Scroll of Exalted Kingship

*Scroll of Exalted Kingship*
*Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita*
Scroll of Exalted Kingship; Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita
Information
Religion	Mandaeism
Language	Mandaic language

The Scroll of Exalted Kingship (Classical Mandaic: ࡃࡉࡅࡀࡍ ࡌࡀࡋࡊࡅࡕࡀ ࡏࡋࡀࡉࡕࡀ Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita) is a Mandaean religious text. Written as a large illustrated scroll, the text consists of 1,363 lines. The scroll is a commentary on tarmida (junior priest) initiation. Other related texts include The Coronation of the Great Shishlam, also a commentary on the initiation of the tarmida, and the two esoteric texts^[1] Alma Rišaia Rabbā (The Great "First World", DC 41) and Alma Rišaia Zuṭa (The Lesser "First World", DC 48).^[2]

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.^[3]

Contents[]

The beginning of the scroll, from lines 7–227, references 103 prayers in the Qolasta, which are:^[2]

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 Qolasta prayer that is recited.

The scroll has an illustrated diagram of a wellspring (bira) 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.^[2]

Prayer sequence[]

References[]

^ Drower, E. S. 1963. A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries: Two Priestly Documents, the Great First World and the Lesser First World. Leiden: Brill.
^ ^a ^b ^c Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515385-5. OCLC 65198443.
^ Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (1993). The Scroll of Exalted Kingship: Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita. New Haven, Connecticut: American Oriented Society.

External links[]

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

[pair-1] Drower, E. S. 1963. A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries: Two Priestly Documents, the Great First World and the Lesser First World. Leiden: Brill.

[Buckley_2002-2] Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515385-5. OCLC 65198443.

[Buckley1993-3] Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (1993). The Scroll of Exalted Kingship: Diwan Malkuta ʿLaita. New Haven, Connecticut: American Oriented Society.

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