Primal Man

The Primal Man (Syriac Nāšā Qadmāyā; Middle Persian Ohrmazd Bay) is the first champion of the Light in Manichaean cosmogony and one of the religion's central figures. Evoked through the Mother of Life, he clothes himself in his five sons — the light elements Aether, Wind, Light, Water and Fire — and goes down to the boundary to confront the assault of the King of Darkness. He is overwhelmed and falls senseless, and the dark powers devour his luminous armour; yet this defeat is in truth a deliberate stratagem, for the swallowed light becomes the bait by which Darkness is later subdued. The Father then begins the Second Creation, evoking the Living Spirit, who descends and, through the cry of the Call and the Answer, raises the Primal Man back to the Realm of Light. In the Iranian-language tradition he bears the name of the Zoroastrian creator Ohrmazd, a striking instance of Mani's reuse of older divine names for new roles.

Parentage

• parent: Mother of Life

Domains

• primordial combatant
• five light elements

Powers

• to descend and give battle to the powers of Darkness
• to give up his armour of light as a lure that traps the Darkness

Epithets

• Ohrmazd BayWerner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary); Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Parables, Hymns and Prayers from Central Asia (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) (secondary)
• Nāšā QadmāyāPaul Van Lindt, The Names of Manichaean Mythological Figures: A Comparative Study on Terminology in the Coptic Sources (Studies in Oriental Religions 26) (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992) (secondary)

Relations

• subordinate to: Father of GreatnessThe Primal Man belongs to the first creation issuing ultimately from the Father of Greatness through the Mother of Life.Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary)
• ally: Living SpiritThe Living Spirit descends to the edge of Darkness and, by the Call and the Answer, draws the fallen Primal Man back up to the Light.Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary); Werner Sundermann, 'Mithra iii. In Manicheism', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2002) (secondary)

Sources

• The Primal Man (Nāšā Qadmāyā, Iranian Ohrmazd Bay) is the son of the Mother of Life who descends armoured in the five light elements to fight Darkness, is defeated and his light devoured, and is then rescued by the Living Spirit.: Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary); Werner Sundermann, 'Cosmogony and Cosmology iii. In Manicheism', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 1993) (secondary); Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu (eds.), Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) (secondary)