Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life

Renew：Part 8
Author：E. A. Wallis Budge
Update：08-15-2023
Tags：Religion Spirituality
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Chapter List

Chapter 1
Chapter XVII. of the Book of the Dead. It will be remembered that this Chapter consists of a series of what might almost be called articles of faith, each of which is followed by one or more explanations which represent one or more quite different opinions; the Chapter also is accompanied by a series of Vignettes. In line 110 it is said, "I am the soul which dwelleth in the two _tchafi_, [Footnote: _i.e._, the souls of Osiris and R[=a].] What is this then? It is Osiris when he goeth into Tattu (_i.e._, Busiris) and findeth there the soul of R[=a]; there the one G.o.d embraceth the other, and souls spring into being within the two _tchafi_." In the Vignette which ill.u.s.trates this pa.s.sage the souls of R[=a] and Osiris are seen in the forms of hawks standing on a pylon, and facing each other in Tattu; the former has upon his head a disk, and the latter, who is human-headed, the white crown. It is a noticeable fact that even at his meeting with R[=a] the soul of Osiris preserves the human face, the sign of his kinship with man.
Chapter of not letting the head of a man be cut off from him in the underworld," and must be of considerable antiquity. In it the deceased says: "I am the Great One, the son of the Great One; I am Fire, and the son of the Fire, to whom was given his head after it had been cut off. The head of Osiris was not taken away from him, let not the head of the deceased be taken away from him. I have knit myself together (_or_ reconst.i.tuted myself); I have made myself whole and complete; I have renewed my youth; I am Osiris, the lord of eternity."
Chapter of not letting the heart of the deceased be driven away from him in the underworld," was inscribed on a coffin of the XIth dynasty, about B.C. 2500, and in it we have the following pet.i.tion: "May naught stand up to oppose me in judgment in the presence of the lords of the trial (literally, "lords of things"); let it not be said of me and of that which I have done, "He hath done deeds against that which is very right and true"; may naught be against me in the presence of the Great G.o.d, the Lord of Amentet."
Chapter 5
Chapter CXXVI. of the Book of the Dead. The G.o.ds who are seated before a table of offerings, and Anubis, and Thoth, and [=A]m-mit, are the beings who conduct the case, so to speak, against Ani. On the other side of the balance stand Ani and his wife Thuthu with their heads reverently bent; they are depicted in human form, and wear garments and ornaments similar to those which they wore upon earth. His soul, in the form of a man-headed hawk standing upon a pylon, is present, also a man-headed, rectangular object, resting upon a pylon, which has frequently been supposed to represent the deceased in an embryonic state. In the Papyrus of Anhai two of these objects appear, one on each side of the balance; they are described as Shai and Renenet, two words which are translated by "Destiny" and "Fortune" respectively. It is most probable, as the reading of the name of the object is _Meskhenet_, and as the deity Meskhenet represents sometimes both Shai and Renenet, that the artist intended the object to represent both deities, even though we find the G.o.d Shai standing below it close to the standard of the balance. Close by the soul stand two G.o.ddesses called Meskhenet and Renenet respectively; the former is, probably, one of the four G.o.ddesses who a.s.sisted at the resurrection of Osiris, and the latter the personification of Fortune, which has already been included under the _Meskhenet_ object above, the personification of Destiny.
Chapter CXXV comes to an end. We have seen how the deceased has pa.s.sed through the ordeal of the judgment, and how the scribes provided him with hymns and prayers, and with the words of a confession with a view of facilitating his pa.s.sage through the dread Hall of the Ma[=a]ti G.o.ddesses. Unfortunately the answer which the G.o.d Osiris may be supposed to have made to his son Horus in respect of the deceased is not recorded, but there is no doubt that the Egyptian a.s.sumed that it would be favourable to him, and that permission would be accorded him to enter into each and every portion of the underworld, and to partake of all the delights which the beatified enjoyed under the rule of R[=a] and Osiris.
Chapter LII. of the Book of the Dead, which was composed with the idea of the deceased, from lack of proper food in the underworld, being obliged to eat filth, [Footnote: This idea is a survival of prehistoric times, when it was thought that if the proper sepulchral meals were not deposited at regular intervals where the KA, or "double," of the deceased could get at them it would be obliged to wander about and pick up whatever it might find to eat upon its road.] and with the object of preventing such an awful thing, the deceased says: "That which is an abomination unto me, that which is an abomination unto me, let me not eat. That which is an abomination unto me, that which is an abomination unto me, is filth; let me not be obliged to eat thereof in the place of the sepulchral cakes which are offered unto the KAU (_i.e._, "doubles"). Let it not touch my body, let me not be obliged to hold it in my hands; and let me not be compelled to tread thereon in my sandals."