The Scroll of the Ancestors ( ) is a Mandaean religious text that describes the rituals of the Ṭabahata (ancestors') masiqta, held during the 5-day Parwanaya festival.
Manuscripts Copies of the scroll include Manuscript 42 of the Drower Collection (DC 42), currently held at the Bodleian Library. The scroll was originally transcribed in 1743 and has 834 lines. It is similar to Prayer 170 of the Qulasta, but some names are different.
DC 42 verso, copied at Basra in 1248 A.H. (1832–3 A.D.), contains six texts: Šarḥ ḏ-ahaba ḏ-mania b-iuma ḏ-paruanaiia Aprišata ḏ-ahaba ḏ-mania Šarḥ ḏ-ahaba ḏ-mania ḏ-tarmida ʿu ganzibra kḏ napiq Šarḥ ḏ-ṭabahata qria b-šuma ḏ-gabrauʿnta Šarḥ ḏ-dukrana ḏ-šumaiia Šarḥ ḏ-zidqa brika ḏ-paruanaiia
Ṭabahata Masiqta
The Ṭabahata Masiqta, or the "masiqta of the Parents", is held only once a year during the Parwanaya intercalary festival. Priests recite dozens of prayers, prepare 72 faṭiras (small, round, saltless, half-baked biscuits for ritual use) symbolizing ancestors, and also sacrifice a white dove, called ba, which symbolizes the spirit (ruha). According to The Thousand and Twelve Questions, this masiqta cannot be held at any other time other than during the Parwanaya. For a more detailed description of the Ṭabahata Masiqta according to the Scroll of the Ancestors, see chapter 8 in Buckley (2002).
Below is the Qulasta prayer sequence (i.e., order of prayers to be recited) for the Ṭabahata Masiqta, following the numbering in Drower's 1959 Canonical Prayerbook. Some of the prayers involve fatiras that must be signed by a priest, who dips it with four fingers, tips pressed together, into sacramental masiqta oil and signs the fatira with oil three times, from left to right (similar in some ways to the sign of the cross). The masiqta has 3 parts. The first two parts are known as the "Mother Masiqta," while the final part is known as the "Father Masiqta."
1st ritual:60 faṭiras 2nd ritual:6 faṭiras 3rd ritual:6 faṭiras 91 96 79 80 33 33 33 81 34 34 34 35 35 1 75–77 75–77 75–77 9 9 9 35 35 35 36–45 36–45 36–45 46–47 46–47 48 48 48 49, signs 49, no signs at 6th 49, all 6 signed 50, signs 50, no signs 50 51, signs 51, no signs at 6th 51, all 6 signed 52, signs, except for last 52, no signs at 6th 52, all 6 signed 53 ("seal of the masiqta") 53 49, with ḏ-abahatan 49 44 44 54, pihta in hamra 54 54 55, pihta swallowed 55 55 56, drinking halalta (rinsing water) 56 56 57–72 57–72 57–72 91 91–99 91–99 71 70 100 102 71–72 71–72 80 101–103 101–102 63 63 108 58 3 3 9 58 58 65 65 71 76 170 ("Ṭabahatan") 170 ("Ṭabahatan")
See also Tabahatan List of Mandaic manuscripts Scroll of the Parwanaya
References
External links Transliterated text (The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon)