''Alma Rišaia'' or ''Diwan Alma Rišaia'' ("The Supreme World" or "The First World") is a series of

Mandaean Mandean or Mandaean may refer to: * Mandaeism, a Gnostic religion * Mandaeans, the ethnoreligious group who follow the Gnostic religion * Mandean, the language family in West Africa known as the Mande languages See also * Mandaic (disambiguation) ...

religious texts that serve as esoteric priestly ritual commentaries. The texts make copious references to prayers in the

Qulasta The Qulasta, also spelled Qolastā in older sources (; ), is a compilation of Mandaean prayers. The Mandaic word ''qolastā'' means "collection". The prayerbook is a collection of Mandaic prayers regarding baptisms ('' maṣbuta'') and other sa ...

by quoting the opening lines of each prayer.

Texts

There are two texts that complement each other in the ''Alma Rišaia'' series: *''

Alma Rišaia Rba '' Alma Rišaia Rba'' or ''Diwan Alma Rišaia Rabbā'' (, "The Great Supreme World" or "The Great First World") is a Mandaean religious text. The text is used for Mandaean priestly initiation ceremonies. It is written as a scroll and has numerou ...

'', or "The Great(er) Supreme World" *''

Alma Rišaia Zuṭa '' Alma Rišaia Zuṭa'' (, "The Smaller Supreme World" or "The Smaller First World") is a Mandaean religious text. The text is used for Mandaean priestly initiation ceremonies. It is written as a scroll. ''Alma Rišaia Zuṭa'' complements '' A ...

'', or "The Smaller Supreme World" English translations of the two texts were published by

E. S. Drower Ethel, Lady Drower ( Ethel May Stefana Stevens; 1 December 1879 – 27 January 1972) was a British cultural anthropologist, orientalist and novelist who studied the Middle East and its cultures.Christa Müller-Kessler, Drower ée Stevens Ethe ...

in 1963. Drower based the translations on manuscripts 41 and 48 of the

Drower Collection This article contains a list of Mandaic manuscripts, which are almost entirely Mandaean religious texts written in Classical Mandaic. Well-known Mandaean texts include the ''Ginza Rabba'' (also known as the ''Sidra Rabbā''), the ''Mandaean B ...

(abbreviated DC 41 and DC 48).Drower, E. S. 1963.
A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries: Two Priestly Documents, the Great First World and the Lesser First World
'. Leiden: Brill.

References

External links

Full text
at

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Alma Rishaia Rba
(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)

(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)

(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)

(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network) Mandaean texts Book series {{DEFAULTSORT:Alma Rišaia