Yahya Bihram | |
|---|---|
ࡉࡀࡄࡉࡀ ࡁࡉࡄࡓࡀࡌ | |
| Title | Ganzibra |
| Personal life | |
| Born | c. 1811 |
| Died | late 1800s |
| Children | Yasmin Bana (daughter), Mhatam (son), and others |
| Parent | Adam Yuhana |
| Known for | Revival of the Mandaean priesthood |
| Other names | Yahia Bihram |
| Occupation | Mandaean priest |
| Relatives | Ram Zihrun (cousin) Bibia Mudalal (sister) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Mandaeism |
Yahya Bihram (also spelledYahiaBihram;Classical Mandaic:ࡉࡀࡄࡉࡀ ࡁࡉࡄࡓࡀࡌ) was a 19th-centuryMandaean priest. Although initially a learned layman (yalufa), he became known for reviving the Mandaean priesthood after acholera epidemic had killed all living Mandaean priests in 1831. He is mentioned in thecolophons of variousMandaean manuscripts.[1]
Yahya Bihram was born around 1811[2] as the son of the Mandaeanganzibra (high priest) Adam Yuhana (Classical Mandaic:ࡀࡃࡀࡌ ࡉࡅࡄࡀࡍࡀ), and belonged to the Qindila ("lamp"), Kamisia, and Riš Draz families. His father, Adam Yuhana, had previously served as an informant for the BritishVice-ConsulJohn George Taylor inBasra and taught him to read theGinza Rabba. Adam Yuhana also copied the manuscripts DC 12, 38, 39, 41, and 53, which are now held at theBodleian Library'sDrower Collection.
Yahya Bihram spent his childhood in Basra, in his father's large house next to Taylor's house. Taylor collected various Mandaean texts transcribed by Adam Yuhana, which were later donated to theBritish Library by Taylor's widow in 1860.[3]
From September 1831 A.D. (1247 A.H.) to January 1832, a catastrophiccholera epidemic, which Mandaeans call themuṭana (Classical Mandaic:ࡌࡅࡈࡀࡍࡀ), ravaged the lowerEuphrates andTigris regions of what is nowIraq andIran. InShushtar, Iran, about half of the city's inhabitants died. TheMandaean community was hit particularly hard, and all of their priests died in the plague, including Yahya Bihram's own father and many of his relatives. Since Mandaean priests spent much more time in the river than laypeople did, they were especially vulnerable to cholera and all succumbed to the plague as a result. Yahya Bihram toldPetermann that there were only 1,500 Mandaeans survivors immediately following the plague.[3]
Yahya Bihram, along with his elder cousin and brother-in-law (paternal uncle's son) Ram Zihrun (Classical Mandaic:ࡓࡀࡌ ࡆࡉࡄࡓࡅࡍ), were twošgandas (priest assistants) who were both also the surviving sons of deceased priests. Ram Zihrun was the son of Sam Bihram, and belonged to the ‘Aziz and Kupašia families. Together, the two of them went on to revive the Mandaean priesthood by initiating each other astarmida (junior priests), and later asganzibra (high priests), inSuq eš-Šuyuk, Iraq.[3] As a result, Mandaean manuscripts mention Yahya Bihram as the son of Ram Zihrun, since the priestly initiators of priests and scribes are typically listed as "fathers" in Mandaean spiritual genealogical lineages, rather than their biological fathers. At Suq eš-Šuyuk, they also initiated 13 otheryalufa (learned Mandaeans) as priests.[2]
Immediately after the 1831 cholera epidemic, Yahya Bihram widely traveled in the Mandaean areas of Iraq and Iran as he worked to revive the community, includingMuhammerah (Khorramshahr),Shushtar,Basra, and many other towns.[3]
While Ram Zihrun served as aganzibra priest in the towns ofShushtar andDezful inKhuzestan, Yahya Bihram stayed on to serve as aganzibra in the Mandaean quarter of Margab inSuq eš-Šuyuk (Arabic:سوق الشيوخ), a village along the lowerEuphrates located in what is nowDhi Qar Governorate in southern Iraq.[2] In Suq eš-Šuyuk, Yahya Bihram and the Mandaean community endured persecution under the local tribal chieftain Thamir ibn Ghadban during the reign of Ottoman rulerAbdülmecid I, as they underwentforced circumcisions, robberies, murders, and starvation.[3]
In 1854, the German philologistJulius Heinrich Petermann worked with Yahya Bihram inSuq eš-Šuyuk to document the Mandaean religion, culture, and language. Yahya Bihram was Petermann's primary informant. Petermann later published accounts of his travels, as well as a Latin translation of theGinza Rabba, in the 1860s.[3]
Yahya Bihram died in the late 1800s.
According to different manuscriptcolophons, his children included a daughter, Yasmin (or Yasmin Bana), and a son, Mhatam, both of whom were copyists.[3]
Yahia Bihram's sisterBibia Mudalal, who survived the 1831 cholera epidemic, was a copyist and also a priest. She was married toRam Zihrun, Yahya Bihram's priestly initiator.[2] Bibia Mudalal was also the grandmother ofSheikh Negm (or Sheikh Nejm), who copied many manuscripts forE. S. Drower. Sheikh Negm was born inHuwaiza, Iran in 1892, lived inKhorramshahr during his early youth, and moved toQal'at Saleh, Iraq in 1914.[3]
Yahia Bihram's uncle Yahia Yuhana, of the Kuhailia (Persian:Choheili) clan, was also a prominent copyist andganzibra.[3]
Ram Zihrun was the grandfather of SheikhAbdullah Khaffagi (or Abdullah Khaffaji) inAhvaz,[2] and is also the grandfather ofSheikh (Adam) Negm bar (Zakia) Zihrun, who wasE. S. Drower's primary copyist and consultant.[3]
Yahya Bihram was a prolific scribe. He copied at least six of the Mandaic manuscripts that are currently held in theDrower Collection (abbreviatedDC), a collection of Mandaic manuscripts collected byE. S. Drower during the early 1900s. These include the DC 35, 24, 47, 43, 28, 37, and 50 manuscripts:[3]
