Ruha
Ruha | |
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Other names | Namrus, Ewath |
Abode | Seven Planets (Šuba), Twelve Constellations (Trisar) |
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In
Ruha is the daughter of
Names and epithets
The Ginza Rabba refers to Ruha using various epithets, such as:[1]
- Rūha Masṭanita "Ruha the Seductress"
- Rūha ḏ-Qudša "Holy Spirit"
- ḏ-Libat ʿstra Amamit "Amamit" (i.e., Venus)
Use of the term "Holy Spirit" for Ruha is primarily confined to polemical texts, and not found in esoteric or ritual scrolls.[3]
Other epithets mentioned in the Ginza Rabba are:[4]
- Amamit
- Namrus (Nimrus)
- Qananit (in Right Ginza Book 6, i.e. the Book of Dinanukht)
- Dayum (in Left Ginza 3.27)
Gelbert (2013) connects the name Ruha to the city
Children
Rūha bears a son called
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Ruha also disguised herself as Noah's wife Anhuraita, sleeping with him and giving birth to three sons, Ham, Yam, and Yafet.[1]
Cosmological role
According to Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, Ruha is a complex character who can not be simply portrayed as an evil archon.[2]
Captivity and role in creation
As part of his descent to the World of Darkness,
Ruha sleeps with Ur in a futile attempt to liberate him, giving birth to the seven planets and twelve signs of the Zodiac, with whom she expresses dissatisfaction. Ruha and Ptahil both play a role in creation, with each gaining control when the other's power subsides, but cannot animate mankind with a soul, despite providing him with their own mysteries, since Ruha represents the ambivalent "spirit" element rather than the light-world "soul" element. Adam is made after Ptahil's image, while Hawa (Eve) is made either after Adam's image or after Ruha's, depending on account. When Adam dies and ascends to the World of Life, Ruha tempts Eve to mourn his loss, and laments her own lack of gnosis of the treasures of salvation; when Eve dies and is lead to the World of Light by Hibil, Ruha bewails that Hibil takes from her everything which is desirable, leaving only that which is worthless.[3]
Founding of Jerusalem and interaction with envoys
Ruha, in command of her sons the
Ruha's other interactions with lightworld envoys such as
Redemption
In chapter 68 of the
Buckley interprets a passage in the
Revealer of gnosis
Buckley notes that Ruha's insights while still in Tibil (Earth) reflect the insights of a Mandaean gnostic.[3]
In Book 6 (also known as the "Book of
I am the Life that was from the beginning.
I am the Truth (kušṭa) which existed even earlier in the beginning.
I am radiance; I am light.
I am death; I am life.
I am darkness; I am light.
I am error; I am truth.
I am destruction; I am construction.
I am light; I am error.
I am blow; I am healing.
I am the elevated man who is older and who was there before the builder of heaven and earth.
I have no peers among kings, and there is as yet no crown in my kingdom.
There is no human being who can give me a message in the foggy clouds of darkness.
– Translated by Buckley (2002)[2] from Lidzbarski (1925), Right Ginza 6, p. 207, lines 34–42.[7]
As the spirit
Ruha can also mean '
Parallels
The story of Ruha in Mandaeism is one of the parallels to the
See also
- Krun
- Holy Spirit
- Rūḥ (Arabic cognate)
- Nishimta, the soul in Mandaeism
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Aldihisi, Sabah (2008). The story of creation in the Mandaean holy book in the Ginza Rba (PhD). University College London.
- ^ OCLC 65198443.
- ^ S2CID 162087047.
- ISBN 9780958034630.
- OCLC 853508149.
- ^ Häberl, Charles G.; McGrath, James F. (2019). The Mandaean Book of John: Text and Translation (PDF). Open Access Version. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
- ^ Lidsbarski, Mark (1925). Ginza: Der Schatz oder Das große Buch der Mandäer, Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht/Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung.
- ^ Deutsch, Nathniel (2003). Mandaean Literature. In Barnstone, Willis; Meyer, Marvin (2003). The Gnostic Bible. Boston & London: Shambhala.