Imphal: The ongoing three-day exhibition titled “Temporalities and Notes from an Immersive Fieldwork”, organised by the Advanced Research Consortium Library & Archives (ARCLA) in Imphal, has attracted remarkable attention from scholars, students and art enthusiasts across the State.
The exhibition, inaugurated on February 1, 2026, at the ARCLA exhibition hall in Singjamei Beigyabati Leikai, features an extensive collection of visual art documenting Manipur’s cultural and historical landscape over several decades.
The rare archival photographs on display have offered visitors, especially younger generations, a clear glimpse into Manipur’s past.
Speaking to EastMojo on the last day of the exhibition, Ratika Yumnam, a member of ARCLA, said the exhibition presents a rich collection of photographs and research materials gathered over several decades of intensive fieldwork in Manipur by renowned scholar couple Dr Saroj Nalini Arambam and Prof John Parratt.
This rare collection of photographs and research materials was formally donated to ARCLA in June 2025 by Prof Parratt, just seven months before his passing on January 1, 2026.
Yumnam emphasised that some of the carefully selected photographs capture the essence of Manipur, particularly Imphal, during the 1960s and 1970s. Many of these images are representative of Lai Haraoba and serve as evidence of the in-depth ethnographic fieldwork conducted by the couple during their research.
Yumnam observed that, now preserved at the ARCLA Library & Archives, this collection not only safeguards visual histories but also invites renewed academic engagement with Manipur’s indigenous knowledge systems, religious traditions and lived cultural practices for future generations.
Altogether, the exhibition features 99 photographs highlighting various ethnic communities, one historical map, and 152 images of different Pakhangba symbols derived from the manuscript Paphal Lambuba.
One of the photographs on display depicted a Tangkhul Saba ritual of Lai Haraoba, emphasising the close ties between the valley and hill communities.
In his donation note, Prof Parratt wrote, “I have actually donated all the books and papers which my late wife, Dr Arambam Saroj Nalini, and I collected during our time in Manipur to the Royal Asiatic Society in London. What remains is an extensive collection of photographs. These are especially of the Lai Haraoba and of old Imphal. They go back to the 1970s. I am glad to have found a good home for the collection of photos.”
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