Part Four: Songs and Hymns for the Baptism and Death Mass (ii)
Prayers XCI through CIII form the second half of Part Four of the Qolasta — "Songs and Hymns for the Baptism and Death Mass." These are the funerary hymns sung during the masiqta, the Mandaean ceremony for raising the soul of the dead. Where the Baptismal Hymns (LXXVIII–XC) accompany the soul's entry into the community of the living, the Death Mass Hymns accompany the soul's departure from the body and ascent through the watchtowers of the archons to the Place of Light.
The collection ranges from the shortest prayer in the entire Qolasta (XCVII is two lines: "He rose up and lifted me up with him") to the extended body-litany of XCVI, where the planets target each part of the faithful — heart, eyes, mouth, hands, knees, feet — with specific corruptions, and the Life sends an escort to lead the soul across the water-channels. Several hymns have Ginza Left parallels (marked GL), indicating that these funerary songs circulated both as independent liturgical pieces and as chapters in the Mandaean scriptural canon.
With this file, Part Four of the Qolasta is complete — thirteen Baptismal Hymns and thirteen Death Mass Hymns, a perfect liturgical symmetry.
Good Works Translation from Classical Mandaic. Translated from the Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription as published in Mark Lidzbarski's edition of Bodleian MS Marsh 691 (Mandäische Liturgien, Berlin, 1920), pages 156–167 (PDF pages 186–197). Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and text-critical notes.
XCI. The Crossing
My illumination and my praise lead me across.
You who lead through the watchtower, lead me across —
the cloud of Light — and may she rise up
victoriously to the Place of Light.
XCII. The Acquittal of the Soul
In the name of the Life.
Go in peace, Chosen One, Pure —
sinless, without blemish.
You have chosen your place out of the Tibil,
and your lot has leapt from the aeons.
Leapt from the aeons is your lot;
above all the world you stand.
You said, Chosen One, Pure:
"I am a seeress, a discerner.
A seeress am I, a discerner,
and the worlds assemble for judgment.
For judgment the worlds assemble,
and they are judged —
judged are they
who have not done the works of a truthful man."
You alone, Chosen One, Pure,
you holy-shining Mana —
you shall not go to the court of judgment;
no verdict shall be spoken upon you.
No verdict shall be spoken upon you,
for you have done the works of a truthful man.
What they endure and suffer here,
you, Chosen One, shall not find before you.
Escape the power
of the planets, the rulers of this world.
Take up your garment of radiance and put it on;
set upon your head your splendid wreath.
Bow your body, bow down and stretch yourself
and praise the mighty Life.
Praise the Place of Life,
to which your fathers journey.
You, Chosen One, are not from here,
and not from here was your planting planted.
Your place is the Place of Life;
your dwelling is the Light-dwelling.
For you a throne of rest is established
where heat and rage are not.
For you a girdle is preserved
where fault and flaw are not.
Good One, rise to the House of Life;
go to the Light-dwelling.
Between the lamps of the Light
your lamps shall be drawn up and shall shine.
At your time and your appointed hour, rise up
and behold the Light-place.
The Life is upheld and is victorious,
and victorious is the man who has come here.
XCIII. The Liberation
The Mana rejoices in the treasures
and in the illumination of the Life that rests upon him.
I confessed you, you of proven righteousness,
for you freed my soul from the perishable.
XCIV. The Departure
Hail to you, hail to you, soul,
that you have left the world.
You have left the decay
and the stinking body in which you dwelt —
the dwelling, the dwelling of the wicked,
the place that is nothing but sinners,
the world of darkness,
of hatred, jealousy, and discord,
the dwelling in which the planets dwell,
who bring pain and affliction.
Pain they bring and affliction,
and daily they stir up turmoil.
Rise up, rise up, soul;
ascend to your former land.
To your former land ascend,
to the place from which you were planted,
to the place from which you were planted,
to your good dwelling of the Uthras.
Stir yourself; put on your garment of radiance
and set upon yourself your splendid wreath.
Sit upon your throne of radiance
which the Life has established at the Light-place.
Rise up; dwell in the Shekinas
among the Uthras, your brothers.
As you were accustomed, bless
your homeland,
and curse this place —
the house of your keepers.
For the years you dwelt in it,
the Seven were your adversaries.
Your adversaries were the Seven,
and the Twelve were your pursuers.
The Life is upheld and is victorious,
and victorious is the man who has come here.
XCV. The Witnesses
Sunday, Kushta, and alms —
you are witnesses of the soul.
You are her witnesses
and bring her past the tollhouse.
XCVI. The Armour of the Soul
Provided, well-provided am I;
the Uthras of the Light have provided me.
I am provided — the Life has provided me;
I am well-provided — the Uthras of the Light have provided me.
They provided me with the travel-rations of Kushta;
they equipped me with all their wisdom.
