Left Ginza

The Left Ginza () is one of the two parts of the Ginza Rabba, the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The other part of the Ginza Rabba is the Right Ginza.

As of 2024, a critical edition that includes an annotated translation of the Left Ginza is being prepared by Bogdan Burtea and .

Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl (2007), are provided below.Häberl, Charles G. (2007).
Introduction to the New Edition, in The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans, a new edition of J. Heinrich Petermann's Thesaurus s. Liber Magni, with a new introduction and a translation of the original preface by Charles G. Häberl
'. Gorgias Press, LLC. Translated excerpts are from Gelbert (2011), which is mostly based on Lidzbarski (1925), while Mandaic transliterations are derived from Gelbert (2011, 2021).

Opening lines of each chapter are provided below, since Mandaeans often refer to Mandaic prayers by their opening lines.

Book 1

Book 1 is a four-part prose text on the salvation process, beginning with the ascension to heaven of Seth, in advance of his father Adam (compare Sethian Gnosticism).
*Chapter 1.1 is about Adam and his three sons. One of Adam's sons, Sheetil (Seth), volunteers to die before his father. 49 paragraphs in Gelbert (2011). The chapter begins with the opening lines:
::Who are the mountains that do not shake (),
::and the heavens of waters that do not change ()?
*Chapter 1.2 continues the story of Adam after his soul is cast into a material body. 80 paragraphs in Gelbert (2011). 80 paragraphs in Gelbert (2011).
*Chapter 1.3 is about Hawa (Eve) mourning the death of her husband and her encounters with the uthras. It also describes the death of Hawa. 58 paragraphs in Gelbert (2011).
* Chapter 1.4 is a detailed description of the ''masiqta'' and the ''maṭarta'' (stations) that lie between Earth and the World of Light. 43 paragraphs in Gelbert (2011).

Book 2

Book 2, poetic, comprises 28 hymns.

All of the hymns in Book 2 of the Left Ginza, in which the ''mana'' laments that it has been cast into the physical world, begin with the following refrain:

Since Mandaean priestly commentary texts often refer to hymns and prayers by their opening lines, the opening lines of each of the 28 hymns in the book are provided below. The English translations below are from Gelbert (2011), while the Mandaic transliterations are derived from Gelbert (2011, 2021). Many of the opening lines are repeated but with the individual words ordered differently; in such cases, both versions are provided and are separated by semicolons.

#Who has let me dwell in the Tibil? /
#Who has thrown me into the (place) of secrets and winks? /
#Who has thrown me into the misery of the worlds? /
#Who took me out of my treasure-house? /
#A son of great radiance, a son of the lustrous glory /
#I am confirmed through the goodness of my Father /
#Who threw me into the misfortune of the angels? /
#I went away in order to come into the world. /
#Why did my appearance change? /
#From Thee, my Father, I am learning /
#Who has let me dwell in the bodily vestment? /
#They went and brought me into the Tibil. /
#Who brought me here? /
#Into this world they sent him /
#Arise, go the house of the Seven! /
#In the reliable treasure he sits /
#There is no treachery or cunning in him /
#Who brought me out of the house of the Life? /
#There is (something) in me from the treasure of the Life. /
#I lived among the hidden fosterers. /
#When did they take me into captivity /
#I was in the hidden treasure-house /
#Who has planted me, sent me away /
#They brought me out of the house of the Great (Life) / ; I have come in order to raise the stem on high /
#Who brought me away from my place? /
#Here I stayed with the generations. /
#Who brought me away from my place? /
#Who brought me away from my place? /

Book 3

Book 3, poetic, comprises 62 hymns, several of which are identical to or based on prayers in the Qulasta. Poems in Book 3 poetically describe the masiqta (ascension) of the soul to World of Light. They typically describe the soul (''nišimta'') being taken out of the ''ʿuṣṭuna'', or "bodily trunk," and being guided by uthras through the matartas and past Ruha and the Seven Planets, as well as being taken up by the right hand into the World of Light and clothed in radiant garments of light.

The masiqta hymns in Book 3, many of which have close parallels in the Qulasta and Manichaean ''Psalms of Thomas'' (e.g., hymns 2-5, 7, 10, 15, 19-20, 22, 27, 41, and 43), are among the oldest Mandaic texts. Van Bladel (2017) suggests that these hymns may have a common Elchasaite source.

Since Mandaean priestly commentary texts often refer to hymns and prayers by their the opening lines, the opening lines of each of the 62 hymns in the book are provided below. The English translations below are from Gelbert (2011), while the Mandaic transliterations are derived from Gelbert (2011, 2021).

