Kd azil bhira dakia


In Mandaeism, kḏ azil bhira dakia is a group of 25 Mandaean prayers in the Qulasta. The prayers are commonly recited during Mandaean priest initiation ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, and other religious functions. Three prayers in Book 15 of the Right Ginza also begin with kḏ azil bhira dakia as their opening line.

Opening line

The prayers all begin with the opening line, "When/where the chosen pure one went" "to the place where the Perfected Ones dwell". Each word of can be translated as follows.
  • 'when' or 'where'
  • 'went'
  • 'chosen '
  • 'pure '
The 'chosen' or 'pure' one refers to a Mandaean priest or Nasoraean as he joins his fellow uthras in the World of Light.

Refrain

Except for prayers 244, 247, 254, and 255, all of the kḏ azil bhira dakia prayers contain the following refrain in the middle.
Mandaic transliterationEnglish translation

Published versions

In E. S. Drower's Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, they are numbered as prayer numbers 205 and 233–256, with prayers 233–256 also duplicated as prayers 261–284. In Drower, prayers 233–256 make up a total of 24 prayers ; together with prayer 205, they make up a total of 25 prayers. A revised English translation of the prayers can be found in the Qulasta by Carlos Gelbert and Mark J. Lofts.
The kḏ azil bhira dakia prayers are also duplicated in Part 3 of The Wedding of the Great Shishlam. Drower provides a full transliteration and English translation of the entire text.
Part 3 of the Oxford Collection in Mark Lidzbarski's Mandäische Liturgien (1920) contains selected portions of the kḏ azil bhira dakia prayers, which are organized into 19 separate prayers. They correspond to various parts of CP 233–240, 243–246, 250–251, 253, and 255–256 in Drower, but not CP 241–242, 247–249, 252, and 254.
All of the kḏ azil bhira dakia prayers have been published using typesetted Mandaic by Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki in Ktaba ḏ-Qabin, which makes up Part 2 in Volume 2 of Al-Mubaraki's Qulasta set.

Corresponding prayers

Corresponding prayers between Lidzbarski and Drower are as follows.
OxfordCPCP duplicate
2.32205 –
2.33205 –
3.1233 261
3.2234 262
3.3235 263
3.4236 264
3.5237 265
3.6237 265
3.7238 266
3.8239 267
3.9240 268
3.10243 271
3.11244 272
3.12244 272
3.13245 273
3.14246 274
3.15250 278
3.16251 279
3.17253 281
3.18253 281
3.19255, 256 283, 284

In the ''Ginza Rabba''

In the Right Ginza, hymns 15.15, 15.16, and 15.17 all begin with the phrase, although 15.15 and 15.16 do not have the following phrase "to the place where the Perfected Ones dwell". Right Ginza 15.17 is not in Mark Lidzbarski's 1925 German translation of the Ginza Rabba.