InMandaeism, thenishimta (Classical Mandaic:ࡍࡉࡔࡉࡌࡕࡀnišimta; plural:nišmata) ornishma (Classical Mandaic:ࡍࡉࡔࡌࡀnišma) is the humansoul. It is can also be considered as equivalent to the "psyche" or "ego". It is distinct fromruha ('spirit'), as well as frommana ('nous'). In Mandaeism, humans are considered to be made up of the physical body (pagra), soul (nišimta), and spirit (ruha).
When aMandaean person dies, priests perform elaborate death rituals or death masses calledmasiqta in order to help guide the soul (nišimta) towards theWorld of Light. In order to pass fromTibil (Earth) to the World of Light, the soul must go through multiplemaṭarta (watch-stations, toll-stations, orpurgatories; see alsoArcs of Descent and Ascent andaraf (Islam)) before finally being reunited with thedmuta, the soul's heavenly counterpart.[1]
A successfulmasiqta merges the incarnatesoul (Classical Mandaic:ࡍࡉࡔࡉࡌࡕࡀnišimta; roughly equivalent to thepsyche or "ego" inGreek philosophy) andspirit (Classical Mandaic:ࡓࡅࡄࡀruha; roughly equivalent to thepneuma or "breath" in Greek philosophy) from the Earth (Tibil) into a new merged entity in the World of Light called theʿuṣṭuna ('trunk', a word of Indo-Iranian origin[2]: 21 ). Theʿuṣṭuna can then reunite with its heavenly, non-incarnate counterpart (or spiritual image), thedmuta, in the World of Light, where it will reside in the world of ideal counterparts (Mšunia Kušṭa).[3]
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