Nanteuil and Sri Smriti

One of the most beautiful houses in the Ashram is Nanteuil, a large, French colonial style house in a compound just opposite the Playground on Rue Saint Louis. Like many of the old Ashram houses it has a history richly packed with anecdotes and marked in the collective memory of the Ashram by the Mother's numerous visits. Nanteuil House was purchased on 8 February 1939 from M. Pierre Girod and Mme. Geneviève Marie Berchon de Fontaine Goubert Girod, the adopted daughter of Mme. Marie Adèle Berthe de la Barre de Nanteuil and wife of M. Pierre Girod. It seems that the name Nanteuil House dates from this period. Local legend has it that it was previously known as Raja Veedu because a princess used to live there.

Early Residents

After its purchase in 1939, it became the home of Margaret Wilson, the daughter of the American President Woodrow Wilson. In 1936 she had found a copy of Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita in the New York City Public Library and, inspired by what she had read, she wrote to Sri Aurobindo, communicating her desire to practise the Integral Yoga. Although she corresponded with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, it was not until October 1938 that she came to Pondicherry. On 5 November 1938 Sri Aurobindo gave her the name Nishtha, which meant "one-pointed, fixed and steady concentration, devotion and faith in the single aim, the Divine and the Divine Realisation". [Mother India, January 2000]

Nishtha settled into her life at the Ashram and her spacious apartment on the first floor of Nanteuil House. We know from Rishabhchand that she kept her rooms spotlessly clean and that "she loved gardening — this was a legacy from her mother — and took the management of the garden of her house into her own hands, but her failing health soon obliged her to give it up". [Mother India, February 2000] There are photographs of Nishtha in the company of Udar, Mona, and Gauri Pinto — and, of course, Ambu. Because World War II was going on at the time and Nishtha was from a prominent American family, the Mother was concerned for her safety and asked Ambu to choose a room in the house, stay there, and guard the outside staircase that led up to Nishtha's rooms. Ambu chose the east corner room on the ground floor and lived there until his death in 1993.

Ambu was a passionate collector. He acquired things for his collection using the "beg, borrow, buy, or bully" means to convince someone to part with an object he set his eyes on. Often he asked the Mother to give him an empty scent bottle which he added to his huge collection of jars and bottles! Once in a while, he offered to pay for a pretty thing which had been offered to the Mother and which

she occasionally sent to the Embroidery Department for sale. His collection of bronzes, glassware, wood carvings, puja articles, matchbox labels, cards, and souvenirs from various countries now form a part of the sadhaks' collection at Sri Smriti.

After Nishtha passed away in February 1944, the upstairs rooms lay vacant for several years except for a few months, when they were occupied by Ali Hyderi, son of Sir Akbar Hyderi, one-time Dewan of Hyderabad. Ali, his wife Alice, and their daughter Bilkis had come as visitors to the Ashram. In June 1950, Sanat and Chaundona Banerji came to live at Nanteuil. As Chaundona related, the Mother took them upstairs and showed them all the rooms, the verandah, and the terrace. She even pointed to the second-floor terrace and told them they could have a first-class view of Pondicherry from up there. Chaundona also reports that the Mother had used the empty flat to rehearse her drama Elle which was staged on 1 December 1949. [Mother India, July 1993]

The Mother at Nanteuil

The Mother visited Chaundona at the flat in Nanteuil on her birthday, which fell just three months after she and Sanat had joined the Ashram. Chaundona played her guitar for the Mother, who at once said that she should play for the next 1^s' December programme. The very next day the Mother came again to Nantueil and wrote something for Chaundona to play and Anu to dance, choosing the musical pieces to be played, and offering also many suggestions and advice for the performance. The two practised daily and the Mother would drop in sometimes to see how they were progressing. [Mother India, February 1984] In the February 1951 issue of the Bulletin, photographs of the performance appear along with the following text:

The Mother also visited other parts of Nanteuil, most famously the table tennis halls on the ground floor. The main house has a verandah with three large doors which open on to the garden. This verandah and the large hall next to it are both used for table tennis. Before the Ashram bought the house, these rooms were the scene for parties and dances! [Information culled from a project on Nanteuil by children of the Ashram School] Udar has recounted that the Mother used to visit various table tennis locations but she most often played at Nanteuil. When anyone played against the Mother, they tried to return the ball in such a way that she could hit it easily and well. This required considerable skill and control and was of great value in the players' training. One day during a table tennis match, the Mother explained to them that the game of table tennis was invented by the Chinese and was called "Ping Pong":

