THE GANDHIGRAM RURAL INSTITUTE

THE GANDHIGRAM RURAL INSTITUTE

Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI), founded by two dedicated disciples and contemporaries of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. G. Ramachandran and Dr. T.S. Soundaram RamachandranIt earned the status of Deemed University in 1976. The red, green and blue colour stadium shaped emblem of GRI has a number of motifs ensconced in a border with red border lines. Inside the border line it has further been divided into five rectangles with one in the centre and other four on each of its four sides. The central box has an open book ensconced by a nine petalled lotus surrounded by a circular border of two lines. The boxes above and below this rectangle have ‘kolam’ patterns and the boxes on the left and the right each have two sets of concentric connected squares. The spaces in the corners have a caduceus, the staff of Hermes staff entwined with a snake, a plough, a charkha and a traditional lamp. The border around these has the name of the university written in green with Tamil and English. An open book denotes knowledge and wisdom; the lotus denotes purity, enlightenment, rebirth, transformation, personal growth, resilience, overcoming obstacles and divine beauty and the staff of Hermes, the plough, the charkha and the traditional lamp represent the domains of knowledge the university imparts and contributes. The emblem looks more like a friendly and casually scripted sketch than a formal emblem of a university, thereby making it more rooted and locale.