H1 THE EGYPTION BOOK OF DEAD

“There is no happiness for the soul in the external worlds since these are perishable, true happiness
lies in that which is eternal, within us.”
― Muata Ashby, EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, the Book of Coming Forth By Day

We always find the mythologies of ancient Egyptians fascinating. The actual/original Egyptian name
of The Book of Dead was The Book of Coming Forth By Day.

The Book of Dead is yet another creation of Egyptians, it is the new age name given to the book
which consists of texts written by ancient Egyptians to guide and help the dead through the Tuat i.e.
Underworld. The Book of Dead is a series of Varity of rites, prayers and myths which contains ancient
belief of Egyptians about the underworld. Its origin is as old as pyramids as it was first inscribed on
pyramids. Afterwards, the same was written on coffin or stone or sarcophagi. Later, all these were
collected and unified into one which was written on papyrus roll. The book does not contain any life
story or the deeds of the persons buried in the tomb, but it provides them the spells so that their
soul could pass through perils of underworld and get into Egyptian Paradise. The book provides
knowledge and power to the dead, which they require during their journey.

H2 So in short the book of dead consists of writings from:-

 The Pyramid Texts

 The Coffin Texts
 The Saite Compilation and Texts in Fabrics & Papyri

H3 The Pyramid texts –

Book of forth coming is a combination of many Egyptian texts of which Pyramid texts are the oldest.
First spells and funeral rites were inscribed on pyramids and such texts were first found in the
funerary chambers of Pharaoh, Unas (old kingdom), 2350 B.C. It had important information about
Pharaoh’s survival and their care in afterlife, one can see hieroglyphs consisting sentences and
explanations to help them to become eternal or come back to life. These texts identified Osiris and
Ra, and these texts gave that one’s connection to Osiris will allow a person to come alive after life.
During ancient times only Pharaoh could write or crave texts in tomb that would ensure the dead a
good life to him in afterlife.

H3 The Coffin Texts –

The texts which were written over sarcophagi was funeral formulas. These first came into existence
during Middle Kingdom after 2055 B.C. Some of these were written on papyrus roll that might be 50-
100 ft long. Texts which were written over pyramids could only be scribbled by the Pharaohs but
texts on coffin could be written by any person. But as scribbling on coffin was more expensive this
was used by the uppermost class of people who were powerful and important.

H3 The Saite Compilation and Texts in Fabrics & Papyri –

In the 26th Dynasty it was first developed and its use was continued till the end of Ptolemaic era.
Large portion of society used these texts and it also included texts from coffins and pyramids. Then
people started writing them on fabrics which was more economical and in this was the dead had all
the information needed by him for his journey in the afterlife. Later all these prayers, rites, spells,
information was combined in papyrus, forming book which was kept with the dead in his tomb and
because of this we are now able to read all the information. Later, people standardized them in
order and numbered the spell in Book, mostly all books are incomplete but the most preserved is
Book of Dead which is also known as Ani’s Papyrus.

H2 Organisation/Structure of the Book of Coming Forth By Day/ Book Of Dead –

Earlier it didn’t have any internal structure, after the Saite period i.e. 26th dynasty there was an
introduction in the structure of the book. It consists of around 200 chapters which are divided into 4
major sections:

 Chapter 1-16 – The deceased enters tomb and goes into underworld and his body gains
power to move and speak.
 Chapter 17-63 – Explanation of origin of gods and places i.e. Egyptian Myths. It is stated that
the deceased will be able to live again with morning sun.
 Chapter 64-129 – The deceased travels around the sky in the solar barge. At the time of
sunset, the deceased visits Osiris (god of the afterlife) to be tried.
 Chapter 130-189 – If the judgement given by Osiris is in favour of the deceased he is allowed
to go to heaven with other gods.

H2 Some Selected Spells from the Book –

H3 Spell 1b of the book gives power to the deceased to enter the afterlife after his burial. T. G.
Allen, The Egyptian Book of the Dead Documents said: “As for one who knows this roll on earth or
puts it in writing on his coffin, he goes forth by day in any form he wishes and enters his place again
unhindered. There are given to him bread and beer and a chunk of meat from the altar of Re. He
arrives at the Field of Rushes, and barley and wheat are given to him there. So he shall be thriving as
he was on earth.”

H3 Spells 2 to spell 4 of the book, give the decease the power to visit the earth, visit the gods, and
travel in the sky after his death.

H3 Spell 6 of the books gives Spell for causing a shabti to do work for a man the realm of the dead.
This spell basically bind the one who has painted or craved to be the volunteer to do any labour
work required by his master or mistress in the underworld.

