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Sidra d-Nishmata

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The Sidra ḏ-Nišmata (Classical Mandaic: ࡎࡉࡃࡓࡀ ࡖࡍࡉࡔࡌࡀࡕࡀ, lit. 'Book of Souls'; Modern Mandaic: Sedrā d-Nešmāthā[1]), also known as the Book of Souls or Book of Gadana, is a collection of Mandaean litugical prayers that constitutes the first part of the Qulasta. It most likely constitutes the oldest stratum of Mandaean literature and dates to at least the 3rd century CE or earlier.[2]

Sidra ḏ-Nišmata
Information
ReligionMandaeism
LanguageMandaic language
Period3rd century AD or earlier

The Sidra ḏ-Nišmata contains the most important prayers used in core Mandaean rituals, namely the masbuta and masiqta.[3]

Structure

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Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki (2010) considers the Sidra ḏ-Nišmata to contain 103 prayers,[4] which correspond to the first 103 prayers in both Mark Lidzbarski's Mandäische Liturgien (1920)[5] and E. S. Drower's Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans (1959).[6]

The Sidra ḏ-Nišmata consists of the following sections:[2]

  • Part 1: Prayers 1–74
    • Prayers 1–31: masbuta liturgy
    • Prayers 32–72: masiqta liturgy
    • CP 73–74: the 2 "Letter" (engirta) prayers
  • Part 2: Prayers 75–77: 3 long prayers of praise
  • Part 3: Prayers 78–103: the "responses" (eniania)

Types of prayers

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Eric Segelberg (1958) lists the following types of prayers in the Sidra ḏ-Nišmata.[7]

  • buta (plural form: bauata; generic Mandaic term for prayers)
    • Prayers 1, 3, 5: prayers for the crown
    • Prayer 7: prayer for the pandama
    • Prayers 9–11: prayers at the river bank
    • Prayers 22–24: prayers over the oil
    • Prayers 25–28: buta hatamta or "sealing prayer"
    • Prayer 32: opening masiqta prayer
    • Prayers 75–77: long baptismal prayers
  • qaiamta: Prayers 56–65
  • pugdama (lit. 'commandment, declaration'): Prayers 8, 14, 19, 34; also applies to Prayers 5, 47, 48
  • šrita (plural form: širiata) (loosening or deconsecrating prayers): Prayers 2, 4, 6, 31, 55
  • draša
  • eniana
    • Prayers 79–81: three hymns in the beginning of the baptismal rite
    • Prayer 82: hymn after the acts in the water
    • Prayer 83–87: hymns said after the sealing prayers

List of prayers

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See also: List of Qulasta prayers

Below is a list of individual prayers of the Sidra ḏ-Nišmata based on the text of Drower (1959),[6] with additional notes from Segelberg (1958)[7] and Buckley (2002).[3]

Maṣbuta liturgy

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  • Exorcism prayers
    • Prayer 15: prayer for binding demons
    • Prayer 16: "perfected gem" prayer
    • Prayer 17: invocation of ʿuthria so that evil spirits would flee
  • Prayer 18: long prayer blessing the yardna which begins with the invocation of Piriawis (main prayer said during the maṣbuta immersion)
  • Prayer 19: short prayer for crowning with the klila, and pronouncing ʿuthria names over the baptized person ("Manda created/called me")
  • Prayer 20: yardna prayer beginning with a blessing of the outer door (tira baraia), for deconsecrating the yardna
  • Prayer 21: ascent from the yardna; the prayer rejects the sun, moon, and fire as witnesses
  • Oil (miša) prayers
    • Prayer 22: invocation of ʿuthria before anointing with oil
    • Prayer 23: praising the oil
    • Prayer 24: oil driving off evil spirits and healing illnesses
  • Prayer 29: short prayer of rising up
  • Prayer 30: prayer about conquering the mountain, fire, and sea (draša of the maṣbuta)
  • Prayer 31: final šrita (loosening prayer)

Masiqta liturgy

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  • Prayer 32: short opening prayer
  • Prayer 33: mambuha prayer dedicated to the Water of Life
  • Prayer 34: shorter incense prayer
  • Prayer 35: long prayer ("I sought to lift my eyes"), used for versatile ritual applications

Engirta prayers

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  • Prayer 73: long prayer about a sealed letter
  • Prayer 74: short prayer about the seal and word of Kušṭa

Three long prayers

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Eniania

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  • Prayer 78: short prelude prayer
  • Prayer 79: short myrtle prayer (placing the klila on the margna)
  • "Hear me" (ʿunan ab ʿunian) litanies
  • Prayer 82: short mambuha prayer

References

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  1. ^ Häberl, Charles (2022). The Book of Kings and the Explanations of This World: A Universal History from the Late Sasanian Empire. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-80085-627-1.
  2. ^ a b Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history. Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-621-9.
  3. ^ a b Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515385-5. OCLC 65198443.
  4. ^ Al-Mubaraki, Majid Fandi; Mubaraki, Brian (2010). Qulasta - Sidra d Nishmata / Mandaean Liturgical Prayer Book (Book of Souls) (volume 1). Luddenham, New South Wales. ISBN 9781876888145.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (1998 edition: ISBN 0-9585705-1-5)
  5. ^ Lidzbarski, Mark. 1920. Mandäische Liturgien. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, NF 17.1. Berlin.
  6. ^ a b Drower, E. S. (1959). The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
  7. ^ a b Segelberg, Eric (1958). Maṣbūtā: Studies in the Ritual of Mandaean Baptism. Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell.
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