The ''Scroll of Exalted Kingship'' ( ;
Modern Mandaic: ''Diwān Malkuthā Əlaythā''
) is a
Mandaean religious text. Written as a large illustrated scroll, the text consists of 1363 lines. The scroll is a commentary on the initiation of the
tarmida
A tarmida (singular form in , plural form in ; ; ) is a junior Mandaean priest, priest in Mandaeism. Ganzibras, or head priests, rank above tarmidas.Drower, E. S. 1960. ''The Secret Adam: A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
...
"junior priest".
Other related texts include ''
The Coronation of the Great Shishlam
''The Coronation of the Great Šišlam'' (or ''The Coronation of Shishlam Rabba''; ) is a Mandaean religious text. The text is a detailed commentary on the initiation of the tarmida (junior priests), with detailed discussions on masbuta and ma ...
'', also a commentary on the initiation of the tarmida, and the two esoteric texts
[Drower, E. S. 1963. ]
A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries: Two Priestly Documents, the Great First World and the Lesser First World
'. Leiden: Brill. ''
Alma Rišaia Rba'' "The Great 'First World'", DC 41 and ''
Alma Rišaia Zuṭa'' "The Lesser 'First World'", DC 48.
Manuscripts and translations
An English translation of the text, based on Manuscript 34 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 ...
(commonly abbreviated DC 34), was published by
Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley
Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley (born Jorunn Jacobsen, 1944) is a Norwegian-American religious studies scholar and historian of religion known for her work on Mandaeism and Gnosticism. She was a former Professor of Religion at Bowdoin College. She is ...
in 1993.
A typesetted Mandaic version of DC 34 was published by
Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki
Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki () is an Iraqi-Australian writer and researcher based in the Sydney metropolitan area. He is known for his publications of Mandaic texts, including the Ginza Rba and Qulasta.
Biography
Al-Mubaraki is a Mandaean who wa ...
in 2002.
MS
RRC 2O, another manuscript version of ''Diwan Malkuta Elaita'', was copied by Sam Yuhana br Yahia Adam in
Ḥuwaiza in 1077 A.H. (1666–7 A.D.).
Although it is missing a large section corresponding to lines 912–1131 of DC 34, it is often more accurate than DC 34.
[Morgenstern, Matthew]
New Manuscript Sources for the Study of Mandaic
In: V. Golinets et. al (eds.), ''Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Sechstes Treffen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Semitistik in der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft vom 09.–11. Februar 2013 in Heidelberg''. AOAT, Ugarit Verlag.
Contents
The beginning of the scroll, from lines 7–227, references 103 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 ...
, which are:
*a
masbuta
Maṣbuta (; pronounced ''maṣwottā'' in Neo-Mandaic) is the ritual of immersion in water in the Mandaean religion.
Overview
Mandaeans revere John the Baptist and practice frequent baptism (''masbuta'') as ritual purification, not of initia ...
liturgy (prayers 1–31)
*a
masiqta
The masiqta () is a mass or ritual practiced in the Mandaean religion in order to help guide the soul ('' nišimta'') towards the World of Light in Mandaean cosmology. They are typically performed as funerary rites for Mandaeans who have just di ...
liturgy (prayers 32–72)
*2 ʿngirta prayers (prayers 73 and 74)
*3 prayers of praise (prayers 75–77)
*the
ʿnianas (prayers 78–103)
The scroll describes what happens in 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 ...
(such as being blessed by a certain
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 ...
) for each Qulasta prayer that is recited.
The scroll has an illustrated diagram of a wellspring (''aina'') with 9 trees emerging out of the wellspring. The wellspring diagram contains the first 6 letters of the
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 form of Aramaic (as did Syriac) or from Inscriptional Parthia ...
(a ࡀ, b ࡁ, g ࡂ, d ࡃ, h ࡄ, u ࡅ), along with 14 sections labeled with the words ''teacher,
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
,
wreath
A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring shape.
In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and C ...
, ether, fire,
garment
Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...
, stole, tunic,
girdle
A belt without a buckle, especially if a cord or rope, is called a girdle in various contexts, especially historical ones, where girdles were a very common part of everyday clothing from antiquity until perhaps the 15th century, especially for w ...
, mother, father, brother, sister''.
Prayer sequence
See also
*''
The Thousand and Twelve Questions
''The Thousand and Twelve Questions'' ( ; Modern Mandaic: ''Alf Tressar Ešyāli'') is a Mandaean religious text. The ''1012 Questions'' is one of the most detailed texts on Mandaean priestly rituals. It is kept by Mandaean priests in the shk ...
''
References
External links
Transliterated text(''The
Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon
The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (CAL) is an online database containing a searchable dictionary and text corpora of Aramaic dialects. CAL includes more than 3 million lexically parsed words.
The project was started in the 1980s and is currently ...
'') based on Jorunn J. Buckley's text of DC 34
Diwan Malkutha 'laitha(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)
(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)
{{Authority control
Mandaean texts