The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur, The Pleasing of Gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba, Queen Empress vs. Tikendrajit, the Anglo-Manipuri Conflict of 1891
Spouse
John Parratt
Relatives
Ibohal Arambam (father)
Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt (2 June 1933-6 January 2009)[1] was a founding Manipuri scholar, theologian, and translator. She became the first Manipuri woman to earn a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) from the University of London in 1961.[2][3] 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.[2][4]
Saroj N. Arambam Parratt was born on 2 June 1933 at the Meino Leirak of Imphal, 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.[3][5]
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.[3][5]
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.[3][5]
Academic Career
Saroj N. Arambam Parratt went to the United Kingdom in the late 1950s to study theology. She then earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of London in 1961, and married John Parratt shortly after.[4] When their desire to work in Manipur was frustated, they decided to work in the developing countries. Saroj Nalini then travelled to Nigeria and taught philosophy at the University Of Ile-Ife.[3][5] Nalini later pursued a PhD under renowned Indologist Arthur Llewellyn Basham at the Australian National University,[6] completing a thesis titled, The Religion of Manipur (published in 1980).[7][8][9] She then returned to Manipur in 1972 for field research and she completed her doctorate within the following three years. The doctorate was awarded 3 years later. Professor Suniti Kumar Chatterji, one of Saroj’s examiner of the work, was interested in North East India and helped Saroj to publish her thesis as a book by Firma KLM, Kolkata in 1980.[3][5][2]
Saroj Nalini taught in many African countries, including the universities of Malawi and Botswana. She wrote many articles on Islam in Malawi, and Christian women in Botsana. Her main research however remained the Meetei, and she spent lengthy periods on field work in Manipur.[3][5][2] She developed a close relationship with the University of Manipur, and was appointed an honorary professor there in 2001.[6][10] She, along with John, wrote various research papers and academic researches, which were two books jointly authored with her husband.[3][5]
Saroj Nalini’s two main books are ‘Queen Empress vs. Tikendrajit, the Anglo-Manipuri Conflict 1891’ and ‘The Pleasing of Gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba’ published by Vikas, New Delhi.[3][5]
Literary and scholarly contributions
Before leaving Botswana in 2000, Saroj Nalini had the desire to translate the Cheitharol Kumbaba, the Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur. She came to Manipur and had the opportunity to meet the scholars of the Meitei religion. She could collect a photocopy of the Cheitharol Kumbaba, which was originally written in the ancient Meitei language. She mastered the ancient Meitei script very quickly.[3][5]
After being made an honorary fellow of the University of Birmingham's Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing, she started the translation that would take up the rest of her life. Following the completion of the first translation volume, The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: the Cheitharol Kumpapa was sponsored by the Royal Asiatic Society and released by Routledge in 2005.[2] Saroj was suffering from a terminal illness by that time, and a week before she died, she finished the first draft of the second volume (up to 1891). Her husband, John Parratt later finished volumes two and three using Saroj's work as a guide. Future researchers now have a lot more options thanks to the translated version of Cheitharol Kumbaba.[3][5]
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.[3]
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.[3]
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.[5]
1 2 Parratt, Saroj Nalini (2005). The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: 33-1763 CE. Routledge. pp.i. ISBN978-0-415-34430-2. 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......
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