CHAPTER CLXV.
Chapter of landing and not being obscured, so that the body may prosper in drinking water.([1])
O the very high one, the great one,
Amen, Amen, the lion Kasapa,
The first-born of the gods on the East of the sky.
Amon of the Takruti,
Amon who hides his colours, whose forms are mysterious, and who is master of the horns of Horus,
The great one of Nut.
Kaarki is thy name,
Kasaka is thy name,
The Sphinx is thy name,
Kasabaka is thy name.
Amon of the Ankak Takashar, Amon the sphinx is thy name. O Amon! I implore thee. Behold, I know thy name; thy forms are in my mouth,([2]) and thy colours in my eyes.
Come towards thy offspring, thy form, Osiris N. Bring him towards the gate of eternity, grant him to rest in the Tuat; that his flesh may be entire in the Netherworld; that his soul may be powerful, that his body may be complete,([3]) that he may be free from the society of the wicked one, that he may never be fettered.
I implore thy name, and thou art a shield for me; for thou believest that I know thee.
O great one, great one,
Amon (the hidden one) is thy name,
Rukashaka is thy name,
Thou art for me a shield.
Baarkai is thy name,
Markata is thy name,
The Sphinx is thy name,
Nasakabuba is thy name,
Tanasasa is thy name,
Sharshatakata is thy name.
Amon, Amon, O God, O God, Amon.
I implore thy name, and as I have given thee to understand (that I know thee), grant me to rest in the Tuat, and that all my limbs be reunited.
Said by the Spirit which is in Nut: I am doing, I am doing all thou hast said.
Said on the figure with raised arm. There are plumes on its head; its legs are apart; its torso is a scarab. It is painted in blue with liquid gum.
Said also on a figure the middle part of which is that of a man; his arms are hanging down. The head of a ram is on his right shoulder, and another on his left shoulder. Thou wilt paint on one bandage the two figures of the god with raised arm, and put it across the chest of the deceased, so that the two painted figures may be on his breast.
He to whom this has been done, the impure ones in the Tuat can do nothing to him. He drinks the running water of the stream, he shines like a star in the sky.([4])
Notes.
The vignettes consist of the amulets described in the rubrics.
[1.] The explanation to this extraordinary title seems to be given in the last sentence of the rubric, where it is said of the deceased: “he drinks the running water of the stream, he shines like a star in the sky.” The amulet for which this text was written will prevent the deceased, who is to be as bright as a star, from having his light taken from him, from being obscured. The other blessing conferred upon him is that of drinking water of the stream. It is difficult to say why these two blessings alone are mentioned.
[2.] I am ready to utter the names of thy different forms, and I see thy various colours.
[3.] That his body may be reconstituted. It is curious to find in so late texts a vague remembrance of what seems to have been the prevalent custom in prehistoric times, and perhaps also during the Thinite period: the dismemberment of the body of the deceased. This custom was so entirely superseded by the opposite process, the mummification and the careful preservation of the body, that the old tradition is always mentioned with horror and disgust. The Book of the Dead is full of objurgations against the dismemberment of the body.
[4.] The Turin Todtenbuch ends here.