Šarḥ ḏ-Zihrun-Raza-Kasia

The ''Šarḥ ḏ-Zihrun Raza Kasia'' (; "The Scroll of Zihrun, the Hidden Mystery") is a Mandaean religious text that describes rituals such as the masbuta, masiqta, and other related topics. It is an illustrated scroll.

Zihrun (referred to as Zihrun Raza Kasia or "Zihrun the Hidden Mystery" in full) is the name of an uthra.

The phrase ''Zihrun Raza Kasia'' is also mentioned in the Mandaean prayer ''Asut Malkia''.

Manuscripts and translations

An illustrated scroll was purchased by E. S. Drower from Shaikh Yahia at Qal'at Saleh, southern Iraq in May 1937. Today, it is held as manuscript 27 in the Drower Collection of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, and is commonly abbreviated DC 27.

Bogdan Burtea translated the DC 27 manuscript into German in 2008, and also provided a detailed commentary as part of the published translation.

The scroll consists of pieces of paper that have been glued together and is approximately 691 cm long, of which 660 cm contain writing and illustrations. The scroll is about 30 cm wide, with 26 cm used for writing. There are 559 lines of writing. A scribal note in the manuscript says that the text was copied in 1088 A.H. (1677 A.D.).

Contents

The contents of the DC 27 scroll are:

*Lines 1–22: Introduction
*Lines 23–190: The baptism (masbuta) of Zihrun Raza Kasia
*Lines 231–232: Illustrations, with explanations
*Lines 191–231: Esoteric content
*Lines 232–523: The masiqta of Zihrun Raza Kasia
*Lines 524–559: Colophon

The ''masiqta of Zihrun Razia Kasia'' is performed for people who have died from unclean deaths, such as during one of the minor ''mbaṭṭal'' days (inauspicious days during which all rituals are forbidden), or from snakebite, attacks by wild animals, or insect bites.

Ritual and prayer sequences

Below is the ritual and prayer sequence for both the Masiqta and MasbutaBurtea 2008: 142–4 of Zihrun Raza Kasia in the ''Šarḥ ḏ-Zihrun Raza Kasia'', as summarized in Burtea (2008). All prayer numbers, originally in Roman numerals, are from Part 1 (the Qolastā) of Mark Lidzbarski's
Mandäische Liturgien
' (ML) unless otherwise specified (e.g., the Oxford Collection, which is Part 2 of Lidzbarski's ''Mandäische Liturgien'', or CP, which is Drower's 1959 ''Canonical Prayerbook'').Lidzbarski, Mark. 1920.
Mandäische Liturgien
'. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, NF 17.1. Berlin.

Masiqta of Zihrun Raza Kasia

Below is the ritual and prayer sequence for the Masiqta of Zihrun Raza Kasia as given in the text:

Summary of the prayer sequence listed above:

Masbuta of Zihrun Raza Kasia

Below is the ritual and prayer sequence for the Masbuta of Zihrun Raza Kasia as given in the text:

Ritual preliminaries

Baptism in the river

Oil drawing

The meal for the baptized

Priestly meal

Conclusion

Summary of the entire masbuta prayer sequence listed above:

Illustrations

''Zihrun Raza Kasia'' (DC 27) contains two large illustrations: one depicting uthras, and another one depicting plants.Burtea 2008: 52–3

Uthras

Below is an illustration of uthras in the World of Light in ''Zihrun Raza Kasia'' (DC 27). Clockwise starting from the top-center figure (standing upright): Nidbai Rba, '' riha'' ("incense"; small rectangular block to the right for Nidbai Rba), Adatan Rba, - adatan Rba, Hibil Ziua, '' ašganda'' (priest's assistant, the only figure without a ''margna''), Mara ḏ-Rabuta ("Father of Greatness"), Anuš Rba, Šilmai Rba.

Plants

Below is an illustration of heavenly garden with trees and plants in ''Zihrun Raza Kasia'' (DC 27). All plant names are masculine except for ''šušmia'' (sesame) and ''hiṭia'' (wheat), which are feminine em. Various kinds of plants are depicted: the date palm, fig, grape, myrtle, olive, pomegranate, quince, sesame, walnut, and wheat, along with incense.

*Left column – plants from top to bottom: ''šušmia'' em.(sesame), ''guṭaipa'' (grape), ''amuza'' (walnut), ''rmana'' (pomegranate), ''spargla'' (quince)
*Middle column – ''sindirka'' (date palm tree, label at the bottom); '' riha'' (incense, label at the top)
*Right column – plants from top to bottom: ''elana'' (tree), ''hiṭia'' em.(wheat), ''zaita'' (olive), ''tinta'' (fig), ''asa'' ( myrtle)

See also

*''Scroll of Exalted Kingship''
*''The Thousand and Twelve Questions''
*''The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa''

References

External links

''Zihrun, das verborgene Geheimnis''

Transliterated text
(''The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon'') based on DC 27

{{Authority control
Mandaean texts
Mandaean rituals