Papers of Saroj Nalini Arambam and John Parratt

These papers were collated by Saroj Nalini Arambam and John Parratt in their research of the area of Manipur, India. They include original and copied manuscripts in Meetei Mayek and Bengali scripts, and offprints and copies of articles on Manipur.

Saroj Nalini Arambam was born in Imphal, Manipur, in 1933. She was the first Meetei woman to graduate and gain her Masters degree at Calcutta University. She moved to Britain in the late 1950s studying for a Bachelor of Divinity degree at the University of London. She graduated in 1961 and shortly after married John Parratt. She worked at the University of Ile-Ife, Nigeria, before undertaking a PhD on the Religion of Manipur, in the Department of Asian Studies, Australia National University, for which she undertook considerable field research. From 1975-1990 she taught in institutions in southern Africa while still continuing to undertake fieldwork on Manipur. With her husband, she co-authored books on Manipur and, also produced two volumes of the Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur, published by the Royal Asiatic society, the second volume being published posthumously.

John Parratt was born in England and obtained his doctorate from the University of London. He too taught in Southern Africa as well as Australia, India, Papua New Guinea and Britain. He was previously Professor of Third World Theologies at the University of Birmingham and is author of many books, some jointly with his wife.

The material was catalogued in series according to the papers original order.

Open. Please contact the archivist. Details can be found here. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

The Papers were donated to the Society by John Parratt in 2021. An additional small amount of material, including the original Meetei Mayek manuscript leaves, was donated in 2022.

This material was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2023.

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The papers were gathered by Saroj Nalini Arambam and John Parratt during their extensive research of Manipur.

The archives were donated as part of a larger collection of printed material, to be known as the on Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt Collection. The Society's collections also hold several books written by Saroj Nalini Arambam and John Parratt.