Beatles Ashram, Rishikesh- A Vision

A quietus place with memories of The Beatles spread in the forest with century old trees and the mystical river Ganga flowing behind in her most beautiful shade of green; people meditating in one corner, other reading, walking and enjoying a cup of chai amidst the musical vibe the place happens to inherit from the past.

Heaven, right? That was my visual of The Beatles Ashram as I walked towards the place, parallel to the Ganga. I didn’t read anything about the historical place- just that it is amongst the top ten places to visit in Rishikesh by tripadvisor.

However, my bubble burst completely as I reached the ashram to see worn out three elongated domed(similar to egg shaped shikhar) entrance cladded with river stones having moss and mud glued on them. There is an entrance fee to the ashram which built my hope thinking they must have maintained the area inside; hence, I walked in. The path went uphill with ‘kutias’- meditating shrines with stone cladded elongated dome’ on the right- again downtrodden. The ashram has gigantic trees with pathways carved to reach multiple parts of the ashram- ‘kutias’, dormitory, kitchen, meditation hall, gallery and a small canteen with toilet facilities.

 

Photograph taken while exiting the ashram. The 'kutias'-  egg domed meditating shrines cladded with stoned from river bed.

The dormitory where the people who came to learn Transcendental Meditation stayed; the structure has meditation shrines on the terrace.

The gallery and the canteen were the only parts which happened to be “maintained”, however not to its full capacity. The dormitory- 4 storey structure with arched entrance and facade, was the stay offered to people who came to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to learn Transcendental Meditation when the ashram was in its prime. You can climb up the stairs to find few more meditation kutias having spectacular backdrop of the Himalayan range around Rishikesh. Few efforts have been made to keep ‘The Beatle’ lore alive by involving artists to paint the graffiti in the sweet memory and recognition- but hey, that's not enough!

One of the meditation shrine on the terrace of Dormitory.

A graphic by artist Miles Toland on the entrance wall of meditation hall

A graphic in the meditation hall dedicated to 'The Beatles'

A graphic in the meditation hall dedicated to 'The Beatles' & Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

As an architect and explorer, it ached to see how a place of such significance with its unique style of architecture has crumbled due to lack of management and authority to revive it as the land falls under the Rajaji National Park governed by forest department of India prohibiting any permanent activity. We visualise and spend so much energy to develop green field projects but we fail to recognise the potential the brown field land can offer. A simple adaptive reuse of the ashram and rejuvenating the landscape can not only help to retain the identity but also enhance the value of this holy town- sentimental and heritage, thus increasing tourism.