The Diwan ḏ-Nahrawata or Diwan ḏ-Nahrauata (
Classical Mandaic: ࡃࡉࡅࡀࡍ ࡖࡍࡀࡄࡓࡀࡅࡀࡕࡀ,
lit. 'Scroll of the Rivers') is a
Mandaean religious text. It is written as an illustrated scroll.[1][2]
Contents
The scroll contains esoteric schematic diagrams of the cosmos. Well-springs are shown as small circles, mountains as triangles, and rivers as long straight lines. Illustrations in the scroll also depict
Hibil Ziwa as the grand mediator and messenger of the Life.[3]: 70
Manuscripts and translations
E. S. Drower obtained a copy of the text and later donated it to the
Bodleian Library at
Oxford University, where it was catalogued as Manuscript 7 of the
Drower Collection (abbreviated DC 7).[1] A typesetted Mandaic version of DC 7 was published by Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki in 2002.[4]
The Diwan Nahrawata is a geographical treatise[5] that focuses mainly on
esoteric cosmology.[6]Kurt Rudolph published a German translation in 1982, based on a copy held in a private library in
Dora, Baghdad that was originally from
Ahvaz.[7] It has about 3300 words and was copied by
Ram Zihrun, son of Sam Bihram, Kupašia in
Shushtar, Iran in 1259 A.H. (1843 A.D.).
References
^
abBuckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history. Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press.
ISBN978-1-59333-621-9.
^Trompf, G.; Nasoraia, B. (2011). Reflecting on the 'Rivers Scroll'. ARAM Periodical, 22(2010), 61-86.
doi:
10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131032
^Rudolph, Kurt. Der Mandäische ‘Diwan der Flüsse.’ Berlin: Abhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, philosophisch-historische Klasse, vol. 70, no. 1, 1982.