Alice Coltrane’s Sai Anantam Ashram—a Hindu community of worship that the late musician built in 1983—has burned down in the California wildfires. The property in the Santa Monica Mountains of Agoura was destroyed in the Woolsey Fire, according to Coltrane’s daughter Sita Michelle Coltrane. “She created a space for spiritual practice that sadly has been consumed by the devastating California fires,” Sita Michelle said in a statement on Facebook. “Most of all the structures have been burnt to the ground, thankfully there was no loss of life.” The ashram was closed in 2017.
“Sunday services were filled with music, chanting, meditation and my mother’s discourses,” Sita Michelle continued. “The years of service, teachings and dedication that the guru exhibited will be shared with my children and grandchildren. They will remember Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s legacy as it was always so much more than brick and mortar.” See the full statement below.
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In the 1970s, Coltrane devoted herself to Vedanta, one of the six schools of orthodox Hindu philosophy. Last year, a compilation of music recorded during Coltrane’s time as the Sai Anantam Ashram spiritual leader called The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda was released.
Read Pitchfork’s feature, “Transfiguration and Transcendence: The Music of Alice Coltrane.”
