Mother on the Savitri paintings the Mother had guided her through all the subtle worlds, even the darkest subconscient, and assured her that when the time came she would be immediately carried up by Sri Aurobindo to her true home. She chose a significant day on which to leave, indicative of her identification with the Mother.
She has been a true friend of Savitri Bhavan and all of us here remember her with deep gratitude and affection.
Shraddhavan
Very fine tribute! Reminds us that we must try and remain in Their presence constantly.
Thank you for sharing this with us Anurag!
Best!
Sachi da
Dear Anurag:
Beautiful in every way, and just the message for December 5-9: to give that special comfort for us to face all our tomorrows.
Thank you for posting the tribute.
Prema
Dear Sri.Anurag,
We are happy to learn about mother`s special child.Details about such personalities enlighten us and help us to come nearer to the divine mother.
Regards
P.R.Reddy
Huta ben has been the very personification of total dedication to the Divine Mother and Sri Aurobindo. She has been a truly inspiring person and a loving elder sister. I humbly offer my gratitude to the Divine Mother that we had an opportunity to come in contact with such a pure and wonderful soul.
Thank you for letting us know of Huta’s passing. She was a true child of the Mother and a beautiful person.
Thank you , dear Shraddhavan for letting us have the insightful glimpses of Huta’ s life so closely interwoven with Savitri and the Divine Mother .
Beautiful !
Surendra s chouhan
Dear Anurag ji,
Very beautiful.
Thank you.
Regards,
Aravinda
Dear Anurag,
It was really awesome
Thank You for sharing!!
Regards,
Krishnakanth
Dear Anurag,
It is a sad thing to lose such a valuable person associated with the Mother. But it is the law of nature; we can’t bypass it. May her soul rest in peace! Or perhaps she is now a part of the Great Superconsciousness vibrating through the created world: in that case I should not belittle her by emphasizing her departure from the physical world.
Regards,
Tanukadi.