The formative years

The year was 1990. Near the lapping back waters of Arabian sea in the lush green deep south, a small group of people had gathered together for a simple ceremony. The people, the ceremony, and the ambience was marked by an aura of simplicity and hard work. Their purpose? Simply to start an Institute for computer training. The corner stone was laid. And a movement had begun.

Five years later, three hundred miles to the north east of this village, in a picturesque valley nestling the foot hills of Western ghats, where wind still rustled the elephant grass, preparations began for starting twin colleges of engineering and management. In the same year near the port city of Cochin where for centuries Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and Indians have traded spices and gold, foundation stone was laid for a hospital of excellence with multiple super specialties and a strong research thrust. The year, then, was 1995. It would be another five years before Amrita Research Labs would be born in the same coastal village where a decade back the Institute for computer training had begun. The Institute was, by then, one of the foremost colleges in Computer Science in the state.

What manner of people were these, who ventured into such pioneering efforts to bring higher learning out from the cloisters of urban academes? What was their inspiration that they cut the thorn brush and grass for clearing the building sites, with the same hands that wrote management documents and technical drafts?

The Inspiration

"I feel it’s a great honour to share a platform with a woman who is so remarkable, and who is the very embodiment of goodness... She believes that God does not discriminate between the sexes, and I believe that She stands here in front of us, God’s love in a human body.” Dr. Jane Goodall's addressed the packed audience at United Nations General Assembly hall in Geneva.

She was introducing the unassuming lady who was standing next to her, who was being awarded the 2002 Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence in recognition of her lifelong work in furthering the principles of non-violence. The unassuming lady who was standing beside Dr. Goodall was the source of inspiration and guidance for countless people working together world over, across the confines of nationality, ethnicity, and religion, for bettering the conditions of human society. Through Her extraordinary acts of love and self sacrifice, Mata Amritanandamyi Devi or 'Amma' to those who know Her, has endeared Herself to millions across the world and inspired them with the universal ideals of love and service.

Even at a very young age, it was clear that Amma was a special child. She was very creative and, by five years old, was composing beautiful devotional songs to Lord Krishna. According to Amma's teachers, She was the brightest girl in Her class and never failed to flawlessly master textbook lessons. However, when Amma was only in the fourth standard Her mother became ill. She left school to take care of all the household chores. From then on, it was Amma who made sure all Her brothers and sisters made it to school and that they had properly completed their lessons.

Today Amma has established a vast network of educational institutions. These temples of learning impart the most modern streams of education with a view of moulding cultured individuals who will be exemplars of the moral and ethical values.

The University and Research Labs

Amma set up Her first educational facility in 1987—the Amrita Vidyalayam (primary school) in Kodungallur, Kerala. Since then, Mata Amritanandamayi Math, the international charity organization started by Amma, has established more than 60 education facilities throughout India, including colleges of engineering, medicine, and management, computer institutes, vocational training centres, community colleges; all of them imparting top-quality value-based education.

The crown jewel of the Math's education programme was firmly placed in 2003, when the Government of India conferred Deemed-to-be-University status upon the Amrita Institute of Technology and Science (AITEC), the Amrita Institute of Management (AIM) and the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS). Now known as Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), these institutions are setting the standard for modern education where holistic development of the individual is stressed along with the development of intellectual acumen and gaining technical skills.

In the fall of 2000, Amrita Research Labs took shape from the crucible of Amrita educational institutions where creativity and hard work was in no short supply, and slowly emerged as a full-fledged research facility with a multitude of R&D activities in core areas of computing and communication. From the outset focus was on developing real-world technologies. Multi-disciplinary teams and cross-displinary activities were consciously encouraged.

The ARL team works in a unique environment that is the confluence of creative talent, rigorous scientific temperament, and the vibrant ambience of our parent organization engaged in multitude of charitable activities aimed at uplifting the life and spirit of common person. Every ARL member nurtures the vision that he or she would be able to continually make contributions to technologies that would positively impact the global society and result in a better world for all of us to live in.

visit http://amritapuri.amrita.edu