Left Ginza Explained

Left Ginza
Religion:Mandaeism
Language:Mandaic language

The Left Ginza (ࡂࡉࡍࡆࡀ ࡎࡌࡀࡋࡀ|translit=Ginza Smala[1]) is one of the two parts of the Ginza Rabba, the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The other part of the Ginza Rabba is the Right Ginza.[2]

As of 2024, a critical edition that includes an annotated translation of the Left Ginza is being prepared by Bogdan Burtea and .[3] [4]

Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl (2007), are provided below.[5] Translated excerpts are from Gelbert (2011), which is mostly based on Lidzbarski (1925),[6] while Mandaic transliterations are derived from Gelbert (2011, 2021[7]).

Opening lines of each chapter are provided below, since Mandaeans often refer to Mandaic prayers and hymns by their opening lines.

Book 1

Book 1 is a four-part prose text on the salvation process, beginning with the ascension to heaven of Seth, in advance of his father Adam (compare Sethian Gnosticism).

Who are the mountains that do not shake,

and the heavens of waters that do not change ?

Book 2

Book 2, poetic, comprises 28 hymns.

All of the hymns in Book 2 of the Left Ginza, in which the mana laments that it has been cast into the physical world, begin with the following refrain:[2]

Since Mandaean priestly commentary texts often refer to hymns and prayers by their opening lines, the opening lines of each of the 28 hymns in the book are provided below. The English translations below are from Gelbert (2011), while the Mandaic transliterations are derived from Gelbert (2011, 2021[7]). Many of the opening lines are repeated but with the individual words ordered differently; in such cases, both versions are provided and are separated by semicolons.

  1. Who has let me dwell in the Tibil? /
  2. Who has thrown me into the (place) of secrets and winks? /
  3. Who has thrown me into the misery of the worlds? /
  4. Who took me out of my treasure-house? /
  5. A son of great radiance, a son of the lustrous glory /
  6. I am confirmed through the goodness of my Father /
  7. Who threw me into the misfortune of the angels? /
  8. I went away in order to come into the world. /
  9. Why did my appearance change? /
  10. From Thee, my Father, I am learning /
  11. Who has let me dwell in the bodily vestment? /
  12. They went and brought me into the Tibil. /
  13. Who brought me here? /
  14. Into this world they sent him /
  15. Arise, go the house of the Seven! /
  16. In the reliable treasure he sits /
  17. There is no treachery or cunning in him /
  18. Who brought me out of the house of the Life? /
  19. There is (something) in me from the treasure of the Life. /
  20. I lived among the hidden fosterers. /
  21. When did they take me into captivity /
  22. I was in the hidden treasure-house /
  23. Who has planted me, sent me away /
  24. They brought me out of the house of the Great (Life) / ; I have come in order to raise the stem on high /
  25. Who brought me away from my place? /
  26. Here I stayed with the generations. /
  27. Who brought me away from my place? /
  28. Who brought me away from my place? /

Book 3

Book 3, poetic, comprises 62 hymns, several of which are identical to or based on prayers in the Qulasta. Poems in Book 3 poetically describe the masiqta (ascension) of the soul to World of Light. They typically describe the soul (nišimta) being taken out of the ʿuṣṭuna, or "bodily trunk," and being guided by uthras through the matartas and past Ruha and the Seven Planets, as well as being taken up by the right hand into the World of Light and clothed in radiant garments of light.

The masiqta hymns in Book 3, many of which have close parallels in the Qulasta and Manichaean Psalms of Thomas (e.g., hymns 2-5, 7, 10, 15, 19-20, 22, 27, 41, and 43), are among the oldest Mandaic texts.[8] Van Bladel (2017) suggests that these hymns may have a common Elchasaite source.[9]

Since Mandaean priestly commentary texts often refer to hymns and prayers by their the opening lines, the opening lines of each of the 62 hymns in the book are provided below. The English translations below are from Gelbert (2011), while the Mandaic transliterations are derived from Gelbert (2011, 2021[7]).

  1. After the firmament was spread out
  2. Provided and provisioned I am (see Qulasta prayer 96 and Psalms of Thomas 13, 18)
  3. Hail to thee, hail to thee, soul (see Qulasta prayer 94)
  4. Go in peace, chosen one, pure one (see Qulasta prayer 92)
  5. Repose and peace will prevail (see Qulasta prayer 69)
  6. Repose and peace prevail
  7. On the day on which the soul goes out, on the day on which the perfect one ascends on high (see Qulasta prayer 98)
  8. On the day on which the soul goes forth, on the day on which the perfect one ascends on high
  9. Between the concealment and the radiance, and between the revelation and the hidden place
  10. Among the chosen ones I am the head of the well-versed (see Qulasta prayer 93)
  11. Let the Great (Life) be mentioned in goodness, let the Mighty (Life) be mentioned in goodness
  12. How greatly I rejoice
  13. Faith in the Good came to me, they say: "thou shalt go forth" .
  14. When the darkness was thinking, Adam departed his body
  15. My measure has come to an end and I am heading out, the spirit speaks to the soul (see Psalms of Thomas 2[10])
  16. The soul in the fruit of the Life
  17. The voice of the soul of the Life I hear
  18. Although a child, my lifespan ended
  19. I am standing upon my high place, and my eyes look upon the earthly world (see Psalms of Thomas 18)
  20. Between the concealment and the radiance, between the light and the uthras (see Qulasta prayer 68)
  21. The soul is going out ; her measure is full, and her time has come .
  22. I am redeemed, my measure is full (see Psalms of Thomas 13)
  23. A voice called out from the heights
  24. I passed by the gate of the prisoners
  25. I have a soul in the Tibil ; she is dying and sleeping in the world; she is dying and sleeping in the world
  26. Whose soul is this, who is edified and cultivated ?
  27. It is a sealed letter which goes out of the world (see Qulasta prayer 73)
  28. I am going out from my body
  29. I was saved, my measure was full
  30. At the garden gate I passed by, I heard the voice of the gardener .
  31. At the door of the house of detention, the radiance of Sunday passed by .
  32. When will my measure be full
  33. What do the good ones look like, when they go out of their body ?
  34. Whose soul is this, who is edified and cultivated ?
  35. She (the soul) spoke: They arranged me in of the Life .
  36. My measure is full and I am heading out .
  37. As a child my lifespan ended
  38. The sound, the sound of a sound
  39. Good is the Truth for the good one
  40. I hear the voice of the soul
  41. [I am] a mana from the house of the Great (Life) (see Psalms of Thomas 13)
  42. The soul, the soul of the Life speaks, Who held me down in the earthly world ?
  43. I came to my end and am sleeping (see Qulasta prayer 66 and Psalms of Thomas 6[10])
  44. My measure has come to an end and I am heading out
  45. As a child, my lifespan ended
  46. The mana weeps through the generations
  47. The mana speaks to the generations, I am a circlet of beryl
  48. I am a good one, a son of the Great (Life) I am
  49. A great radiance am I
  50. Out of a righteous place
  51. My soul longed for the Life
  52. How long hast thou been standing here ?
  53. I passed by the door of the prisoners
  54. O ye birds of the carob trees (see also Tree of Jiva and Atman in Hinduism)
  55. At the construction, at the beginning of the whole construction
  56. My measure has come to an end and I am heading out, an expert who has learnt from the watchful ones
  57. I hear the voice of a soul, who is tearing herself away from the dwelling of the evil ones
  58. I hear the voice of a soul, who is going out from the body of grossness
  59. One of children of kušṭa
  60. A being of radiance, I am a son of a being of radiance, I am a being of radiance, a son of the Mighty (Life)
  61. Whom and whom, soul didst thou
  62. At the door of the house of the Abaddons, a throne for the spirit is set up

Hymns 17 and 58 contain the following refrain:

Naked they brought me into the world,

and naked they take me out of it .

Naked they take me out of it,

like a bird that is unaccompanied by anything .

Hymns 18, 37, and 45 all contain variations of the opening line, "As a child, my lifespan ended" .