#After the firmament was spread out ()
#Provided and provisioned I am () (see Qulasta prayer 96 and ''Psalms of Thomas'' 13, 18)
#Hail to thee, hail to thee, soul () (see Qulasta prayer 94)
#Go in peace, chosen one, pure one () (see Qulasta prayer 92)
#Repose and peace will prevail () (see Qulasta prayer 69)
#Repose and peace prevail ()
#On the day on which the soul goes out (), on the day on which the perfect one ascends on high () (see Qulasta prayer 98)
#On the day on which the soul goes forth (), on the day on which the perfect one ascends on high ()
#Between the concealment and the radiance (), and between the revelation and the hidden place ()
#Among the chosen ones I am the head of the well-versed () (see Qulasta prayer 93)
#Let the Great (Life) be mentioned in goodness (), let the Mighty (Life) be mentioned in goodness ()
#How greatly I rejoice ()
#Faith in the Good came to me (), they say: "thou shalt go forth" ().
#When the darkness was thinking, Adam departed his body ()
#My measure has come to an end and I am heading out (), the spirit speaks to the soul () (see ''Psalms of Thomas'' 2)
#The soul in the fruit of the Life ()
#The voice of the soul of the Life I hear ()
#Although a child, my lifespan ended ()
#I am standing upon my high place (), and my eyes look upon the earthly world () (see ''Psalms of Thomas'' 18)
#Between the concealment and the radiance (), between the light and the uthras () (see Qulasta prayer 68)
#The soul is going out (); her measure is full, and her time has come ().
#I am redeemed, my measure is full () (see ''Psalms of Thomas'' 13)
#A voice called out from the heights ()
#I passed by the gate of the prisoners ()
#I have a soul in the Tibil (); she is dying and sleeping in the world; she is dying and sleeping in the world ()
#Whose soul is this (), who is edified and cultivated ()?
#It is a sealed letter () which goes out of the world () (see Qulasta prayer 73)
#I am going out from my body ()
#I was saved, my measure was full ()
#At the garden gate I passed by (), I heard the voice of the gardener ().
#At the door of the house of detention (), the radiance of Sunday () passed by ().
#When will my measure be full ()
#What do the good ones look like (), when they go out of their body ()?
#Whose soul is this (), who is edified and cultivated ()?
#She (the soul) spoke: They arranged me in () of the Life ().
#My measure is full and I am heading out ().
#As a child my lifespan ended ()
#The sound, the sound of a sound ()
#Good is the Truth for the good one ()
#I hear the voice of the soul ()
# ama mana from the house of the Great (Life) () (see ''Psalms of Thomas'' 13)
#The soul, the soul of the Life speaks (), Who held me down in the earthly world ()?
#I came to my end and am sleeping () (see Qulasta prayer 66 and ''Psalms of Thomas'' 6)
#My measure has come to an end and I am heading out ()
#As a child, my lifespan ended ()
#The mana weeps through the generations ()
#The mana speaks to the generations (), I am a circlet of beryl ()
#I am a good one, a son of the Great (Life) I am ()
#A great radiance am I ()
#Out of a righteous place ()
#My soul longed for the Life ()
#How long hast thou been standing here ()?
#I passed by the door of the prisoners ()
#O ye birds of the carob trees () (see also Tree of Jiva and Atman in Hinduism)
#At the construction (), at the beginning of the whole construction ()
#My measure has come to an end and I am heading out (), an expert () who has learnt from the watchful ones ()
#I hear the voice of a soul (), who is tearing herself away from the dwelling of the evil ones ()
#I hear the voice of a soul (), who is going out from the body of grossness ()
#One of children of kušṭa ()
#A being of radiance, I am a son of a being of radiance (), I am a being of radiance, a son of the Mighty (Life) ()
#Whom and whom, soul didst thou ()
#At the door of the house of the Abaddons (), a throne for the spirit is set up ()

Hymns 17 and 58 contain the following refrain:
:Naked they brought me into the world (),
::and naked they take me out of it ().
:Naked they take me out of it (),
::like a bird that is unaccompanied by anything ().

Hymns 18, 37, and 45 all contain variations of the opening line, "As a child, my lifespan ended" ().

Hymn 62 contains the refrain, "Come, fall into the vessel (''mana'')" ().

Colophon

Book 3 of the Left Ginza is followed by a colophon. There is only one colophon in the Left Ginza, whereas the Right Ginza has six colophons.

Shlama beth Qidra is the earliest Mandaean scribe named in the Left Ginza's colophon. Zazai of Gawazta ( AD) is not mentioned in the Left Ginza's colophon, although he is an important figure mentioned in the Right Ginza's colophons.

External parallels

Qulasta

Several of the prayers in Drower's 1959 ''Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans'' (''CP''), mostly ''ʿniania'' (" responses") and masiqta prayers, correspond to hymns in Book 3 of the Left Ginza (GL 3):

''Psalms of Thomas''

Several of the Left Ginza hymns correspond to some of the ''Psalms of Thomas''.

Below is a comparison of Psalm of Thomas 6 and Left Ginza 3.43 (= Qulasta prayer 66).

Theodore bar Konai

Theodore bar Konai, in the ''Book of the Scholion'' ( Syriac: ''Kṯāḇā d-ʾeskoliyon''), quotes the following passage as part of the teachings of the Kentaeans. The passage has close parallels with much of Left Ginza 3.11.

See also

*Ginza Rabba
*Right Ginza
*Book of Genesis
*Psalms
*''Bardo Thodol'' in Tibetan Buddhism
*''Book of the Dead'' in Ancient Egyptian religion
*Funerary text
*Near-death experience, descriptions of which often resemble the contents of the Left Ginza

Notes

References

External links

Transliterated text
(''The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon'') based on MS Paris Codex Sabéen 1 and also consults the Codex Sabéen 2 and 3 manuscripts

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginza, Left
*
Books about death
Religion and death
Funerary texts
Mandaean texts