Yahya Bihram
Basra Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Iraq) | |
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Religion | Mandaeism |
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) |
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Yahya Bihram (also spelled Yahia
Early life
Yahya Bihram was born around 1811
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 the British Library by Taylor's widow in 1860.[3]
1831 cholera epidemic
From September 1831 A.D. (1247 A.H.) to January 1832, a catastrophic
Mandaean priesthood revival
Yahya Bihram, along with his elder cousin and brother-in-law (paternal uncle's son) Ram Zihrun (
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, including
As priest
While Ram Zihrun served as a
In 1854, the German philologist Julius Heinrich Petermann worked with Yahya Bihram in Suq 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 the Ginza Rabba, in the 1860s.[3]
Yahya Bihram died in the late 1800s.
Family
According to different manuscript colophons, his children included a daughter, Yasmin (or Yasmin Bana), and a son, Mhatam, both of whom were copyists.[3]
Yahia Bihram's sister
Yahia Bihram's uncle Yahia Yuhana, of the Kuhailia (Persian: Choheili) clan, was also a prominent copyist and ganzibra.[3]
Ram Zihrun was the grandfather of Sheikh Abdullah Khaffagi (or Abdullah Khaffaji) in Ahvaz,[2] and is also the grandfather of Sheikh (Adam) Negm bar (Zakia) Zihrun, who was E. S. Drower's primary copyist and consultant.[3]
Work as scribe
Yahya Bihram was a prolific scribe. He copied at least six of the Mandaic manuscripts that are currently held in the
- DC 35, The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa (MHZ): copied in 1831[4]
- DC 24, Scroll of the Parwanaya: copied in 1832 at his sister's son's house, in Muhammerah (now Khorramshahr)
- DC 47, Pišra ḏ-Šambra "A Phylactery for Rue", copied in 1833
- DC 43, The Poor Priest’s Treasury, copied in 1853
- DC 28, Pišra d-Bit Mišqal Ainia "The Exorcism of ‘I sought to lift my eyes’": copied in 1855 together with Ram Zihrun, probably in Amarah
- DC 37, "The Exorcism of the Great Overthrower": copied in 1861
- DC 50, "Scroll of the Great Baptism": copied in 1867
- Code Sabéen 4 (Paris Ms. D)
See also
- Bihram
- Ram Zihrun
- Negm bar Zahroon
- List of Mandaean priests (includes many of Yahya Bihram's relatives)
References
- doi:10.1086/463572.
- ^ OCLC 65198443.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59333-621-9.
- ISSN 1356-1863.