MattPinto5 at 04:26, 23 November 2025

2025-11-23T04:26:43Z

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{{Short description|Manipuri scholar}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt
| image = Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt.jpg
| caption = Saroj N. Parratt
| birth_date = 2 June 1933
| death_date = 6 January 2009
| occupation = Theologian, Scholar, Translator
| period = 1980-2009
| subject = Religion, royalty, culture, etc. of Manipur
| notable_works = The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur,<br/>The Pleasing of Gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba,<br/>Queen Empress vs. Tikendrajit, the Anglo-Manipuri Conflict of 1891
| honorific_prefix = Dr
| native_name = ꯁꯔꯣꯖ ꯑꯔꯥꯝꯕꯝ
| native_name_lang = mni
| nationality = Indian
| language = English
| spouse = John Parratt
| relatives = Ibohal Arambam (father)
| education = [[University of Calcutta]], [[London University]], [[Australian National University]]
| birth_place = Meino Leirak, [[Imphal]], [[Manipur]]
| birth_name = Saroj Arambam
}}

'''Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt''' (2 June 1933-6 January 2009)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=PR EMA 20090128 |url=https://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=news_section.Press_Release.Press_Release_2009.PR_EMA_20090128 |access-date=2025-11-01 |website=e-pao.net}}</ref> was a founding Manipuri scholar, theologian, and translator. She became the first Manipuri woman to earn a [[Bachelor of Divinity|Bachelor of Divinity (BD)]] from the [[University of London]] in 1961.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Parratt |first=John |date=July 2009 |title=Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt (1933–2008) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/saroj-nalini-arambam-parratt-19332008/A547B7B882CB1E93E3C593D57764E162 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |language=en |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages= |doi=10.1017/S1356186309009882 |issn=1356-1863}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=CHANDRA |first=MADHU |date=2021-06-12 |title=Theological Scholars of Manipur Commemorate Saroj Nalini Arambam, First Theologian and First Woman BA, MA » Imphal Review of Arts and Politics |url=https://imphalreviews.in/theological-scholars-of-manipur-commemorate-saroj-nalini-arambam-first-theologian-and-first-woman-ba-ma/ |access-date=2025-11-01 |language=en-GB}}</ref> She is best known for her definitive three-volume English translation of the royal chronicle of Manipur, The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: the Cheitharon Kumpapa, published by [[Routledge]] in 2005, 2009, and 2012 respectively.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Papers of Saroj Nalini Arambam and John Parratt - Royal Asiatic Society |url=https://royalasiaticarchives.org/index.php/papers-of-saroj-nalini-arambam-and-john-parratt |access-date=2025-11-01 |website=royalasiaticarchives.org}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Saroj N. Arambam Parratt was born on 2 June 1933 at the Meino Leirak of [[Imphal]], [[Manipur (princely state)|princely state of Manipur]]. She attended the [[University of Calcutta]] where she became the first Meitei woman to earn both the BA and MA degree in philosophy.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt |url=https://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=features.Profile_of_Manipuri_Personalities.Saroj_Nalini_Arambam_Parratt |access-date=2025-11-01 |website=e-pao.net}}</ref>

== Conversion to Christianity ==
While studying in [[Calcutta]] ([[Kolkata]]), she formed close friends with Christian Naga students and embraced Christianity. She was baptised at the Lower Circular Road Baptist church, whose minister, Walter Corlett had himself served in Imphal during the war years.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

Despite never working as a missionary, she maintained spiritual ties with Meitei Christian communities. A witness to Imphal churches in 1989, she reportedly wept upon seeing new converts—signalling her emotional connection to the community.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

== Academic career ==
In the late 1950s, Saroj Nalini traveled to the UK to pursue a theological education. She later married John Parratt shortly after graduating from the [[University of London]] in 1961 with a Bachelor of Divinity.<ref name=":3" /> They chose to work in developing nations after becoming disillusioned with their desire to work in Manipur. Following that, Saroj Nalini went to Nigeria to teach philosophy at the University of [[Ile-Ife]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> Later, at the Australian National University, Nalini worked with renowned Indologist [[Arthur Llewellyn Basham]] to pursue a PhD,<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2EUUngEACAAJ |title=The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: 33-1763 CE |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-34430-2 |pages=i |language=en |quote=Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt is a Manipuri born in Imphal, Manipur. She obtained her doctorate from the Australian National University under the supervision of the renowned Indologist the late A.L.Basham. She has lectured at several universities in Africa and has been visiting professor at the University of Manipur......}}</ref> completing a thesis titled, ''The Religion of Manipur'' (published in 1980).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini |date=1974 |title=The religion of Manipur : beliefs, rituals, and historical development |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1885/11206 |journal=Open Research Repository of The Australian National University (ANU |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini |date=1982 |title=The Religion of Manipur. Beliefs, Rituals and Historical Development |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/PARTRO-13 |journal=Religious Studies |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=240–242}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allen |first=N. J. |author-link=Nicholas Allen (anthropologist) |date=1999 |title=South Asia - Saroj N. Arambam Parratt and John Parratt: The pleasing of the gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba. xvi, 200 pp. New Delhi: Vikas, 1997. Rs. 450. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0041977X00017973/type/journal_article |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |language=en |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=160–161 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00017973 |issn=0041-977X |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1972, she went back to Manipur to conduct fieldwork, and in the three years that followed, she finished her doctorate. Three years later, the doctorate was granted. One of Saroj's work examiners, Professor Suniti Kumar Chatterji, had a keen interest in Northeast India and assisted Saroj in getting her thesis published as a book by Firma KLM, Kolkata, in 1980.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" />

