Zihrun Raza Kasia

An illustrated scroll was purchased by E. S. Drower from Shaikh Yahia at Qal'at Saleh, southern Iraq in May 1937. Today, it is held as manuscript 27 in the Drower Collection of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, and is commonly abbreviated DC 27.[1]

Bogdan Burtea translated the DC 27 manuscript into German in 2008, and also provided a detailed commentary as part of the published translation.[2]

The scroll consists of pieces of paper that have been glued together and is approximately 691 cm long, of which 660 cm contain writing and illustrations. The scroll is about 30 cm wide, with 26 cm used for writing. There are 559 lines of writing. A scribal note in the manuscript says that the text was copied in 1088 A.H. (1677 A.D.).[2]

The contents of the DC 27 scroll are:[2]

• Lines 1-22: Introduction
• Lines 23-190: The baptism (masbuta) of Zihrun Raza Kasia
• Lines 231-232: Illustrations, with explanations
• Lines 191-231: Esoteric content
• Lines 232-523: The masiqta of Zihrun Raza Kasia
• Lines 524-559: Colophon

The masiqta of Zihrun Razia Kasia is performed for people who have died during one of the minor mbaṭṭal days (inauspicious days during which all rituals are forbidden), etc.[3]

Below is the ritual and prayer sequence for both the Masiqta[4] and Masbuta[5] of Zihrun Raza Kasia in the Šarḥ ḏ-Zihrun Raza Kasia, as summarized in Burtea (2008).[2] All prayer numbers, originally in Roman numerals, are from Part 1 (the Qolastā) of Mark Lidzbarski's Mandäische Liturgien (ML) unless otherwise specified (e.g., the Oxford Collection, which is Part 2 of Lidzbarski's Mandäische Liturgien, or CP, which is Drower's 1959 Canonical Prayerbook).[6]

Masiqta of Zihrun Raza Kasia

Below is the ritual and prayer sequence for the Masiqta of Zihrun Raza Kasia as given in the text:

Example of a pandama, or cloth covering the mouth (left) at a 2019 Parwanaya festival in Iraq

Ritual/Action	Prayers recited
rising
raising the crown	1, 3, 5, 19
wrapping mouth covering cloth (pandama)	32
hold bottle	33
incense into the fire	34
recitation	75-77, 9, 35
holding the wreath	46-47
oil	48
brushing with oil 3 times	49
3 strokes	50
3 strokes	51
pause drawing	52
3 strokes	53
separate the pihta from the wreath
break off a piece of pihta
mixing water with wine
recitation	54
remove the pandama	55-56
eat the pihta
drinking mambuha (sacramental water)
drinking halalta (rinsing water)
rising	56
giving a bowl	57
recitation	58-71
putting hands on the bread	72
performing kušṭa
recitation	75-77
wrapping pandama	32
holding bottle	33
putting incense into the fire	34
recitation	75-77, 9, 35
recitation for the wine	44-45
recitation for the myrtle wreath	46-47
drawing with oil	48-49
holding the bottle	91
taking the qina	91
prepare 9 pihta	masiqta of the ancestors (dabahata)
wrapping the pandama	32
holding water	33
holding incense	34
incense into the fire	75
recitation	75-77, 9, 35
taking the pihta	36
recitation	36-43
taking the wine	44
recitation	45
recitation for the myrtle wreath	46-47
taking the oil	48
spread with oil	49
recitation	50
holding back the hands	51
spreading	51
holding back the hands	52
drawing
recitation	53
3 strokes
remove the pihta from the wreath
break a piece of the pihta
mix water with wine
dip the pihta in wine
recitation	54
remove the pandama	55
eat pihta and drink wine
put incense into the fire	56
recitation	57-58
setting the table (patura)	59-60
recitation	61-69, 91-99, 70, 100
recitation	71-72
recitation	sinner, rahmia
performing kušṭa	30f. (ML 50, 10f.)
recitation	101-103, 63, 3
not honoring the crown
recitation	Oxford book 1, prayer 3
bringing the ritual table and the patura
eating and drinking water
blessing the alms container
sealing with the great seal

Summary of the prayer sequence listed above:

• 1, 3, 5, 19
• 32-34
• 75-77, 9, 35
• 46-72
• 75-77
• 32-34
• 75-77, 9, 35
• 44-49
• 91
• dabahata
• 32-34
• 75
• 75-77, 9, 35
• 36
• 36-69, 91-99, 70, 100
• 71-72
• sinner, rahmia; 30f.
• 101-103, 63, 3
• 3

• Scroll of Exalted Kingship
• The Thousand and Twelve Questions
• The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa

• Zihrun, das verborgene Geheimnis (in German)