The ashram where the Beatles wrote the 'White Album' is now forest

 By 
Elizabeth Pierson
 on 
The ashram where the Beatles wrote the 'White Album' is now forest
Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In 1968, the Beatles made an unforgettable journey to India, where for six weeks they meditated and created career-defining music. In the hills outside of the holy city of Rishikesh, in an ashram run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the boys wrote nearly 50 songs that made up the White Album and influenced future records.

George Harrison led the group there, fascinated by Indian culture and spirituality, and the traditional Indian music shaped the Beatles' songs and style.

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The serene ashram was the home to the Maharishi's advanced Transcendental Meditation training sessions, which were believed to help open the mind.

Though the retreat location was once filled by people from around the world, it has now become a part of a national park, overgrown and filled with elephants, tigers and monkeys. Beatles super fans still make pilgrimages to this important place, to see where the band made music and leave graffiti as tribute.

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Additional reporting by Corbis Images

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