The Journal for the Study and Research into the
Mandaean Culture, Religion, and Language.
The Pure Mandaean
The Angle of Death returns to the Alma d-nhura with this shocking news that Adam refuses to do what the Great Life has commanded. He returns to the earth to once again talk with Adam. Adam tells Šauriel, “Go to my son Šitil and summon him in my stead for he is well fitted for the other world since he has nothing to do with women, has never shed blood, and in all his eighty years has lead a pure life.” (1) Šitil is still a child in the sense he has never married or had sex with a woman. He has led a pure and holy life. Adam compares himself to a ripen fruit and that “one should eat the newer greener sprouts first”. (2) I would gather that Šitil is the “greener sprout” that is preferred.
Once again Šauriel returns to deliver this message to the Great Life. Adam’s suggestion is accepted and Šauriel goes back to earth this time to talk with Šitil. He explains what has happened with Adam and the Great Life. Šitil is upset and says his father is older and should die first. “Besides, he modestly adds, I have done no mighty works”. (3) Yet Šitil accepts the will of the Great Life and out of respect to his father’s wishes, he commends his soul to Šauriel. “Šitil engages in prayer, joyfully lays aside his body of flesh and blood and puts on the dress of glory and light.”(4)
Šitil ascends to Alma d-nhura where he is granted the knowledge of wisdom and asks that his father Adam to be able to see, to hear, and to also be enlightened. Upon receiving this gift, Adam wants to immediately join Šitil and wants to die. Adam’s request is denied and Šitil sternly reprimands him, for no human may decide the hour of his or her death. Even though he was chosen to die first, Adam now that he has decided he wants to die, may not.
Šitil further states that “he himself was forced to leave prematurely, like an unborn babe, like an infant with its mouth full of milk, like a bride—all to abruptly torn away from life.” (5) Some human will die early, some later but it only the Great Life who will decide when.
It is in this final act of devotion, why Šitil is the purest of all human souls against who all Mandaean souls are weighed. Upon the scales of Abathur, Šitil waits for the souls as they come to him. “This is a portrait of Šitil son of Adam who standeth in the scale.” (6) Those that are pure and whose soul weigh light will proceed to Msunia Kušta (7) while those that are not will return to matarata.
This story contains several important lessons.
1) First the lesson that man may not take is own life. I would gather this would be a “law” against suicide.
2) Second that no human may know the hour of his or her death.
3) Third that no man may bargain for additional life. At first it appears that Adam has bargained with the Great Life for more time by offering up substitute. But as it happens, the Great Life already had that plan in place, Šitil would be the first to die.
4) The hardest lesson to be learned was that even though Adam was the first born and therefore logical that he is the first to die, death does not always follows human logic.
5) The pure soul of Šitil comes into play when Šitil offers no resistance and gladly puts down his earthly body. It is this selfishness and dedication to the Great Life that Šitil is the purest of all Mandaean souls.
6) When Šitil dies he is reborn into the World of Light. Death is not a terrible thing, it is but a passage to the World of Light. “Death means life for the knowing ones” (8)
7) Šitil is very important to the Mandaean theology. His status changes from that of a human to that of a guardian, an uthra. It is Šitil who meets the souls on the way to the Jordan. Šitil is the one who teaches man that the witness are not Sun, Fire, or Moon but the Jordan, pihta, kušta, and the mambuha. (9) We see this change in Šitil’s status when he scolds his father Adam.
8) Šitil’s devotion and obedience of his father is remarkable. This shows the bond between child and parent that is extremely strong. This is also serves as a reminder to all children to be devoted to the parents.
9) The connection between Adam and Sitil goes beyond the father and son angle. They are work one on the other to form what is the basis of humans. While Adam appears as the human DNA for all further Mandaeans, Sitil is the spiritual element.
“When they beheld the mysteries Adam and Šitil came into being and yonder they called Seth the mysteries of the soul and they called Adam the body because in that Place Adam was the blood and Seth was the soul. And in that Place Adam was darkness of the eyes and Seth was vision and Adam was Earth whilst in all the mysteries Seth is the Jordan for all of them are connected with the Jordan. “ (10)
Footnotes
(1)The Secret Adam by E,S, Drower page 34
(2) The Mandaean Šitil as an Example of “The Image Above and Below” by J.J. Buckley Numen Vol 26 1979 page 186
(3) The Secret Adam by E,S, Drower page 34
(4) The Secret Adam by E,S, Drower page 34
(5) The Mandaean Šitil as an Example of “The Image Above and Below” by J.J. Buckley Numen Vol 26 1979 page 187
(6) Diwan Abatur by E.S. Drower, page 8
(7) The Secret Adam by E,S, Drower page 35
(8) The Mandaean Šitil as an Example of “The Image Above and Below” by J.J. Buckley Numen Vol 26 1979 page 190
(9)Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans by E.S. Drower (prayer number 21)
(10) Alf Trisar Sualia by E.S. Drower page 173
