An 18th-century manuscript of theScroll of Abaturin theBodleian Library,Oxford.The illustration on top depicts the shipShahratferrying Mandaean souls towards the house ofAbatur,while the lower illustration shows the tree ofShatrinwith the souls of unbaptized children.
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 aMandaeanperson dies, priests perform elaborate death rituals or death masses calledmasiqtain 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 Ascentandaraf (Islam)) before finally being reunited with thedmuta,the soul's heavenly counterpart.[1]
A successfulmasiqtamerges the incarnatesoul(Classical Mandaic:ࡍࡉࡔࡉࡌࡕࡀnišimta;roughly equivalent to thepsycheor "ego"inGreek philosophy) andspirit(Classical Mandaic:ࡓࡅࡄࡀruha;roughly equivalent to thepneumaor "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 ). Theʿuṣṭunacan 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]
