About Us

The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest filled the Auroville Plateau until the 1820s, when much of it was cut down in an attempt to decrease the tiger population. Up to the 1950s, the areas that remained were destroyed for timber to make boats. When Auroville was founded, the original Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest only survived in isolated patches, thanks to the phenomenon of sacred groves around Hindu temples.

The first Aurovilian settlers in 1968 onwards found the land dry and desolate; prior to 1973 only a few scattered palm trees were found in the area and the traditional dryland farming of peanuts and pulses had degraded the soil, leaving deep eroded gullies. In that year, restoration processes were set in motion using green manures to rebuild the soil. Live fences were created to protect the land from goats and cows, and pioneer species of acacia, leucaena, gliricidia, and eucalyptus were planted to provide windbreaks and shade. At the same time seeds and other plant materials were introduced from nearby remnant patches of the almost extinct Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest, and nurseries were set up – which have been an essential focus of the Pitchandikulam community ever since. In the same year the first well was dug at Pitchandikulam and a bullock cart was used to water the young trees.