The Political Evolution of Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga in Postcolonial India

Since 2021, Auroville, an international township project in Tamil Nadu, South India founded by Mirra Alfassa–the French spiritual companion of Sri Aurobindo–has been taken over by the Indian government. While Alfassa's Charter for Auroville aimed to transcend national and religious identities, under current management its new partnerships and projects actively promote Hindu nationalism and nation-building. This paper examines how Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga—which contained both universalist claims and elements that specifically privileged Hindu frameworks—has been selectively appropriated by the Indian state, which draws primarily upon his earlier freedom fighter writings while ignoring his later anti-statist positions. Through ethnographic fieldwork begun in 2022, the paper analyzes how Auroville residents and newly invited Integral Yoga practitioners navigate the benefits and constraints of increasing state control, demonstrating how yoga traditions claiming apolitical stances negotiate the fine line between valorisation of their traditions and political co-optation. The Auroville case thus provides a lens for understanding the broader politicization of yoga movements in contemporary India and their role in global Hindu nationalist networks.