Qulasta


The Qulasta, also spelled Qolastā in older sources, is a compilation of Mandaean prayers. The Mandaic word qolastā means "collection".
The prayerbook is a collection of Mandaic prayers regarding baptisms and other sacred rituals involved in the ascension of the soul. In Mandaic, individual prayers are generally called butha, although some prayers also known as qaiamta, šrita, and other Mandaic designations. There is no standardized version of the Qulasta; different versions can contain varying numbers of prayers, and ordering of the prayers can also vary. The most commonly used Qulasta versions are those of E. S. Drower and Mark Lidzbarski. Excluding duplicates, the most complete versions have approximately 340 prayers, depending on how variants and duplicates are counted.
Eric Segelberg contains a detailed study of many of the first 90 Qulasta prayers as used in Mandaean rituals.

Date

The Qulasta, and two other key texts to Mandaic literature, the Mandaean Book of John and the Ginza Rabba, may have been compiled together. However, their date of authorship is heavily debated, some believing it to be during the second and third centuries, and others believing it to be conceived during the first century. A study of the colophons of this text would appear to push back a date to the third century at the latest.
In the first colophon of the Qulasta, Nukraya, son of Šitil, a scribe from the earliest part of the Islamic period, wrote that he copied the text while consulting at least seven manuscripts. One of them belonged to "a library in a house of 'a People of the Book'", while another originated from "a town of Byzantines", indicating that Mandaean liturgical texts were being kept in non-Mandaean libraries at the start of the Islamic period.
In 1949, Torgny Säve-Söderbergh argued that at many passages in the Manichaean Psalms of Thomas were paraphrases or even word-by-word translations of Mandaean prayers in the Qulasta. Säve-Söderbergh also argued that the Manichaean psalms had borrowed from Mandaean sources rather than vice versa. As a result, much of the Qulasta can be dated to before the 3rd century, i.e. before Mani's lifetime. However, some scholars such as Kevin van Bladel believe that the material shared with the Psalms of Thomas may only be the use of a common source, and that the text as a whole may date considerably later. Van Bladel also argues that the present form of the text must post-date the early Muslim conquests at minimum, given the references made in the Qulasta to the advancement of the Arab armies.

Translations and manuscripts

In 1867, Julius Euting published a printed Mandaic version of the Qolasta.
The Qulasta has been translated into English by E. S. Drower in 1959 and by Mark Lidzbarski into German in 1920. Lidzbarski's translation was based on two manuscripts, including Ms. Syr. F. 2 held at the Bodleian Library, which he called "Roll F."
E. S. Drower's version of the Qulasta contains 414 prayers, which was based on manuscript 53 of the Drower Collection. The fragmentary DC 3, which is an incomplete codex of the Qulasta, was also consulted by Drower. DC 53 was copied in 1802 by the ganzibra Adam Yuhana, the father of Yahia Bihram, in Huwaiza, Khuzistan. The manuscript was purchased by Drower in 1954.
In 2002, Carlos Gelbert translated the 103 prayers from Lidzbarki's Mandäische Liturgien into Arabic. A typesetted Mandaic version has also been published in 1998 by Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki.
In 2025, Carlos Gelbert and Mark J. Lofts published a full English translation titled The Qulasta, which includes all of the prayers in Drower.

Contents

''Mandäische Liturgien'' (Lidzbarski 1920)

Part 1 of Mark Lidzbarski's , titled the Qolastā, has only 103 prayers. Part 2 includes 4 books from the "Oxford Collection," with 60, 33, 19, and 20 prayers respectively for books 1-4. Part 2 has 132 prayers total; combined, Part 1 and Part 2 have 235 prayers. All of the prayers have the original Mandaic transcribed in Hebrew letters side-by-side with their respective German translations.
;Mandäische Liturgien contents
  • Part 1: Qolastā
  • *Book 1 : Masbuta liturgy
  • *Book 2 : Masiqta liturgy
  • *Book 3 : 3 prayers for masbuta and masiqta
  • *Book 4 : Songs and hymns for masbuta and masiqta
  • Part 2: Oxford Collection
  • *Book 1: 60 rahma devotional prayers which correspond to CP 106–160, 165–169 in Drower.
  • *Book 2: 33 marriage prayers. The first 20 prayers correspond to CP 180–199 in Drower, while the remaining correspond to various parts of CP 201–205.
  • *Book 3: 19 prayers which correspond to various parts of CP 233–240, 243–246, 250–251, 253, 255 in Drower.
  • *Book 4: 20 drabsha prayers which correspond to CP 329–347 in Drower.
CP 104–105, 161–164, 170–179, 200, 305–328, 348–385, and various other prayers in Drower are not found in Lidzbarski.
Lidzbarski's Mandäische Liturgien differs substantially from Drower's Canonical Prayerbook, since different manuscripts had been consulted.
A detailed outline of the contents of the Oxford Collection, along with corresponding CP prayer numbers in Drower, is provided in the section below.

