A mandi, mashkhanna ( ), or beth

manda Manda may refer to: Places * Kafr Manda, Arab town in the Lower Galilee * Manda Upazila, an upazila in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh * Manda, Kale, a village in Burma * Manda, Guinea, a town in the Labé Region * Manda, Jammu, India, a v ...

(''beit manda'', , 'house of knowledge'; also ''bimanda'') is a

Mandaean Mandaeans ( ar, المندائيون ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. ...

building that serves as a

community center Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole c ...

and

place of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

. A mandi is traditionally built on the banks of a

yardna In Mandaeism, a yardna ( myz, ࡉࡀࡓࡃࡍࡀ, lit=Jordan) or yardena ([]; ar, یردنا) is a body of flowing fresh water (or in myz, ࡌࡉࡀ ࡄࡉࡉࡀ, translit=mia hiia, lit=living water; pronounced ''mia h(a)yya'') that is suitab ...

, or flowing river. Although mandis are traditionally "cult-huts" made of straw, bamboo, and mud that are built by the river,Drower, E. S. 1960. ''The Secret Adam: A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. nowadays mandis can also be modern buildings that serve as community houses and local

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

s. A mandi typically holds weekly worship services, weddings, and many other important events and rituals.

In Iraq

A contemporary-style mandi is located in

Nasiriyah Nasiriyah ( ar, ٱلنَّاصِرِيَّة; BGN: ''An Nāşirīyah''; also spelled ''Nassiriya'' or ''Nasiriya'') is a city in Iraq. It is on the lower Euphrates, about south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. ...

, Iraq. The town of Liṭlaṭa in Qal'at Saleh District, southern Iraq was also the site of a

mandi that the British scholar E. S. Drower often visited. In Baghdad, the main mandi is called the Baghdad Sabian Mandi. It is located on the western banks of the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

River in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Qadisiyah. In addition to Baghdad and Nasiriyah, mandis can also be found in

Amarah Amarah ( ar, ٱلْعَمَارَة, al-ʿAmārah), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the ...

Kirkuk Kirkuk ( ar, كركوك, ku, کەرکووک, translit=Kerkûk, , tr, Kerkük) is a city in Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate, located north of Baghdad. The city is home to a diverse population of Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds ...

Erbil Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000. H ...

, and Diwaniyah.

In Iran

The main mandi of the Mandaean community in Iran is located in

Ahvaz Ahvaz ( fa, اهواز, Ahvâz ) is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province. Ahvaz's population is about 1,300,000 and its built-up area with the nearby town of Sheybani is home to 1,136,989 inhabitants. It is hom ...

. It is administered and maintained by the Mandaean Council of Ahvaz.

Outside Iraq and Iran

On 15 September 2018, the Beth Manda Yardna was consecrated in Dalby,

Skåne County Skåne County ( sv, Skåne län, link=no ), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the most southern county, or , of Sweden, basically corresponding to the traditional province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Krono ...

, Sweden. In Australia, the Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia purchased land by the banks of the

Nepean River Nepean River (Darug: Yandhai), is a major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River and its associated mouth, the Hawkesbury River, almost encircles the metropolitan region of ...

Wallacia, New South Wales Wallacia is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Formerly a rural village it is west of the Sydney GPO (General Post Office), in the local government areas of the City of Penrith, City of Liverpool and Wollondilly Sh ...

in order to build a mandi. The current mandi in Liverpool, Sydney is Ganzibra Dakhil Mandi, named after Ganzibra Dakhil Edan. Another mandi exists in

Prestons, New South Wales Prestons is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 37 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool. History Prestons was named after a local Irish f ...

named Mandi Yehya Youhanna. There is a mandi in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, USA that is run by the local Mandaean community. In

Nieuwegein Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital. It is separated from Vianen to the south by the river Lek and borders on IJsselstein in the ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, there is a mandi called ''Vereniging Mandi van de Mandeeërs Gemeenschap in Nederland'' (Mandi Association of the Mandaean Community in the Netherlands).

Essene parallels

The ''bit manda'' is described as ''biniana rab ḏ-srara'' ("the Great building of Truth") and ''bit tuslima'' ("house of Perfection") in

Mandaean texts This article contains a list of Mandaean texts (Mandaean religious texts written in Classical Mandaic). Well-known texts include the ''Ginza Rabba'' (also known as the ''Sidra Rabbā'') and the '' Qolastā''. Texts for Mandaean priests includ ...

such as the ''

Qolasta The Qolastā, Qulasta, or Qolusta ( myz, ࡒࡅࡋࡀࡎࡕࡀ; mid, Qōlutā, script=Latn) is the canonical prayer book of the Mandaeans, a Gnostic ethnoreligious group from Iraq and Iran. The Mandaic word ''qolastā'' means "collection". The p ...

'', ''

Ginza Rabba The Ginza Rabba ( myz, ࡂࡉࡍࡆࡀ ࡓࡁࡀ, translit=Ginzā Rbā, lit=Great Treasury), Ginza Rba, or Sidra Rabba ( myz, ࡎࡉࡃࡓࡀ ࡓࡁࡀ, translit=Sidrā Rbā, lit=Great Book), and formerly the Codex Nasaraeus, is the longest ...

'', and the ''

Mandaean Book of John The Mandaean Book of John ( Mandaic language ࡃࡓࡀࡔࡀ ࡖࡉࡀࡄࡉࡀ ') is a Mandaean holy book in Mandaic Aramaic which is believed by Mandeans to have been written by their prophet John the Baptist. The book contains accounts of ...

''. The only known literary parallels are in

Essene The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st ce ...

texts from

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...

such as the ''

Community Rule The Community Rule ( he, סרך היחד, ''Serekh haYahad''), which is designated 1QS and was previously referred to as the Manual of Discipline, is one of the first scrolls to be discovered near ''khirbet'' (ruin of) Qumran, the scrolls found in ...

'', which has similar phrases such as the "house of Perfection and Truth in Israel" (''Community Rule'' 1QS VIII 9) and "house of Truth in Israel."

References

External links