First a Mandarin on one side hit the ball as we do now but in such a way as to make it easy for the Mandarin on the other side to return it. This was Ping. The receiver then made a courtly bow and returned it the same way — Pong. Then the first one bowed and returned it and so on. A very courtly game indeed and quite in character with their high culture, and entirely different from the Western concept of the game where one is determined to defeat an opponent.

[Udar, 2009, p. 150]

We know from notations in Champaklal's and the Mother's diaries that she went to Nanteuil for table tennis matches on 19 and 22 June and on 18 July 1947. On 25 July she seems to have played a game against the Pondicherry Governor, Monsieur Baron, and his wife.

We also learn that the Mother sometimes gave interviews to people, like the Governor of Pondicherry, in the garden at Nanteuil. She chose to sit either under the Psychological Perfection [champa] tree or the Pipal tree that was located in the north-west comer of the garden. Comfortable chairs and a low table with a flower vase were arranged for the interview. [School Project on Nanteuil]

The Mother visited sadhaks who lived at Nanteuil. Gangadhar, who joined the Ashram in 1933, related how the Mother once visited his room at Nanteuil. He was staying in a tiny room, actually a sort of broom closet or storeroom, off a narrow passage in the southern part of the house. The passage was so narrow that if he opened his door, it was nearly blocked. The Mother, Pavitra, and Chinmayee went through this passage on their way to visit a sadhika, whose birthday it was. Gangadhar had prepared his room, keeping a light and some incense burning behind the closed door. When told that Gangadhar lived there, the Mother looked into his room, commented that it was very small and asked how he could stay there. When he told her he quite liked the room and that there was no difficulty in staying there, the Mother gave him her blessings and left. She apparently said that he was one of those rare sadhaks who never gave her any problem! [The Golden Chain, November 2002 and August 2003]

From Past to Present

Nanteuil has been home to several other sadhaks over the years. In one corner of the compound there was an outhouse, a type of storeroom used by the furniture department. It had formerly been the servants' quarters when Prince Ali lived at Nanteuil. This room was given to Dr. Satyendra, who was one of Sri Aurobindo's attendants after the accident in 1938. Later Taraben got this room. Bibha used to live on the ground floor of the big house, but when the house required major repairs, she had to move out. She was later given a room in the outhouse, and when the Mother decided to have a room built on the terrace of the outhouse, Bibha moved upstairs. Kala had for a time occupied Bibha's old room in the big house. In 1944, at the age of twenty and after completing her B.A., Priti joined the Ashram. She was given the ground floor to the right side of the entrance. Her brother Manoj and her sister Arati moved to Nanteuil in 1951, and in 1956 the Mother visited their rooms. Later on, in 1962, the Mother asked that a separate room be constructed above the ground-floor kitchen for Priti's sister Tapati. Other rooms at Nanteuil are currently occupied by Sushila, Moon, and Ravi.

Also at Nanteuil was a garage where the Mother's Plymouth car used to be parked. It was converted into an office for The Golden Chain Fraternity, the alumni association for ex-students of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE). Its entrance is on the Rue de la Compagnie. This association started in 2003 and maintains contacts with ex-students. Its name is taken from a talk which Nolini-da gave to the final-year students of the Higher Course in October 1976:

Mother said many times: "Whoever gets my touch, whoever has a second of true aspiration, true love for me, he is finished for life, for all lives — he is bound to me. I have put a golden chain round his neck, his heart is bound eternally to me."

It is a thing nobody can see, you yourselves don't see; but it is a fact, it is there. The golden chain is there within your heart. Wherever you go, you drag that chain, it is a lengthening chain. However far you may go, it is an elastic chain, it goes on lengthening, but never snaps. In hours of difficulty, in hours of doubt and confusion in your life, you have that within you to support you. If you are conscious of it, so much the better; if you are not conscious, believe that it is there. The Mother's Love, Her Presence is there always.