Saroj Nalini was a professor in several African nations, such as [[Malawi]] and [[Botswana]]. Her writings focused on Christian women in Botswana and Islam in Malawi. But her primary focus was still the Meetei, and she worked in the field for extended periods of time in Manipur.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> She made a good relationship with the [[University of Manipur]], and was appointed an honorary professor there in 2001.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Grafiati summary of BD and PhD |url=https://www.grafiati.com/en/literature-selections/church-and-state-india/journal/ |access-date=18 June 2025 |website=Grafiati}}</ref> She and John written a number of academic studies and research papers, including two books that they co-authored.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

Saroj Nalini’s two main books included ‘Queen Empress vs. Tikendrajit, the Anglo-Manipuri Conflict 1891’ and ‘The Pleasing of Gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba’ published by Vikas, [[New Delhi]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

== Literary and scholarly contributions ==
Saroj Nalini wanted to translate the [[Cheitharol Kumbaba]], the Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur, before departing Botswana in 2000. She had the chance to meet Meitei religious scholars when she visited Manipur. The Cheitharol Kumbaba, which was first composed in the [[Old Manipuri|Ancient Meitei language]], was available for her to pick up in photocopy. She quickly became proficient in the Ancient Meitei script.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

After receiving an honorary fellowship from the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University of Birmingham, she began the translation that would occupy the remainder of her life. The [[Royal Asiatic Society]] sponsored the publication of ''The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: the Cheitharol Kumpapa'', the first translation volume, which was published by Routledge in 2005.<ref name=":1" /> By then, Saroj had a terminal illness, and she completed the first draft of the second volume a week before she died. Saroj's work served as a guide for her husband, John Parratt, as he completed volumes two and three. The translated version of Cheitharol Kumbaba has greatly expanded the options available to future researchers.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

She died on 6 January 2009.<ref name=":0" />

== Legacy ==
Manipur's Christians have not acknowledged Saroj Nalini's contributions. Saroj Nalini, the first Christian theologian and woman of [[India]] to earn a BA and MA, will be a source of pride for Manipur's Christians as she translated the state's significant historical narrative.<ref name=":2" />

Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt's work with her husband for the Mongoloids has made her well-known in North-East India, but she is not yet well-known among Christians. There is no historical record of her participation in the Christian mission, in contrast to the state's Christian theologians.<ref name=":2" />

Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt gained a great deal of respect in northeastern India for her research and support of the unique identity of the Mongoloid peoples in the area in contrast to the subcontinent's Sanskritic tradition. The impact she has had on our comprehension of Meetei history and culture is likely unmatched.<ref name=":4" />

== Books ==

* {{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini Arambam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2EUUngEACAAJ |title=The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: 33-1763 CE |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415344302 |ref={{sfnref|Parratt, The Court Chronicle: Volume 1|2005}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini Arambam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xZja9ZnSuakC |title=The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: Volume 2, the Cheitharon Kumpapa |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9788175968547 |ref={{sfnref|Parratt, The Court Chronicle: Volume 2|2009}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMzlnAEACAAJ |title=The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: The Cheitharon Kumpapa Vol. 3, 1843-1892 Ce, Volume 3 |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Limited |isbn=9789382264996 |volume=3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini Arambam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COCBAAAAMAAJ |title=The Pleasing of the Gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba |date=1997 |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |isbn=978-81-259-0416-8 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini Arambam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WEQqAAAAYAAJ |title=The Religion of Manipur: Beliefs, Rituals, and Historical Development |date=1980 |publisher=Firma KLM |isbn=978-0-8364-0594-1 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini Arambam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rd_WMgEACAAJ |title=The History and Culture of Manipur |last2=Parratt |first2=John |date=2011 |publisher=Hayloft Pub. |isbn=978-1-904524-85-4 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Parratt |first=Saroj Nalini Arambam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mabGAAAACAAJ |title=Female Spirit-possession Rituals Among the Meiteis of Manipur |date=2002 |publisher=Religious Experience Research Centre, University of Wales |isbn=978-0-906165-43-0 |language=en}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian scholars]]
[[Category:Indian translators]]
[[Category:Indian theologians]]
[[Category:Meitei people]]
[[Category:Indian historians]]

Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt - Revision history

MattPinto5 at 04:26, 23 November 2025