Photographs of Houses where Sri Aurobindo had stayed in Pondicherry

Dear Friends,

On 4 April 1910, around four in the afternoon Sri Aurobindo arrived at Pondicherry, the land which was destined to be his ‘cave of tapasya’. For the next one and a half decades he stayed at various houses with his companions till he shifted to the ‘Meditation House’ in February 1927.

4 April 2015 marks the 105th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s arrival in Pondicherry. As our humble homage to him, the photographs of the houses where Sri Aurobindo had stayed in Pondicherry have been published in the online forum of Overman Foundation.

With warm regards,
Anurag Banerjee
Founder,
Overman Foundation.

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1

The house of Shankar Chettiar at 39 Camoutty Street (now 63 Vysial Street) where Sri Aurobindo stayed from 4 April 1910 to September 1910.

2The house of Sundar Chettiar at 42 Rue de Pavillon (now Rue Suffren Street) where Sri Aurobindo stayed from October 1910 to March 1911. The monthly rent was Rs. 20.

3

The house of Raghava Chettiar—better known as ‘Raghavan House’ at 13 Rue St. Louis Street where Sri Aurobindo stayed from April 1911 to April 1913.

4

In this house at 59 Rue des Missions Etrangèrs (now known as Mission Street) Sri Aurobindo stayed from April 1913 to September 1913. The rent of the house was Rs. 15 per month.

5

6

In this house at 41 François Martin Sri Aurobindo stayed from October 1913 to October 1922. This house later came to be known as the ‘Guest House’. It was here that on 29 March 1914 the Mother met Sri Aurobindo for the first time.

7

The ‘Library House’ at 9 Rue de la Marine where the Mother and Sri Aurobindo shifted to in October 1922. The monthly rent was Rs. 100. It was purchased on 6 April 1929 for Rs. 21000.

library-house-view-from-south-east‘Library House’—view from south-east.

meditation-house

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother shifted to the ‘Meditation House’ at 28 Rue François Martin on 8 February 1927. This house was rented from 1 January 1927 for a sum of Rs. 75 and purchased on 13 July 1927 for Rs. 14000.

(Photographs: courtesy Ms. Tara Jauhar)

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11 Replies to “Photographs of Houses where Sri Aurobindo had stayed in Pondicherry

  1. As always you are providing useful information and make us remember Lord and Divine Mother. Thanks Anurag.

  2. DYUMAN “THE LUMINOUS” — Karma yogi

    http://motherandsriaurobindo.org/Content.aspx?ContentURL=/_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/-03%20Disciples/Dyuman/Index.htm

    April 4th, 1985 was approaching — the 75th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s coming to Pondicherry. Dyuman-da thought it would be a good idea if we could visit the room in Sankar Chetty house where Sri Aurobindo was staying at the time. However, the house belonged to someone not connected with the Ashram. This did not daunt Dyuman-da. He approached the owner who gladly agreed to his suggestion. The Ashramites and devotees had the opportunity to pay their respects to the Lord in His room where He stayed on 4th April 1910.

  3. If you could please share the photographs of the same houses as they now appear, it would be great.

    Thanks anyway.

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