The Golden Chain also brings out a magazine under the same name which is sent to all former students who care to receive it. The office has now been shifted to another building a little further to the south.

As one enters Nanteuil, one notices the statue of Athene which stands almost like a sentry at the entrance to the compound. Athene was the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, who was born fully armed from the head of her father Zeus. The statue was specially made out of clay for a 1" December presentation of Sri Aurobindo's poem llion. When the programme was over, it was put away. Later it was fired in the kiln used by the students in the the clay modelling class. Now it stands under the shade of a small sandalwood tree at Nanteuil.

Many Ashramites have happy memories of time spent at Nanteuil. Some remember the Mother playing table tennis, others recall her daily visits for drama practice. Yet others remember climbing the trees to steal the mangoes! Gauri Pinto has lovingly preserved some of her childhood memories in pictures which show her running through the garden at Nanteuil and posing with her parents, Ambu, and Nishtha. Yes, Nanteuil truly is a place with many memories.

Sri Smriti: the Mother's Museum at Nanteuil

The idea of having a museum in the Ashram, housing the beautiful collection of the Mother, had come up several times. When the Mother went to open the Sri Aurobindo Library in 1954, she walked through all the rooms. On reaching the terrace, she looked around and said that if she had another large and beautiful building nearby, she could keep all her beautiful things in it.

In 1989 the first floor at Nanteuil fell vacant. Dyuman, one of the Trustees of the Ashram, remembered the Mother's wish. It was decided to use this place for the Mother's museum and it was called Sri Smriti, "in memory of the highest".

As soon as the decision for starting the Mother's museum was taken, Champaklal, who had lovingly and meticulously guarded many articles used by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, and Dyuman, who was in charge of the Mother's stores and the safe-keeping of the Ashram's treasures, started giving articles to Sri Smriti, at the same time passing along the history of many of these pieces.

Jayantilal and Krishnalal were responsible overall and they guided Vasudev and me regarding how to set up the museum and conserve and preserve the collection. Old furniture was dug out from the stores; curtains were made to block out direct light; broken pieces were put together with care; and generally a lot of cleaning was necessary to give the displayed items a presentable, neat look. Much effort went into learning the correct methods of conservation and preservation, mostly from books but also from an intuitive guidance. Each article required its own specialised method, even for basic cleaning.

Sometimes there were surprises during the work. While cleaning a large Japanese lacquer box, we noticed a nice patch of colour. The box's lid was completely covered with a thick layer of dust that had settled there over the years. As it was slowly cleaned by hand with wet, soft muslin cloth, the layers of dust were removed, and inch by inch the design on the lid was revealed. Gold, silver, copper, brass and mother-of-pearl made up a unique embossed dragon motif adorning the cover! This was just one example of the many surprises that awaited us.

Regarding the collection, the furniture used previously by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo was primarily given from the Ashram stores. As readers of Champaklal's books will know, he saved everything used or touched by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. So from a tiny rose thorn to paper cuttings to pens, dusters, dhotis, signed photos, combs, pins, blotters, dishes — all these and many other personal and gifted items were given by him to Sri Smriti. He was very relieved and happy that the things which he had lovingly kept were at last being housed properly and with care. Most of the articles he gave had written notes with them and other history he provided whenever we asked him for details.

There are many interesting stories around the collection at Sri Smriti. One such story begins with the arrival of a small bookcase used by Sri Aurobindo. We wondered what to put inside the case and requested the Archives and Research Library for some autographed books. Space on the shelves then got filled with pens, blotters, and paperweights used by Sri Aurobindo. When the typewriter used by him while writing for the Arya was received, a search for copies of the Arya began. At last all seven bound volumes of the Arya were given by Champaklal directly from Sri Aurobindo's room!

Another story involves a low-seat, high-back chair that has a unique history. Purani had a chair that had been used by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj. He brought this chair with him when he came to stay in Pondicherry and offered it to Sri Aurobindo, who used it for a while, until 1926-27. After the Mother was given the charge of the Ashram, she used to sit on this chair, which was placed in the Meditation Hall where the large painting of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother now hangs, and meditate with some of the disciples, who had their fixed places on either side of the chair. Jayantilal remembered that Krishnalal had done a painting of this chair depicting its arrangement for the Mother's meditation darshan, and now Sri Smriti houses both the chair and the painting.