Why was Ptahil?
Why did he create the world?
Why did the plan arise,
and why have they brought me from my place?
They sent me into the world of stumbling-blocks,
which is full of knots and seals.
It is full of fire,
sown with thorns and thistles.
It is all deception,
full of fraud and lies.
The planets who dwell in it
plot evil against me daily.
Evil they plot against me
and say: "We will divide his mind."
Of my heart, which is filled with Kushta,
they say: "We will make it stumble."
Of my eyes, which look up to the Light,
they say: "They shall send strange winds."
Of my mouth, which praises the Life,
they say: "It shall speak lies."
Of my hands, which give alms and extend Kushta,
they say: "They shall murder."
Of my knees, which bow before the Life,
they say: "They shall bow before the Seven."
Of my feet, which walk the paths of Kushta and faith,
they say: "They shall go barefoot."
I lifted my eyes to the height;
with my soul I yearned toward the House of Life.
When the Life heard my call,
it sent an escort to meet me.
The escort who came to meet me
brought me a splendid garment.
He unveiled radiance and showed it to me,
and I laid down the stinking body.
He grasped me by the palm of my right hand
and led me over the water-channels.
Over the water-channels he led me;
he guided me and set me upon the Image of Life.
The Life supported the Life;
the Life found what is its own.
Its own found the Life,
and my soul found what it hoped for.
The Life is upheld and is victorious,
and victorious is the man who has come here.
XCVII. The Lifting
He rose up and lifted me up with him
and did not leave me in the lowly dwelling.
XCVIII. The Day of Departure
On the day the soul goes forth,
on the day the Perfected One ascends,
on the day the soul ascends
from beneath the wheels of death —
strife is cast
into the Tibil of perishability.
Ruha sits in mourning;
the Seven sit frozen.
The robe of the stars is torn;
dust is thrown on the head of Ruha.
The bell-ringers weep;
the watchtower-keepers are terrified.
The man who brought me here
brought me a splendid garment.
He clothed me in a garment of radiance
and covered me with a turban of Light.
He set upon me an ether-wreath
and all that the great Life grants to the Uthras.
He set me among the Uthras;
he stationed me among the Perfected.
An ether-wreath he set upon my head
and brought me solemnly from the world.
The Life supported the Life;
the Life found what is its own.
Its own found the Life,
and my soul found what it hoped for.
The Life is upheld and is victorious,
and victorious is the man who has come here.
XCIX. The Strengthening
You are established and strengthened, my Chosen Ones,
through the speech of Truth that has come to you.
The speech of Truth came to the Good;
the truthful speech came to the faithful.
My Chosen Ones, you sought and found;
again you shall seek and find.
You sought and found, my Chosen Ones,
as the First Ones sought.
You were victorious, Manda d'Hayye,
and brought victory to all your friends.
And the Life is victorious.
Here read "Blessed and praised be the Life, the blessed benediction of the souls" — the Shum bar Na (= Prayer LXX).
C. The Garden of the Life
In the building that the Life builds,
splendid trees stand.
Lovely is the fragrance of the trees,
through the fragrance of Manda d'Hayye
who rests upon them.
Here read "Blessed and praised be the Life" — the Shum bar Na (= Prayer LXXI) and "Good is the Good for the Good" (= Prayer LXXII).
CI. The Shekina
The Life founded a Shekina,
and Radiance arose in the wondrous Ether.
I and the Uthras, my brothers —
we set in order all good things.
We set in order the portion of the great Life
and brought it victoriously up to the Light-place.
CII. The Eternal Building
The building that the Life builds
perishes not in all times.
Recite this song after you have performed the union. Then say "Subdued is the darkness... and established is the Light in its place."
CIII. The Rest of the Souls
Subdued is the darkness in its place,
and established is the Light in its place.
The Life received your prayer;
the Uthras received your praise.
The alms rests with its giver;
the charity rests with its benefactor.
This soul of N.N. and the souls of this ascent rest
at the great Light-place and in the radiant dwelling.
And the Life is victorious.
Here read "With rich radiance am I baptized" (= Prayer LXIII). Then lay your hands upon him for the ascent and make a prayer for yourself.
And the Life is victorious.
Colophon
Source: Lidzbarski, Mark. Mandäische Liturgien (Mandaean Liturgies). Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Neue Folge, Band XVII, 1. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1920. Pages 156–167. Public domain.
Manuscript: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691.
Translation: Good Works Translation by NTAC (New Tianmu Anglican Church), April 2026. First free independent English translation of Qolasta Prayers XCI–CIII from Classical Mandaic.
Method: Good Works Translation. English independently derived from reading the Classical Mandaic text in Lidzbarski's Hebrew-letter transcription. Lidzbarski's German translation consulted as reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and text-critical notes. E.S. Drower's English (1959) was not consulted.
