MAND^ANS. 786 MANDAN. jnprelr a Jpwisli sect, cons<"(|Ui'iitIy to the first century a.d. Xiildeke has indicated aomc parts that must have been composed in the Sassanid ])c- riod (226-('i.)l ). But even Oinza and Kohislti contain many elements that are evidently later than Mohammed. It is probable that certain ele- ments were at first borrowed from Christianity. JIucli old Babylonian and Persian speculation has also survived in Mand«anism. Aecordiuf: to the orignal [Milytheistic doctrine, the soul be- longs to a l)etter world, the realm of the 'first life.' and is only temporarily attached to the body in the world of matter, in which the ;;ods of light have chained the powers of darkness. This worlil is the creation of the powers of the 'second life.' who try to drag men down from the world of light. Through Manila dc llayi/e, the personified 'knowledge of life,' the soul may be brought back to its pristine state. An im- portant symbol and means of purification is the holy lustration. The relations between these Baptists on the Euphrates and John the Baptist have not yet been cleared up. He maintains a position of honor among them, and this led to the name 'Christians of Saint .John,' given by missionaries of the seventcfnth century. Not- withstanding the Christian elements in their faith, they are bitterly hostile to certain Chris- tian doctrines as well as to the Jews. They de- clare that Jcshu lleshiclui (Jesus the Messiah) and his mother, Rttcha Kudscha (the Holy Ghost), are evil spirits and the authors of all false religion. Efforts on the part of Nestorian missionaries to convert them may have caused this hostility. They have bishops, priests, and deacons, and admit women to these offices. They have a sort of Lord's Supjier and observe Sunday and fasts. They are polygamous and command the marriage of priests. The Mandaic language belongs to the Aramaic branch of the Semitic family. It is only dialectically different from the language of the Babylonian Talmud, and probably represents the Aramaic speech of Babylonia from t'pi to the Persian Gulf. Its syntax is particularly important. Even its vocabidary shows less foreign influence than the kindred .ramaic tongues. A grammar has been written by Nilldeke. The script is a form of the Syriae. closely akin to that which was carried to ^lanchuria and Mongolia by jNIesopot-imian missionaries. It seems to have been in use in the seventh and eighth centuries. At present the ilanda-ans use the Arabic lan- guage. Oiiiza was translated into Latin by Nor- berg. Tj'chsen and De Sacy translated some sec- tions of Kolasta and Sidra dc Ydhiia. Large parts of ilinza have been rendered into German by Brandt. Some of the incantations have been translated by Pognon. The religicm has been best described by Brandt. Consult: Zotenberg, Cata- logue de» manuscripts si/riaques et sabfens (man- daites) de la BihUntheque yationale (Paris, 1S74) ; Xorberg, Codex Sosarfrus Liber Adami Aitpellalus (Copenhagen, 181'2-1(!) : Petermann, Thesaurus sive Liber Magnus (Leipzig, 18G7) ; Enting. Qolnsta oder Gesiinge iind Lehren von der Taufe und dem Ausgang der Seele (Stuttgart, 18fi7) ; Xiildeke. Mnnduische Qrammntik (Halle, 187.5) : Brandt, 7)i> mandnische Religion (Leip- zig. 18fi7) : id.. Miind/iisehc Sehriften iibersetzt vnd erliiiitert (Giittingen. ISO."?) ; Lagarde, Mif- leilungen. iv.. pp. 129 sqq. (ib.. 1801) ; Pognon, Incantations motidatte.s (Paris, 1801-1001) ; Well- hausen, Rcste aralischcn Ucidentums (2d ed., Berlin, 1897); Petermann, Rciscn im Orient, vol. ii. (Leipzig, I8G1); Siouffi, Eludes sur la religion dcs tioubbas ou tiabcens (Paris, 1880) ; Bal)elon, Les Mandailes, leur histoire et leur doctrines (Paris, 1882). MANDAXAY, man'da-la. The capital of a district and division of Upper Burma, India, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, 350 miles north of Rangoon, with which it has railway, river, and telegraphic communications, and 17 miles above Amarapura, which it replaced in 18U0 as the capital of the former Ivingdom of Burma (Jlap: Burma, C 2). Since the British occupa- tion in 1885, the town has been greatly im])roved, a disastrous fire in 1892, which destroyed nearly the whole of the city, facilitating the necessary measures. It covers an area of six square miles, and is traversed by fine, shady, and welMiglitcd thoroughfares. It consists of the walled town, now called Fort DufTerin and used as the cantonment, inclosing the palace, the former resi- dence of King Theebaw, the Government house, and the hall of justice, and the extra-mural town with its numerous temples, pagodas, and monas- teries, and the grand bazaar noted for its wares and the heterogeneous and polyglot char- acter of its habitues. Silk-weaving is the chief industrv. Population, in I89I, 188,815; in 1901, I83,81(i". MANDAMUS (Lat., we command). A writ or command of >a court of competent jurisdiction in the name of the State, directed to an inferior court, an officer, corporation, or individual, re- quiring it or him to perform a public duty as re- quired by law. Historically the writ of manda- mus was at first a command of the sovereign and was without judicial character, hence it is that a mandamus is called a prerogative writ. As a purely prerogative writ its issuance was wholly .1 matter of discretion with the sovereign, and with its assumption nf the judicial character the writ remains to some extent prerogative in the sense that it is granted at the discretion of the court. By discretion, however, is meant sound legal discretion : and the writ is now regarded as a remedy to be granted in a proper case accord- ing to well-settled legal principles. The writ is a purely legal and not an equitable remedy, al- though, in connnanding things to be done, the court acts in personam, an exception to the usual practice of courts of law. See Equity. It will be issued only when the petitioner is without adequate remedy at law. and then only to compel the performance of an official public duty which the officer, after demand, has refused or failed to perform. The duty must also be clear and undoubted, and it must be purely ministerial and not judicial or discretionary' in character, for the court will not substitute for its discretion that of the officer. The procedure upon the application for the writ and its issuance is now almost wholly regulated by statute. Consult: Spelling. Treatise on Extra- ordinary Relief hi Equiii/ and Law (2d ed.. Boston. 1901) ; Wood. Treatise on the Legal Retnedies of Mandamus and Prohibition (3d ed., Albany, 1893). MAN'DAN. A city and the county-seat of iNforton County. X. D.. 5 miles from Bismarck, on the Missouri River, and on the Northern Pacific Railroad (Map: North Dakota, E 3).