Oxford Collection

The 2nd section of Lidzbarski's 1920 book consists of the Oxford Collection, a 4-part collection of 132 prayers.
  • Part 1 :
  • *Prayers for the times of the day : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
  • *Sunday prayers : 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
  • *Monday prayers : 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
  • *Tuesday prayers : 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
  • *Wednesday prayers : 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37
  • *Thursday prayers : 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43
  • *Friday prayers : 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
  • *Saturday prayers : 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55
  • *Prayers of the fruit of ether : 56, 57, 58, 59, 60
  • Part 2 :
  • *: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
  • *:
  • **: 21, 22, 23
  • **: 24, 25, 26
  • **: 27, 28, 29
  • **: 30, 31
  • **: 32, 33
  • Part 3 :
  • *: 1, 2, 3, 4
  • *: 5, 6
  • *: 7, 8, 9
  • *: 10
  • *: 11, 12
  • *: 13, 14
  • *: 15, 16
  • *: 17, 18
  • *: 19
  • Part 4 :
  • *Prayers for unfurling the drabsha : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
  • *Prayers for carrying the drabsha : 8, 9
  • *Prayers for carrying the drabsha : 10, 11, 12, 13
  • *Prayer for holding the drabsha : 14
  • *Prayer before the baptism : 15
  • *Prayers after the baptism : 16, 17
  • *Prayers for wrapping the drabsha : 18, 19
  • *Prayer for loosening the crown : 20

    ''Canonical Prayerbook'' (Drower 1959)

The 414 prayers in E. S. Drower's 1959 are categorized into the following sections.
Mandaeans typically refer to their canonical prayers as being part of the sections listed below, rather than as part of the "Qulasta".
Prayer numbersSection
1–31Book of Souls
32–72Book of Souls
73–74The Letter prayers
75–77Hymns of praise
78–103The Responses
104Rušma
105Salutation of Kings
106–169Rahmia
170Ṭab ṭaba lṭabia
171–172Hymns of praise etc.
173Šumhata
174–176Hymns of praise etc.
177Little New Year's Feast prayer
178Prayer for "honoring" the crown
179–232Hymns for marriage
233–256Kḏ azil Bhira Dakia
257–304Hymns for marriage and a new priest
305–329Coronation prayers and hymns
330–347Drabša prayers and hymns
348–374Zidqa Brika prayers and hymns
375–381Blessings on the chief celebrant after Blessed Oblation
382–385Myrtle prayers and hymns
386–409Repetitions of coronation prayers and hymns
410Prayer of Yahia
411–414Miscellaneous hymns

There are 8 colophons in DC 53, which means that the manuscript had originally consisted of at least 8 separate texts. As a result, Buckley provides the following outline for Drower's Canonical Prayerbook based on the DC 53 colophons:
  • Part 1, the Book of Souls : CP 1–74, dates to the 3rd century
  • *CP 1–31: the baptismal liturgy
  • *CP 32–72: the masiqta prayers
  • *CP 73–74: the 2 "Letter" prayers
  • Part 2: CP 75–77: 3 long prayers of praise
  • Part 3: CP 78–103: the "responses"
  • Part 4: CP 104–169
  • *CP 104: a rušuma, i.e., "signing" prayer
  • *CP 105: "The Healing of Kings"
  • *CP 106–164: the rahmas, "devotions," prayed 3 times a day
  • *CP 165–169: "The Fruits of Ether"
  • Part 5: CP 170–199
  • *CP 170: Ṭabahatan, "Our Ancestors"
  • *CP 171–178
  • *CP 179: acrostic prayer
  • *CP 180–199: prayers for priest initiation and for the marriage ceremony
  • Part 6: CP 200–284
  • *CP 200–232
  • *CP 233–256: priest initiation prayers
  • *CP 257–284
  • Part 7: CP 285–304
  • Part 8: CP 305–329: priest initiation prayers
  • Remaining part : CP 330–414
  • *CP 330–347: drabša prayers
  • *CP 348–374: zidqa brikha prayers
  • *CP 375–381: prayers after zidqa brikha
  • *CP 382–385: myrtle prayers
  • *CP 386–409: duplicates of CP 305–329
  • *CP 410: prayer of Yahya
  • *CP 411–414: miscellaneous prayers

    ''Qulasta'' (Al-Mubaraki 2010)

has published a two-volume set of Qulasta prayers containing the printed Mandaic text of the prayers. It was originally published in 1998 and 1999, and republished in 2010 as an electronic CD-ROM version. Volume 1 corresponds to Part 1 of Lidzbarski, and Volume 2 partially corresponds to Part 2 of Lidzbarski. The contents are as follows, with Drower's CP numbers provided as well. The prayers in Al-Mubaraki's Qulasta correspond to prayers 1–259 and 410 in Drower.
Note that a zhara is a name insertion used by the person reciting the prayer.
  • Sidra ḏ-Nišmata
  • *maṣbuta: 1–31
  • *masiqta: 32–72
  • *engirta: 73–74
  • *bauata ḏ-tušbihta : 75–103
  • Ktaba ḏ-Eniania
  • *rušuma: 104
  • *asut malkia: 105
  • *rahmia: 106–118
  • *rahmia ḏ-iumia : 119–164
  • **iuma ḏ-habšaba : 119–124
  • **iuma ḏ-trin habšaba : 125–130
  • **iuma ḏ-tlata habšaba : 131–136
  • **iuma ḏ-arba habšaba : 137–142
  • **iuma ḏ-hamša habšaba : 143–148
  • **iuma ḏ-rhaṭia : 149–154
  • **iuma ḏ-šapta : 155–162
  • **iuma ḏ-habšaba : 163–164
  • *abatar bauata ḏ-iumia
  • **165–169
  • **zhara
  • **170–174
  • **2, 4, 6
  • **178
  • **410
  • **175–177
  • Ktaba ḏ-Qabin
  • *bauata ḏ-qabin: 179–232
  • *kḏ azil bhira dakia: 233–256
  • *zharia ḏ-hušbania ḏ-iumia
  • **Sunday to Saturday zharia
  • **zhara ḏ-nasakia
  • **257–259
  • **''zhara''