Ram Zihrun (Classical Mandaic: ࡓࡀࡌ ࡆࡉࡄࡓࡅࡍ) was a 19th-century Mandaean priest. Although initially a learned layman (yalufa), he became known for reviving the Mandaean priesthood together with his cousin Yahya Bihram after a cholera epidemic had killed all living Mandaean priests in 1831. He is mentioned in the colophons of various Mandaean manuscripts.[1]
Ram Zihrun was also informally known by Mandaeans as Sheikh Abdullah.[2]: 183
Early life
Ram Zihrun was born sometime during the 18th century as the son of the Mandaean priest Sam Bihram (Classical Mandaic: ࡎࡀࡌ ࡁࡉࡄࡓࡀࡌ), and belonged to the ‘Aziz and Kupašia (Khaffagi) families.[2]
Mandaean priesthood revival
Ram Zihrun and his younger cousin Yahya Bihram were two šgandas (priest assistants) who were the surviving sons of deceased priests during the aftermath of the 1831 cholera epidemic. Together, the two of them went on to revive the Mandaean priesthood by initiating each other as tarmida (junior priests), and later as ganzibra (high priests), in Suq eš-Šuyuk, Iraq.[2] 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 other yalufa (learned Mandaeans) as priests.[3]
Ram Zihrun died sometime in the mid or late 1800s.
Family
Ram Zihrun's wife Bibia Mudalal, who was Yahya Bihram's sister, survived the 1831 cholera epidemic. Her father came from the Kamisia and Riš Draz families.[2]: 71 She was a scribe who copied the Ginza Rabba and also a priest who was likely initiated before the 1831 cholera epidemic.[3] Bibia Mudalal was also the grandmother of Sheikh Negm (or Sheikh Nejm), who copied many manuscripts for E. S. Drower. Sheikh Negm was born in Huwaiza, Iran in 1892, lived in Khorramshahr during his early youth, and moved to Qal'at Saleh, Iraq in 1914.[2]
Ram Zihrun personally copied a few of the Mandaic manuscripts that are currently held in the Drower Collection (abbreviated DC), a collection of Mandaic manuscripts collected by E. S. Drower during the early 1900s. These include the DC 7 (Scroll of the Rivers), 9 (Haran Gawaita), and 22 (Ginza Rabba) manuscripts.[2]
^ abcdefBuckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history. Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press. ISBN978-1-59333-621-9.
^ abcdBuckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-515385-5. OCLC65198443.
