Secrets of the Ancestors


Diwan u-tafsir ḏ-razia ḏ-abahata is a Mandaean religious text. It is written as a scroll.

Manuscripts and translations

The Bodleian Library at Oxford University holds a manuscript of the text, catalogued as Ms. Asiat. Misc. C 13. The text was translated into German by Bogdan Burtea in 2012.
Bodleian MS Asiat. Misc. C 13 was copied at Mučarra in 1238 A.H. by Iahia Ram Zihrun br Mhatam. The text lists the names Barmeil, Bihdad, Bihram, Šišlam, Šišlameil, Manhareil, Nureil, Zihrun, Sahqeil, Haiil, and Reil. Bogdan Burtea's German translation is based on MS Asiat. Misc. C 13.
MS Asiat. Misc. C 13 was discovered in 1956. It is a scroll that is about 32 cm wide and 257 cm long. The text contains 378 lines and occupies about 28.5 cm in width. Illustrations take up 31.5 cm of the length. The illustrated part of the manuscript is marked by frames and is divided into two parts. The upper part with banner illustrations is about 12 cm, and the lower one with anthropomorphic figures is about 18.5 cm high. The illustrations are accompanied by short explanations written in Mandaic. The figures depicted are about 7 cm in length. The manuscript is dated to the year 1238 A.H..
As of 2022, Brikha Nasoraia is working on a translation and analysis of the scroll.

Contents

The contents of the text are:
  • Lines 1–5: Introduction
  • between lines 5 and 6: illustrations with accompanying written explanations
  • Lines 6–157: Secret teachings/instructions of the uthri
  • Lines 158–362: Interpretation of prayers and rituals
  • Lines 363–378: Colophon
The text lists the names of the following uthras in order:
The manuscript also contains illustrations of the following uthras.