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The Shabuhragan was a sacred writing of the Manichaean religion, written by the founder Mani
Mani (prophet)

Mani was the founder of Manichaeism, an ancient gnostic religion that was once widespread but is now extinct. Mani was born of Iranian peoples parentage in Assuristan, located in modern-day Iraq, which was a part of the Persian Empire during Mani's life....
 (c. 210–276 CE) himself, originally in Middle Persian
Middle Persian

Middle Persian is the Iranian languages language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well....
, and dedicated to Shapur I
Shapur I

Shapur I was the second Sassanid King of the Sassanid Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 241 - 272, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 241....
 (c. 215-272 CE), the contemporary king of the Sassanid Persian Empire
Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
. The book was designed to present to King Shapur an outline of Mani's new religion, which united elements from Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism - the three dominant (and competing) religions in the newly expanded Persian Empire
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
.






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The Shabuhragan was a sacred writing of the Manichaean religion, written by the founder Mani
Mani (prophet)

Mani was the founder of Manichaeism, an ancient gnostic religion that was once widespread but is now extinct. Mani was born of Iranian peoples parentage in Assuristan, located in modern-day Iraq, which was a part of the Persian Empire during Mani's life....
 (c. 210–276 CE) himself, originally in Middle Persian
Middle Persian

Middle Persian is the Iranian languages language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well....
, and dedicated to Shapur I
Shapur I

Shapur I was the second Sassanid King of the Sassanid Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 241 - 272, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 241....
 (c. 215-272 CE), the contemporary king of the Sassanid Persian Empire
Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
. The book was designed to present to King Shapur an outline of Mani's new religion, which united elements from Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism - the three dominant (and competing) religions in the newly expanded Persian Empire
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
. Original Middle Persian fragments were discovered at Turfan
Turfan

Turfan or Tulufan is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its population was 254,900 at the end of 2003....
, and quotations were brought in Arabic by al-Biruni
Al-Biruni

, often known as 'Alberuni', 'Al Beruni' or variants, was a Persian people polymath scholar of the 11th century.He was a Islamic science and Islamic physics, an Anthropology and Comparative sociology, an Islamic astronomy and Alchemy and chemistry in Islam, a critic of Alchemy and chemistry in Islam and Islamic astrology, an encyc...
:

From aeon to aeon the apostles of God did not cease to bring here the Wisdom and the Works. Thus in one age their coming was into the countries of India through the apostle that was the Buddha; in another age, into the land of Persia through Zoroaster; in another, into the land of the West through Jesus. After that, in this last age, this revelation came down and this prophethood arrived through myself, Mani, the apostle of the true God, into the land of Babel (Babylon
Babylon

Babylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, sometimes considered an empire, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad....
 - then a province of the Persian Empire).




Sources

  • English translations of portions of the Shabuhragan can be found here.


  • Middle Persian Sources: D. N. MacKenzie, “Mani’s Šabuhragan,” pt. 1 (text and translation), BSOAS 42/3, 1979, pp. 500-34, pt. 2 (glossary and plates), BSOAS 43/2, 1980, pp. 288-310.