The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran

Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore
A study of all aspects of Mandaean life, The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran remains the work that brings the people alive. No anthropologist has conducted fieldwork among the Mandaeans, not even in recent decades, and therefore Drower remains a singular figure.
"Older Mandaeans still remember Lady Drower with fondness, and for many scholars, students, and aficionados, her book The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran remains the work that brings the people alive. No anthropologist has conducted fieldwork among the Mandaeans, not even in recent decades and therefore Drower remains a singular figure. To those who eagerly and hopefully ask, 'Can I become a Mandaean? Is it possible to become a convert to the religion?' - the answer remains: no. But one may certainly study the religion, and this book offers the first step."
(A Gorgias Press reprint. Originally published by Oxford  University Press (at the Clarendon Press) in 1937.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS  
Introduction by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley
The Mandaeans (or Subba) of Iraq and Iran
Mandaean Religious Literature
Ritual Dress and Insignia
Lay Life
Marriage
Cosmogony, Astrology, and Holy-days
Baptism
The Manda or Cult-hut
The Priesthood: Consecration of the Priest, or Tarmida
The Priesthood (cont.): The High Priest or Ganzibra
Death and Rites for the souls of the dead
Eating for the Dead
The Parsi Ritual Meals