Cosmic numbers within Auroville's Matri Mandir showcased

Matri Mahal, the spiritual town of Auroville was meant to encapsulate 'the vision' of the town's founder, the Mother, but the structure that eventually came up distorted the original architectural measurements, says a researcher.
An exhibition, 'The Futuristic Realisation' has brought forth the knowledge content of the Mother's original vision and plan for the Matri Mandir, which she saw in 1970, to the public for the first time in 44 years.
"The temple displays the vision of the Mother which never got built, fortunately we have recorded conversation about her vision, her plan and I'm carrying forward her legacy," says Patricia Norelli-Bachelet, Director of Tamil Nadu-based Aeon Centre of Cosmology who has brought the exhibtion here.

The four-day exhibition that began here today at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts focuses on the geometry of the temple, which is an assortment of sacred measurements.
The 100 exhibits set up in three concentric circles at IGNCA highlight three strands of knowledge to understand the temple measurements - its numbers, geometry and architecture.
"Since it (the temple) never got built, the issue was what to do with all of this- to release them or what do I do? So, I started writing books about it. Books are studious but the public? It's not that they walk in and see the temple. So, exhibition works wonderfully because we are interested in the knowledge content. What I'm preserving and presenting to the public is - the vision's power and knowledge," says Norelli-Bachelet.

The Maitri Mandir, envisioned by Mirra Alfassa or the Mother, one of the most dedicated disciples of Sri Aurobindo. as a place where human beings could realise humanity, without giving any importance to issues like religion, caste or sex.

The 43-year old temple has a special structure that consists of a golden sphere right in the middle of the temple, with the entire complex resembling the shape of a blossoming lotus.
Norelli-Bachelet says she has been studying the Mother's original plans for the temple for decades.
The exhibition blends blueprints of the original temple plan interspersed with visual interpretation drawn from teachings of Aurobindo and the Mother for the various temple patterns and its original measurements.

Describing the relation of the present Matri Mandir to the original vision as a relation of shadow and light, Norelli-Bachelet says, "The vision which got built, they are connected in the way that this is a shadow of the actual. This one has no knowledge, it comes from the architects ego."
"The Matri Mandir was her attempt to translate what she saw in the occult plane into the measures of our physical world" she says.