Blood Rule: The English is independently derived from the Mandaic source text. Lidzbarski's German confirmed readings but did not generate the English.
Text-critical notes: (1) Several Death Mass Hymns have Ginza Left parallels: XCI = GL 80, XCII = GL 79, XCIII = GL 87, XCIV = GL 78, XCV = GL 79 (line 67), XCVI = GL 77, XCVIII = GL 82. Prayers XCVII, XCIX, C, CI, CII appear to be original to the Qolasta liturgy without Ginza parallels. CIII is marked section 69 in Lidzbarski's continuous numbering. (2) "Seeress, discerner" (XCII) — Mandaic hazaita, parsaita. The soul speaks of herself in feminine: the Mandaic word for soul (nisimta) is grammatically feminine, and the adjectives throughout XCII follow feminine agreement. The soul is acquitted not as an abstract entity but as a person with gender, voice, and testimony. (3) "They shall send strange winds" (XCVI) — Lidzbarski marks this word as uncertain ("unbekannte"), indicating the Mandaic term is damaged or unclear in the manuscript. The context (planets corrupting the eyes that look toward the Light) suggests dark or malicious winds — evil spirits in Mandaean cosmology. (4) "They shall go barefoot" (XCVI) — the faithful walk ritual paths in sandals; "barefoot" means unprotected, stripped of ritual identity. The planets' corruption of each body part follows a precise logic: the virtue of each limb is inverted into its opposite. Heart-truth becomes stumbling. Eye-light becomes strange wind. Mouth-praise becomes lies. Hand-charity becomes murder. Knee-worship becomes idolatry. Foot-faith becomes vulnerability. (5) "N.N." (CIII) — standard liturgical placeholder for the name of the deceased. The priest inserts the specific name during the ceremony. (6) The rubric cross-references in XCIX, C, CII, and CIII link the Death Mass Hymns back to earlier prayers in the Qolasta: LXX (the Blessing of the Dead), LXXI (the Great Benediction), LXXII (the Forgiveness), and LXIII (strengthening of oil). The hymns and the main liturgy are designed to be used together — the hymnbook presupposes the prayer book. (7) Prayer XCVII is the shortest prayer in the entire Qolasta — two lines. After the elaborate body-litany of XCVI, the brevity is the point: "He rose up and lifted me up with him." The rescue needs no explanation. (8) The closing formula "The Life supported the Life; the Life found what is its own. Its own found the Life, and my soul found what it hoped for" appears twice (XCVI, XCVIII), connecting the Death Mass Hymns to the Hymns of the Mass (Prayers LXVII–LXX). (9) Part Four is now complete — thirteen Baptismal Hymns (LXXVIII–XC) and thirteen Death Mass Hymns (XCI–CIII), a liturgical symmetry: the songs for entering the community mirror the songs for leaving the body.
Scribal note: This file completes Part Four of the Qolasta — "Songs and Hymns for the Baptism and Death Mass." The thirteen Death Mass Hymns mirror the thirteen Baptismal Hymns in the first half. Together they form the Mandaean hymnbook — the songs the priest and congregation sing during the two great sacraments of life and death. The arc of the Death Mass Hymns follows the soul's journey: crossing the watchtower (XCI), acquittal from judgment (XCII), liberation (XCIII), departure from the body (XCIV), witnesses assembled (XCV), the planets' assault and the Life's rescue (XCVI), the lifting (XCVII), the cosmic upheaval of departure (XCVIII), strengthening (XCIX), the garden (C), the Shekina (CI), the eternal building (CII), and the soul's rest at the Light-place (CIII). One hundred and three of four hundred and fourteen prayers complete.
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Source Text: XCI–CIII
Classical Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription, from Mark Lidzbarski, Mandäische Liturgien (1920), pages 156–167 (PDF pages 186–197). Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691. Presented for reference and verification.
[The complete Classical Mandaic source text for Prayers XCI–CIII spans twelve pages of Lidzbarski's edition (book pages 156–167, PDF pages 186–197). The Mandaic text is freely accessible via the Internet Archive. The PDF is staged at Tulku/Tools/mandaean/lidzbarski_liturgien.pdf, pages 186–197. High-resolution 300 DPI renders of these pages are staged at Tulku/Tools/mandaean/qolasta_p186_300dpi.png through qolasta_p197_300dpi.png.]
Source Colophon
Source: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691. Hebrew-letter transcription and apparatus by Mark Lidzbarski, Mandäische Liturgien (Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Neue Folge, Band XVII, 1), Berlin, 1920.
License: Public domain (published 1920, author died 1928).
Digital source: Internet Archive, staged at Tulku/Tools/mandaean/lidzbarski_liturgien.pdf.
PDF pages: 186–197 (book pages 156–167).
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