Scroll of Exalted Kingship

The Scroll of Exalted Kingship (Classical Mandaic: ࡃࡉࡅࡀࡍ ࡌࡀࡋࡊࡅࡕࡀ ࡏࡋࡀࡉࡕࡀ Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita; Modern Mandaic: Diwān Malkuthā Əlaythā^[1]) 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 "junior priest".

Scroll of Exalted Kingship Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita ࡃࡉࡅࡀࡍ ࡌࡀࡋࡊࡅࡕࡀ ࡏࡋࡀࡉࡕࡀ
Information
Religion	Mandaeism
Language	Mandaic language

Other related texts include The Coronation of the Great Shishlam, also a commentary on the initiation of the tarmida, and the two esoteric texts^[2] Alma Rišaia Rba "The Great 'First World'", DC 41 and Alma Rišaia Zuṭa "The Lesser 'First World'", DC 48.^[3]

Manuscripts and translations

An English translation of the text, based on Manuscript 34 of the Drower Collection (commonly abbreviated DC 34), was published by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley in 1993.^[4]

A typesetted Mandaic version of DC 34 was published by Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki in 2002.^[5]

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.).^[6] Although it is missing a large section corresponding to lines 912–1131 of DC 34, it is often more accurate than DC 34.^[7]

Contents

See also: Qulasta § List of prayers

The beginning of the scroll, from lines 7–227, references 103 prayers in the Qulasta, which are:^[3]

• a masbuta liturgy (prayers 1–31)
• a masiqta 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 (such as being blessed by a certain uthra) 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 (a ࡀ, b ࡁ, g ࡂ, d ࡃ, h ࡄ, u ࡅ), along with 14 sections labeled with the words teacher, crown, wreath, ether, fire, garment, stole, tunic, girdle, mother, father, brother, sister.^[3]

Prayer sequence

Main article: Tarmida § Prayer sequence

See also

• The Thousand and Twelve Questions

References

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. Drower, E. S. 1963. A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries: Two Priestly Documents, the Great First World and the Lesser First World. Leiden: Brill.
3. Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515385-5. OCLC 65198443.
4. Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (1993). The Scroll of Exalted Kingship: Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita. New Haven, Connecticut: American Oriented Society.
5. Al-Mubaraki, Majid Fandi (2002). Malkutha 'laitha (D.C. 34). Mandaean Diwan. Vol. 3. Sydney. ISBN 1-876888-03-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
6. Morgenstern, Matthew (2019). "Neo-Mandaic in Early Mandaean Colophons. Part 2: Texts, Translations and Conclusion". Aramaic Studies. 17 (1): 100–121. doi:10.1163/17455227-01602004. ISSN 1477-8351.
7. 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.

External links

• Diwan Malkutha 'laitha (Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)
• Diwan Malkutha 'laitha (Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)