I am in India, in Rishikesh, on a journey where the rhythm of each day is marked by the practice of yoga and meditation. One afternoon our teacher and guide tells us there will be a surprise. And so, after a tuk tuk ride to reach the Indian side of Rishikesh — as opposed to the more Westernized side shaped by yoga tourism — and after an adventurous walk along the east bank of the Ganges, through the crowd, the street food stalls, and my own attempts to capture a few glimpses without losing sight of the group, I find myself at the entrance of a… something.
It is the Beatles Ashram. Apparently this is the site of an ashram where the Beatles, in 1968, withdrew to practise transcendental meditation. A real surprise. None of us knew of its existence, still less that it was right here in Rishikesh. After queuing for tickets, we enter what seems to be a nature reserve, a kind of woodland… There are also abandoned structures of different sizes and architectural styles, scattered here and there. I am immediately struck by some round buildings with pebble domes that, with a little imagination, call to mind our own trulli… I cannot resist going inside them, while part of the group is already heading elsewhere.
Inside, I am greeted by walls with sizeable cracks, but also by writings and vividly coloured murals, almost a little psychedelic. I have always been fascinated by abandoned, decaying places with bohemian details that tell a story, as if one could still sense something of those who once lived there… I already know I love this place. I step out of the “trulli” and venture into the reserve, admiring the buildings scattered here and there, each with its murals, some with mystical symbols, others depicting little birds, Indian women, musicians… It must be a place abandoned long ago; it seems that nature has, in a way, taken possession of the buildings, and these in turn — with their walls gone grey and attacked by lichen, their openings without frames, their doors half open — seem to have become an integral part of it.
We enter what seems to be a large hall. This was probably where meetings or concerts were held. On one wall there are enormous portraits of the Beatles, and a kind of stage with what looks to me like a black plaque bearing the words “Beatles Ashram.” Beneath a window, the giant inscription “All you need is love.” We all stare at it — perhaps because of the peculiar light falling on that wall, or perhaps because it is a phrase so simple and yet so true. We keep wandering through the woods, each time discovering new glimpses, tunnels, murals, crumbling buildings. At last we come to an enormous building, at least six or seven storeys high. On the terrace there are domes. Its grandeur clashes somewhat with the rest of the buildings. Once inside, the light and shadows of the sunset coming through the crenellated windows create striking plays of light. At the top, on the terrace — strictly without any railing — the view of the woods from above is spectacular.
Soon it will be dark, so unfortunately we have to leave this place where I could have stayed for days. I depart carrying with me a sense of gratitude for this experience of a somewhat magical place, where time seems to have stopped and every corner holds stories and secrets of another era, whose welcoming, dreamlike energy can still be felt despite the passing of time.
The Beatles Ashram at Rishikesh
On the eastern bank of the Ganges, at the edge of Rajaji National Park, lie the remains of Chaurasi Kutia, the former ashram founded in 1963 by the founder of transcendental meditation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and known throughout the world as the Beatles Ashram.
The complex spans an area of about fourteen acres leased from the Forest Department of what was then the state of Uttar Pradesh. This ashram was organized around a series of buildings with different purposes, including a large Satsang Hall for lectures, residential quarters, a printing press, and an observatory. To these was added a cluster of eighty four small dome shaped stone cells, scattered among the trees and connected by paths, from which the complex takes its name. Chaurasi Kutia, in Hindi, means precisely “eighty four huts.”
In the Hindu tradition, the number eighty four refers to the 8.4 million living species through which, according to the doctrine of transmigration, the soul is said to pass before reaching human form, and for this reason it is associated with an idea of totality and of the completion of one’s cycle.
In February 1968, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr arrived here to study transcendental meditation with the Maharishi. They stayed for several weeks, and during that time they composed some forty songs, including Blackbird, Back in the U.S.S.R., Dear Prudence, Sexy Sadie, and Revolution.
In 1981 the lease expired and the ashram’s activity came to an end. For over twenty years the complex remained abandoned. In 2003 the area was incorporated into Rajaji National Park, today the Rajaji Tiger Reserve, and the Forest Department closed its gates without, however, intervening on the buildings, which were left at the mercy of time. The site was finally reopened officially to the public in 2015.
The murals seen today on the walls of many buildings do not, however, date back to the Beatles era but are the work of Canadian street artist Pan Trinity Das, who in 2012 began working clandestinely in the old Satsang Hall, transforming it into what he called the Beatles Cathedral Gallery. After being removed, Das returned in 2016 with official authorization from the Forest Department and launched the Beatles Ashram Mural Project, involving other artists as well. The pop portraits of the four musicians, the mantras, the figures of sadhus, the women, the birds, and the mandalas that cover the walls are the result of this collective work.