Some other precious articles that led us to find out their histories include a lotus-shaped footstool made for the Mother's 80^th birthday. We then located and received the extra long knife specially made at Harpagon Workshop for cutting the huge cake prepared for that day and a large number of photographs of the Mother taken as part of the celebrations. Similarly, the arrival of Sri Aurobindo's typewriter led us to acquire copies of some sheets actually typed by him. And when we received Sri Aurobindo's bed, we began a search for one of the mattresses used by him. Champaklal not only gave us the mattress but also provided a pillow, pillow slips, and a bedcover — everything bearing the touch of Sri Aurobindo's body.

The Working of Sri Smriti

Sri Smriti has not only gathered, housed, and displayed various articles but has also collected important Ashram history through its acquisitions. As soon as we receive an item, we give it an acquisition number. Then we record it in our catalogue with such details as the date, from whom it was acquired, a physical description and its current condition, plus whatever history is available. At times some visitors give us extra details regarding a particular item. We try to confirm the authenticity and add the information to the catalogue. We also photograph each item as we receive it. Often we take a photograph to capture the condition 'as is' and then take more photographs subsequent to cleaning and repairing. All these details become part of the catalogue and preservation records.

Next comes the cleaning, and the repairing if it is required. The item is then placed for display or stored appropriately. Practically the whole collection gets a thorough cleaning and airing once a year. Many conservation experts who have visited Sri Smriti are surprised that it is generally free from cockroaches, silver fish, and other insects so harmful to any museum collection. The reason is a general cleanliness and the personal attention of the Ashramites who do their work with care, love, and a sense of beauty as emphasised by the Mother in our everyday life.

Once in a while we have helped outside centres by repairing and conserving personal articles of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo that are in their possession. We provide them with all the details of the work we have done and suggestions for future preservation. Some individuals, residing either in the Ashram or elsewhere, offer the precious gifts which they have received from the Mother for safe-keeping and preservation at Sri Smriti. In this way, Sri Smriti serves as a place where people feel comfortable in giving their dearest possessions.

Visitors to Sri Smriti pass through its four rooms, delighting in the many treasures on view. There are clothes worn by the Mother, including some beautiful saris embroidered by sadhikas, stationery, books, and some items given to her by her father, her grandmother, her friends, and sadhaks. There are rare and historic articles like a pen given to her by Sri Aurobindo and a typewriter presented to her in Japan by the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Sri Aurobindo's articles include furniture used by him before 1946; pens, paperweights, blotters, and an ancient typewriter that he used when writing for the Arya; his dhotis, chaddars, towels, and napkins; and a metal trunk with which he came to Pondicherry from Calcutta in 1910. One room contains the Mother's Japanese collection, which has some rare objects which the Mother had brought with her from Japan in 1920. Many of these — lacquer, ceramic, and bamboo objects — are unusual pieces of Japanese art. This collection also has rare dolls, fine stationery, exquisite chinaware, and lacquer pieces offered to her by her friends and devotees.

Also on display are articles offered to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo by sadhaks as well as devotees from outside. Those offered by Ashramites are generally crafted, painted, or embroidered by hand. Many of these use recycled material. Artefacts offered by devotees are mostly beautiful objects of art as well as lovingly presented personal gifts.

House for Mementos

In Champaklal Speaks there is a charming story that perhaps foretells the origin of Sri Smriti. Champaklal relates an incident from 1923, when he had just begun his work with the Mother. She had lit a candle in order to seal a letter she had written, and kept the matchstick to one side while using the wax. When she was done, she gave him the matchstick to throw away. He asked if he could keep it. Here is the Mother's answer as Champaklal recorded it:

Mother looked at me and smiled. Affectionately she said: “You can, surely. But you see, you will require a whole house to keep things like this.” Again she smiled. Then she placed the match- stick in my palm, pressing it gently.

A few years ago, when Champaklal's cupboards were being cleaned out, several large glass jars were found. They contained used matchsticks and the ashes from mosquito coils that had been lit in Sri Aurobindo's rooms and then lovingly collected and saved by Champaklal. These mementos were given to Sri Smriti and are a reminder of how we must care for and protect our precious heritage received from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

SUNANDA PODDAR