Graham Basanti a.k.a. M. G. Basanti is a Silver jubilee

Woman priest The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordin ...

and the first''Four women ordained as pastors at Indian Lutheran Church - A dream come true in the service of the Church of India - Historical ordination of four women at Madhya Pradesh Lutheran Church'', 23.11.201

/ref> Ordination, Ordinand from the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church is a major Lutheran Christian denomination in India. It was established in 1882. At that time, the founder of The Schleswig Holstein Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society of Germany (SHELM) in Germany was Pastor ...

Society (JELC), headquartered in

Jeypore Jeypore is one of the largest towns and a place of historical significance in Koraput district in the Indian state of Odisha. It was established by Vir Vikram Dev in the mid 17th century. The kingdom was defeated by the East India Company in ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, India. She was in the forefront of JELC leadership, representing it at United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. Basanti has been a founding member'' Association of Theologically Trained Women in India Handbook'', 199

/ref> of

Association of Theologically Trained Women of India The Association of Theologically Trained Women of India (ATTWI) is an association of Indian women theologians which was constituted in 1979 in Chennai. It is an ecumenical organisation with more than 500 members. History In 1977, Shanti Solomon ...

(ATTWI), and was also elected to its Executive Committee for the bienniums 1979-1981 and 2002-2006. Basanti has also been associated with

National Council of Churches in India The National Council of Churches in India is an ecumenical forum for Protestant and Orthodox churches in India. History The Council was established in 1914 as the "National Missionary Council." In 1923, the Council constituted itself as the "Nat ...

.Premasis Satman (Edited), ''5Talents Magazine'', Issue 1, July 2012, p.

/ref> After completion of her spiritual formation in 1974, Basanti became a

Matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person ...

of the century-old all-girls' JELC-Boarding in

Kotpad Kotpad is a town and a notified area committee in Koraput district in the Indian state of Odisha. Nearest railway station to Kotpad is Kotpad Road station which is a part of East Coast railway. Kotpad is famous for Saree and Handloom products. K ...

. The boarding home was development-centric, which provided care for girls from interior areas. Basanti remained in its service for eighteen years until her ordination in 1992. She was then reassigned pastoral duties at Nowrangpur, until her retirement in 2009.

Early life and spiritual formation

Basanti's father used to serve in the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

. Basanti was born during his father's service in

Undivided Assam Undivided Assam refers to the then undivided greater state of Assam in India soon after the Independence of India, Indian Independence in 1947 until 1963. In addition to the present-day Assam, it included the current states of Arunachal Prades ...

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...

. After her scholastic studies in various schools across India, she discerned her avocation towards spirituality in the 1970s and became an Aspirante studying between 1970-1974 at a Spiritual Formation Centre, that is, Jensen Theological College,Otto Waack, Cynthia C. Lies, ''Church and Mission in India: The History of the Jeypore Church and the Breklum Mission (1876-1914)'' Volume I, Northelbian Centre for Worldmission and Church World Service by the Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Hamburg/New Delhi, 199

/ref>

, which was established on 10 April 1877. Notable faculty associated with the College included Spiritual Formators comprising the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

Scholar, Subhasito Snehomoyo Patro, Dr. Theol. (

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

), the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

Scholar, Kishore Chandra Patra Kosala, Dr. Theol. (Kiel), among others. Jensen Theological College,

was an affiliated seminary of the

Senate of Serampore College (University) The Senate of Serampore College (University) is located in Serampore in West Bengal, India. Serampore was granted the status of university in 1829, making it India's first institution to have the status of a university.Government of India, Mini ...

, India's firstSankar Ray in

Business Line ''Business Line'' or ''The Hindu Business Line'' is an Indian business newspaper published by Kasturi & Sons, the publishers of the newspaper ''The Hindu'' located in Chennai, India. The newspaper covers priority industry verticals, such as Agri ...

, 11 April 2008 ''Almost a century later, the charter was endorsed officially under the Bengal Govt Act IV of 1918. '' Internet, accessed 30 November 2008.

/ref> University founded by the

Baptist Missions Baptist Missions (BM) is a Baptist Mission (Christian), mission organisation and a department of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland (ABC). It is located in the Baptist Centre and is shared with ABC. The scope of their activities is in ...

led by

Joshua Marshman Joshua Marshman (20 April 1768 – 6 December 1837) was a British Christian missionary in Bengal, India. His mission involved social reforms and intellectual debates with educated Hindus such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Origins Joshua Marshman was b ...

, William Carey, and William Ward. During the University convocation held on 1 February 1975,''Convocation Brochure'', February 1, 1975 Serampore College, Serampore. at

Serampore College , founders = William Ward, William Carey, & Joshua Marshman , religious_affiliation = Baptist , rector = , location = 8, William Carey RoadSerampore – 712201West Bengal, India , established = , principal = Vansanglura Va ...

Serampore Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampor ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, the University listed out the name of Basanti among those graduates eligible to receive the degree of

Licentiate in Theology The Licentiate in Theology or (in Britain) Licence in Theology (LTh or, in Australia, ThL) is a non-degree qualification in theology awarded in Canada and previously awarded in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. A qualification simila ...

(L. Th.). Then Registrars included

Chetti Devasahayam Chetti Devasahayam (6 October 1913 – 28 February 1993) was the Registrar of the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) who was in office from 1960 through 1975.

, CBCNC and J. T. Krogh, NELC. On the convocation day, the Commemoration mass was conducted by the

Scholar, G. Babu Rao, CBCNC, then Faculty Member ''The Story of Serampore and its College'', Council of Serampore College, Serampore (Fourth Edition), 2005, p.92. of

at CNI-St. Olave's Church,

Retrospect

Ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...

in India had not been easy.

Male chauvinism Chauvinism is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. It can be described as a form of extreme patriotism ...

coupled with manifold reasons kept them away from getting ordained. In spite of it, Elizabeth Paul, CSI Order of Sisters could be ordained in 1976. Other noteworthy ordinations followed with that of Eggoni Pushpalalitha, CSI (1984), Marathakavalli David, CSI (1989), Rajula Annie Watson, CSI (1991), Mutyala Sarah Grace Lalitha Kumari, CBCNC (1992), Bathineni Venkata Subbamma, AELC (1999), Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar, ALC (2006), and many others down the line. Similarly, Navamani-Elia Peter, MCI provided leadership to the

Bible Society of India The Bible Society of India is a Christian body that is authorized to translate, produce, distribute and market the Bible and is a member of the United Bible Societies. The motto of the Society is to translate the word of God into languages, which ...

as its President. In 2015, when Basanti witnessed ordination of

Women priests The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...

Chhindwara , other_name = Corn city , nickname = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , p ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, she recollected her ministry in the Church and reminisced,

References

;Notes ;Further reading * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Basanti, Graham People from Odisha Living people 1950 births Senate of Serampore College (University) alumni Lutheranism in India Lutheran missionaries in India People from Koraput district 20th-century Indian Christian clergy Women Christian clergy 21st-century Indian Christian clergy