Zihrun Raza Kasia

The Šarḥ ḏ-Zihrun Raza Kasia is a Mandaean religious text that describes rituals such as the masbuta, masiqta, and other related topics. It is an illustrated scroll.
Zihrun is the name of an uthra.
The name Zihrun Raza Kasia is also mentioned in the Mandaean prayer Asut Malkia.

Manuscripts and translations

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

The contents of the DC 27 scroll are:

Lines 1–22: Introduction
Lines 23–190: The baptism 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 from unclean deaths, such as during one of the minor mbaṭṭal days, or from snakebite, attacks by wild animals, or insect bites.

Ritual and prayer sequences

Below is the ritual and prayer sequence for both the Masiqta and Masbuta of Zihrun Raza Kasia in the Šarḥ ḏ-Zihrun Raza Kasia, as summarized in Burtea. All prayer numbers, originally in Roman numerals, are from Part 1 of Mark Lidzbarski's unless otherwise specified.

Masiqta of Zihrun Raza Kasia

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

Ritual/Action	Prayers recited
rising
raising the crown	1, 3, 5, 19
wrapping mouth-covering cloth	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 hamra
recitation	54
remove the pandama	55–56
eat the pihta
drinking mambuha
drinking halalta
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 hamra	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
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 hamra	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 hamra
dip the pihta in hamra
recitation	54
remove the pandama	55
eat pihta and drink hamra
put incense into the fire	56
recitation	57–58
setting the table	59–60
recitation	61–69, 91–99, 70, 100
recitation	71–72
recitation	sinner, rahmia
performing kušṭa	30f.
recitation	101–103, 63, 3
not honoring the crown
recitation	108
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:

Masbuta of Zihrun Raza Kasia

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

Conclusion

Summary of the entire masbuta prayer sequence listed above:

Illustrations

Zihrun Raza Kasia contains two large illustrations: one depicting uthras, and another one depicting plants.

Uthras

Below is an illustration of uthras in the World of Light in Zihrun Raza Kasia. Clockwise starting from the top-center figure : Nidbai Rba, riha, Adatan Rba, Iadatan Rba, Hibil Ziua, ašganda, Mara ḏ-Rabuta, Anuš Rba, Šilmai Rba.

Plants

Below is an illustration of heavenly garden with trees and plants in Zihrun Raza Kasia. All plant names are masculine except for šušmia and hiṭia, which are feminine . Various kinds of plants are depicted: the date palm, fig, grape, myrtle, olive, pomegranate, quince, sesame, walnut, and wheat, along with incense.

Left column – plants from top to bottom: šušmia, guṭaipa, amuza, rmana, spargla
Middle column – sindirka ; riha
Right column – plants from top to bottom: ʿlana, hiṭia, zaita, tinta, ''asa''