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 name 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 MasiqtaBurtea 2008: 189–91 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:

Ritual/Action Prayers recited rising raising the crown 1, 3, 5, 19 wrapping mouth-covering cloth (pandama) 32 hold bottle 33 incense into the fire 34 recitation 75–77, 9, 35 holding the wreath 46–47 oil 48 brushing with oil 3 times 49 3 strokes 50 3 strokes 51 pause drawing 52 3 strokes 53 separate the pihta from the wreath break off a piece of pihta mixing water with hamra recitation 54 remove the pandama 55–56 eat the pihta drinking mambuha (sacramental water) drinking halalta (rinsing water) rising 56 giving a bowl 57 recitation 58–71 putting hands on the bread 72 performing kušṭa recitation 75–77 wrapping pandama 32 holding bottle 33 putting incense into the fire 34 recitation 75–77, 9, 35 recitation for the hamra 44–45 recitation for the myrtle wreath 46–47 drawing with oil 48–49 holding the bottle 91 taking the qina 91 prepare 9 pihta masiqta of the ancestors (dabahata) wrapping the pandama 32 holding water 33 holding incense 34 incense into the fire 75 recitation 75–77, 9, 35 taking the pihta 36 recitation 36–43 taking the hamra 44 recitation 45 recitation for the myrtle wreath 46–47 taking the oil 48 spread with oil 49 recitation 50 holding back the hands 51 spreading 51 holding back the hands 52 drawing recitation 53 3 strokes remove the pihta from the wreath break a piece of the pihta mix water with hamra dip the pihta in hamra recitation 54 remove the pandama 55 eat pihta and drink hamra put incense into the fire 56 recitation 57–58 setting the table (patura) 59–60 recitation 61–69, 91–99, 70, 100 recitation 71–72 recitation sinner, rahmia performing kušṭa 30f. (ML 50, 10f.) recitation 101–103, 63, 3 not honoring the crown recitation 108 (Oxford book 1, prayer 3) bringing the ritual table and the patura eating and drinking water blessing the alms container sealing with the great seal

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 Ritual/Action Prayers recited recitation Oxford book 1, prayer 1 raising of the crown 3, 5, 19 incense into the fire 8 honoring the crowns quote from 71 preparation of the myrtle wreath 79 going to the river bank 80, 81 recitation quote from 18 taking pandama 7 reciting for the incense 8 recitation 85–87, 35

Baptism in the river Ritual/Action Prayers recited recitation 9–11 reciting for the turban 12 entry of the priest 13 preparation of the olive staff 14 recitation of the exorcism prayers 15–18 entrance of the baptized immersion, 3 times drawing, 3 times 76 3 times immersion with river water erection of the myrtle wreath 9, 5 pronouncing the names rising of the baptized performing kušṭa kušṭa heal you, and strengthen you recitation 82 deconsecration of the river 20 ascension of the priest 21

Oil drawing Ritual/Action Prayers recited recitation of the oil 22–24 performing kušṭa kušṭa heal you, my wreath

The meal for the baptized Ritual/Action Prayers recited recitation 8 prayers of the pihta recitation for mambuha 44–45 eating pihta drinking mambuha performing kušṭa kušṭa heal you recitation of the sealing prayers 25–28 rising 29 recitation of the hymn of baptism 30 recitation of the baptismal prayers 82–90 drinking water 3 times 71 recitation 72 performing kušṭa kušṭa heal you

Priestly meal Ritual/Action Prayers recited eating pihta drinking mambuha recitation 59–60

Conclusion Ritual/Action Prayers recited recitation 57, 72, CP 171 performing kušṭa with the ašganda recitation 63 baptism of the banner (drabša) recitation of names (zharia)

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 of Nidbai Rba), Adatan Rba, [u-]Iadatan 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 [fem.]. 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 [fem.] (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: ʿlana (tree), hiṭia [fem.] (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