Hymn 62 contains the refrain, "Come, fall into the vessel (mana)" .

Colophon

Book 3 of the Left Ginza is followed by a colophon. There is only one colophon in the Left Ginza, whereas the Right Ginza has six colophons.[11]

Shlama beth Qidra is the earliest Mandaean scribe named in the Left Ginza's colophon. Zazai of Gawazta (AD) is not mentioned in the Left Ginza's colophon, although he is an important figure mentioned in the Right Ginza's colophons.[12]

External parallels

Qulasta

See also: Qulasta. Several of the prayers in Drower's 1959 Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans (CP),[13] mostly ʿniania ("responses") and masiqta prayers, correspond to hymns in Book 3 of the Left Ginza (GL 3):[14] [2]

GL chapter CP prayer
3.2 96
3.3 94
3.4 92
3.5 (many lines) 69
3.7 98
3.10 93
3.20 68
3.27 73
3.43 66

Psalms of Thomas

See also: Psalms of Thomas. Several of the Left Ginza hymns correspond to some of the Psalms of Thomas.[10]

GL chapter Psalms of Thomas
3.2 13, 18
3.15 2
3.22 13
3.41 13
3.43 6

Below is a comparison of Psalm of Thomas 6 and Left Ginza 3.43 (= Qulasta prayer 66).

Theodore bar Konai

Theodore bar Konai, in the Book of the Scholion (Syriac: Kṯāḇā d-ʾeskoliyon), quotes the following passage as part of the teachings of the Kentaeans. The passage has close parallels with much of Left Ginza 3.11.[16]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rudolph . Kurt . Mandaeans: ii. The Mandaean religion . Encyclopædia Iranica . 2012 . 2024-07-29.
  2. Book: Ginza Rba . Gelbert . Carlos . Lofts . Mark J. . 2011 . Living Water Books . Sydney . 9780958034630.
  3. Web site: Ginza – Die „Heilige Schrift“ der Mandäer – Edition, Übersetzung und Kommentierung des Linken Ginza (ginza smala) . DFG . de . 2024-07-29.
  4. Web site: Ginza – The „Holy Book“ of the Mandaeans. Edition, translation, commentary of the Left Ginza (ginza smala) . DFG . 2024-07-29.
  5. Häberl, Charles G. (2007). Introduction to the New Edition, in The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans, a new edition of J. Heinrich Petermann's Thesaurus s. Liber Magni, with a new introduction and a translation of the original preface by Charles G. Häberl. Gorgias Press, LLC.
  6. Book: Lidzbarski, Mark. 1925. Ginza: Der Schatz oder Das große Buch der Mandäer. Göttingen. Vandenhoek & Ruprecht.
  7. Book: Gelbert. Carlos. گینزا ربَّا = Ginza Rba. ar. Edensor Park, NSW, Australia. Living Water Books. 2021. 9780648795407.
  8. Book: Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. Oxford University Press. New York. 2002. 0-19-515385-5. 65198443.
  9. Book: van Bladel. Kevin. 2017. From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes. Leiden. Brill. 10.1163/9789004339460. 978-90-04-33943-9.
  10. Book: Säve-Söderbergh, Torgny. Studies in the Coptic Manichaean Psalm-book. 1949. Uppsala. Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri AB. 5687415.
  11. Book: Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history. Gorgias Press. Piscataway, N.J. 2010. 978-1-59333-621-9.
  12. Book: Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. Oxford University Press. New York. 2002. 0-19-515385-5. 65198443.
  13. Book: Drower, E. S.. The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. E. J. Brill. 1959. Leiden.
  14. Book: Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history. Gorgias Press. Piscataway, N.J. 2010. 978-1-59333-621-9.
  15. Allberry, C. R. C., editor & translator, with a contribution by Hugo Ibscher, Coptic Manichaean Psalm-book part II, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, 1938. The Psalms of Thomas occupy pages 203-227.
  16. Book: van Bladel. Kevin. 2017. From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes. Leiden. Brill. 10.1163/9789004339460. 978-90-04-33943-9.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Left Ginza".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.