The

Mandaic Mandaic may refer to: * Mandaic language * Mandaic alphabet The Mandaic alphabet is a writing system primarily used to write the Mandaic language. It is thought to have evolved between the second and seventh century CE from either a cursive fo ...

word mana () is a term that is roughly equivalent to the philosophical concept of ''

nous ''Nous'' (, ), from , is a concept from classical philosophy, sometimes equated to intellect or intelligence, for the cognitive skill, faculty of the human mind necessary for understanding what is truth, true or reality, real. Alternative Eng ...

''. It has been variously translated as "

mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...

", "

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

", "

treasure Treasure (from from Greek ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions legally define what constit ...

", "Garment", "Intellect", "Intelligence", "Heart", "Spirit", "Being"; or alternatively as "

", "

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

", or "vessel".

Theodor Nöldeke Theodor Nöldeke (; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a German orientalist and scholar, originally a student of Heinrich Ewald. He is one of the founders of the field of Quranic studies, especially through his foundational work titled ...

argued that the word is of Iranian origin.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 Gorgias Press is a US-based independent academic publisher specializing in the history and religion of the Middle East and the larger pre-modern world. History Founded in 2001 by Christine and George Kiraz, the press is based in Piscataway, N ...

, LLC.

Meaning

E. S. Drower (1960) translates the literal

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

meaning of ''mana'' as 'a garment, robe, vehicle, vessel, instrument'. Symbolically, it refers to the 'soul' or 'mind'. Drower compares ''mana'' to the Valentinian concept of '' Sophia'' (Wisdom) and the Marcosian concept of '' Ennoia'' (Idea, Thought).

In Mandaean scriptures

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: "I am a ''mana'' of the Great Life" () is also frequently used in the

Mandaean Book of John In Mandaeism, the Book of John () is a Mandaean holy book in Mandaic Aramaic which Mandaeans attribute to their prophet John the Baptist. The book contains accounts of John's life and miracles, as well as a number of polemical conversations w ...

. In Psalm 5 of the Manichaean

Psalms of Thomas The ''Psalms of Thomas'' (more correctly ''Psalms of Thom'') are a set of third-century psalms found appended to the end of a Coptic Manichaean psalm book, which was in turn part of the Medinet Madi library excavated in 1929. The psalms were orig ...

, the phrase "treasure of life" is derived from the aforementioned Mandaean formula according to

Torgny Säve-Söderbergh Torgny Säve-Söderbergh (born 29 June 1914 in Lund; died 21 May 1998 in Uppsala) was a Swedish writer, translator, and professor of Egyptology at Uppsala University from 1950 to 1980. He was the younger brother of paleontologist Gunnar Säve-S� ...

. This phrase has also been borrowed by the Valentinian Gnostics from Mandaeism. The Book 3 of the

Right Ginza The Right 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 Left Ginza. Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl ( ...

, the "''mana'' within the ''mana''" and the "fruit (''pira'') within the fruit" existed before even the spiritual universe (the

World of Light In Mandaeism, the World of Light or Lightworld () is the primeval, transcendental world from which Tibil and the World of Darkness emerged. Description *The Great Life ('' Hayyi Rabbi'' or Supreme God/ Monad) is the ruler of the World of Ligh ...

) with its

uthra An uthra or ʿutra (, Neo-Mandaic ''oṯrɔ'', traditionally transliterated ''eutra''; plural: ʿuthrē, traditionally transliterated ''eutria'') is a "divine messenger of the light" in Mandaeism. Charles G. Häberl and James F. McGrath transl ...

s and emanations came into being. In Book 5, Chapter 1 of the

(also known as the "Book of the Underworld"), Hag and Mag, two inhabitants of the

World of Darkness ''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Werewolf: The Apocaly ...

, are described as the two ''manas'' of darkness. On the origin of ''mana'' (reason or mind) in mankind, Book 10 of the Right Ginza states:

As names of Hayyi Rabbi

According to E. S. Drower, the name Great Mind or Great Mana refers to the "

over-soul "The Over-Soul" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson first published in 1841. With the human soul as its overriding subject, several general themes are treated: (1) the existence and nature of the human soul; (2) the relationship between the soul a ...

" or "over-mind", the earliest manifestation of

Hayyi In Mandaeism, Hayyi Rabbi (Neo-Mandaic; ), 'The Great Living God', is the supreme God from which all things emanationism, emanate. Hayyi Rabbi is also known as "The First Life", since during the creation of the material world, Yushamin emanated ...

("Life"), from which the soul of a human might be seen as a spark or temporarily detached part. In book three of the

, Hayyi is said to have "formed Himself in the likeness of the Great Mana, from which He emerged".

As part of uthra names

As Mana Rba Kabira, he is paired with the name Kanat, a female uthra.

References

{{Mandaeism footer Mandaic words and phrases Mandaean philosophical concepts Intelligence Mental content

Meaning

In Mandaean scriptures

As names of Hayyi Rabbi

As part of uthra names

See also

References