H3 Spells 21 to spell 23 of the book says to secure the help of several gods in opening the mouth of
the deceased, to enable him to perform functions like breathing and eating.

H3 Spell 25 of the books says Spell for causing that N be remembered in the realm of the dead. Help
the deceased’s gain back his memory.

H3 Spell 42 of the book states to put every part of the body under the protection of a god or
goddess.
H3 Spell 43 of the book give the body of deceased protection from being decapitated.

H3 Spell 44 of the book, prevents the deceased from dying the second time.

H3 Spell 125 of the book is the most important spell, the deceased has to show his innocence before
the court and gives declaration to Osiris and others that he is innocence and has not done any
caused anyone to weep.

After that he starts to address the 42 deities denying various faults to each. At this point in his trial
the deceased could triumph by speaking their secret names and places of origin, and try to gain
control over them. Here he requires the powerful magic of knowledge of the secret names and
places of origin of Osiris and the other 42 deities. By such knowledge he could get the judgement in
his favour.

Lastly he addresses his heart. Here he has no control over defence, if the heart does not confirm the
deceased innocent the person/ deceased is lost. As soon as the heart confirms his innocence, then
Horus leads the deceased in front of Osiris who assigns him a suitable place in the realm of the
blessed.

H3 Spell 130 to spell 131 of the book enables the deceased to use the boats of sunrise and sunset.

H2 Summary –

The book of dead, tries to teach us that if a person has the power of knowledge he can come back
from the underworld or afterlife. The Egyptians took great care to make sure their dead were
prepared for such a journey by using the process of mummification. The heart is considered the
most important organ in the body, and so the heart was left in the body to be used in the scale
ceremony to best determine the judgement of the deceased.

It is believed that for mortals the first earthly manifestation of Ptah is Ra, which is the sun which is
considered their God. Many names are used to refer the various faces of God all these names are
given according to their place of origin but the names which the gods give themselves are kept
hidden because that name contains their power. By a stratagem, Isis learns the hidden name of Ra
and, with a power derived from his, becomes queen of the goddesses. Her power is illustrated by
the story of her healing of her mate, the god Osiris.

Set kills his brother Osiris and cuts the body of Osiris into pieces and scatters them across northern
Africa. All these pieces are gathered by Isis and she rejoins them, and from the corpse & conceives
Horus, their son. Then she brings Osiris back to life, brings him before the gods, and brings him into
new form with new powers. It is through this rebirth that Osiris becomes the principle of birth and
rebirth. He is the fountainhead through which the earth receives life, from the first new life of
sprouting corn and all the life it brings in its turn, to the rebirth in the afterlife of the pharaohs.

All the deceased who gets rites and who does rituals are brought back in the afterlife as new forms
of Osiris and they share his glory. Their bodies are made whole and perfect just like Osiris.

Egyptian Mythology says that the first thing which the deceased need is the knowledge or
information to fight against the danger which he will face during his journey. Also, the decease
requires the knowledge to influence the 42 deities judging him during his trial in the Hall of Two
Truths which is why many are of the opinion that the material in the work gives the information that
stipulation is mingled with the idea of circumvention by sorcery in the most extraordinary manner.
The Book of Dead is not an actual book, but is a combination of mortuary texts.

Does there is life after death? Heaven exists? Do we need to go through trial to go to heaven?
Egyptian Mythology about underworld is correct? Osiris was killed by his own brother set? Heart is
the most important organ of the body which never lies? How many spells are there in Book of dead?
What is the structure of the Book of Dead? Book of Dead and the Book of coming forth by day is
same? Book of dead consist of which type of texts? Can the wrongdoer go to heaven if he has the
power of knowledge? Can any person control the 42 deities? Is the Book of Dead an actual book?
How many known texts do the book of dead consists of? Is weighing of the heart' ritual the correct
judgement for the deceased to go to the realm of the blessed? How can one become the realm of
the blessed? Do people still practice these activities? Is it worth the price they pay?

“Never forget, the words are not the reality, only reality is reality; picture symbols are the idea, words
are confusion.”

http://tombquest.wikia.com/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Dead_(Egyptian)

http://ccivcopy.site.wesleyan.edu/project-3/egyptian-funerary-texts-the-coffin-texts/

https://www.booksfact.com/mysteries/mysterious-ancient-egyptian-coffin-texts.html

http://astromic.blogspot.in/2012/05/pyramid-texts.html

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-judgement-of-the-dead-before-osiris-from-egyptian-book-of-
the-dead-83326961.html