Description:

240 BC

THE PAPYRUS OF ANI

THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD

Translated by E.A. Wallis Budge

 

Part 46

  (From the Saite Recension, ed. Lepsius, Bl. V)

  Homage to thee, O thou who comest as Tem, who didst come into

being to create the Company of the Gods.

  Homage to thee, O thou who comest as the Soul of Souls, the Holy One

in Amentet.

  Homage to thee, O President of the Gods, who illuminest the Tuat

with thy beauties.

  Homage to thee, O thou who comest as the Light-god, who travellest

in thy Disk.

  Homage to thee, O thou greatest of all gods, who are crowned King in

heaven, Governor in the Tuat.

  Homage to thee, O thou who makest a way through the Tuat, who dost

lead the way through all doors.

  Homage to thee, O thou who art among the gods, who dost weigh

words in Khert-Neter.

  Homage to thee, O thou who dwellest in thy secret places, who dost

fashion the Tuat with thy might.

  Homage to thee, O great one, O mighty one, thine enemies have fallen

in places where they were smitten.

  Homage to thee, O thou who hast hacked the Sebau-fiends in pieces,

and hast annihilated Aapep.

  Grant thou the sweet breeze of the north wind to the Osiris

Auf-ankh, whose word is truth.

  A HYMN OF PRAISE TO RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE EASTERN PART OF HEAVEN.

Those who are in his following rejoice, and the Osiris, the scribe

Ani, whose word is truth, saith:- Hail, thou Disk, thou lord of

rays, who risest on the horizon day by day. Shine thou with thy

beams of light upon the face of the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth,

for he singeth hymns of praise to thee at dawn, and he maketh thee

to sit at eventide [with words of adoration]. May the soul of the

Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, come forth with thee into heaven! May

he set out with thee in the Matet Boat [in the morning], may he come

into port in the Sektet Boat [in the evening], and may he cleave his

path among the stars of heaven which never rest.

  The Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, being at peace [with his

god], maketh adoration to his Lord, the Lord of Eternity, and

saith:- Homage to thee, O Heru-khuti, who art the god Khepera, the

self-created. When thou risest on the horizon and sheddest thy beams

of light upon the Lands of the South and of the North, thou art

beautiful, yea beautiful, and all the gods rejoice when they behold

thee, the king of heaven. The goddess, the Lady of the Hour, is

stablished upon thy head, her Uraei of the South and of the North

are upon thy brow, and she taketh up her place before thee. The god

Thoth is stablished in the bows of thy boat to destroy utterly all thy

foes. Those who dwell in the Tuat come forth to meet thee, and they

bow to the earth in homage as they come towards thee, to look upon thy

beautiful Form. And I, Ani, have come into thy presence, so that I may

be with thee, and may behold thy Disk every day. Let me not be kept

captive [by the tomb], and let me not be turned back [on my way].

Let the members of my body be made new again when I contemplate thy

beauties, even as are the members of all thy favoured ones, because

I am one of those who worshipped thee upon earth. Let me arrive in the

Land of Eternity, let me enter into the Land of Everlastingness. This,

O my Lord, behold thou shalt ordain for me.

  AND MOREOVER, THE OSIRIS ANI, WHOSE WORD IS TRUTH, IN PEACE, THE

TRUTH-SPEAKER, SAITH:- Homage to thee, O thou who risest on thy

horizon in the form of Ra, who restest upon Law, [which can neither be

changed nor altered]. Thou passest over the sky, and every face,

watcheth thee and thy course, for thou thyself art hidden from their

gaze. Thou dost show thyself [to them] at dawn and at eventide each

day. The Sektet Boat, wherein Thy Majesty dwelleth, setteth forth on

its journey with vigour. Thy beams [fall] upon all faces, thy light

with its manifold colours is incomprehensible [to man], and thy

brilliant rays cannot be reported. The Lands of the Gods see thee,

they could write [concerning thee]; the Deserts of Punt could count

thee. Thy creation is hidden. It is one by the opening of thy mouth.

Thy form is the head of Nu. May he (Ani) advance, even as thou dost

advance, without cessation, even as Thy Majesty [ceaseth not to

advance] even for a moment. With great strides thou dost in one little

moment pass over limitless distances which would need millions and

hundreds of thousands of years [for a man to pass over; this] thou

doest, and then thou sinkest to rest. Thou bringest to an end the

hours of the night, even as thou stridest over them. Thou bringest

them to an end by thine own ordinance, and dawn cometh on the earth.

Thou settest thyself before thy handiwork in the form of Ra, and

thou rollest up on the horizon....... Thou sendest forth light when

thy form raiseth itself up, thou ordainest the increase of thy

splendours. Thou mouldest thy limbs as thou advancest, thou bringest

them forth, thou who wast never brought forth, in the form of Ra,

who rolleth up into the height of heaven. Grant thou that I may

reach the heaven of eternity, and the region where thy favoured ones

dwell. May I unite with those holy and perfect Spirit-souls of

Khert-Neter. May I come forth with them to behold thy beauties as thou

rollest on at eventide, as thou journeyest to thy mother Nut (the

Night-sky), and dost place thyself at the right hand (in the West). My

two hands are raised to thee in praise and thanksgiving when thou

settest in life. Behold, thou art the Creator of Eternity, who art

adored when thou settest in Nu. I have set thee in my heart, without

wavering, O thou who art more divine than the gods.

  The Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, saith:- Praise and thanksgiving

be unto thee, O thou who rollest on like unto gold, thou Illuminer

of the Two Lands on the day of thy birth. Thy mother brought thee

forth on her hand, and thou didst light up with splendour the circle

which is travelled over by the Disk. O Great Light who rollest

across Nu, thou dost raise up the generations of men from the deep

source of thy waters, and dost make to keep festivals all districts

and cities, and all habitations. Thou protectest [them] with thy

beauties. Thy KA riseth up with the celestial food hu and tchefau. O

thou mightily victorious one, thou Power of Powers, who makest

strong thy throne against the sinful ones, whose risings on thy throne

in the Sektet Boat are mighty, whose strength is widespread in the

Atett Boat, make thou the Osiris Ani to be glorious by virtue of his

word, which is truth, in Khert-Neter. Grant thou that he may be in

Amentet free from evil, and let [his] offences be [set] behind thee.

Grant thou that he may [live there] a devoted slave of the

Spirit-souls. Let him mingle among the Heart-souls who live in

Ta-tchesert (the Holy Land). Let him travel about in the Sekhet-Aaru

(the Elysian Fields), conformably to [thy] decree with joy of heart-

him the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth.

  [And the god maketh answer]:--Thou shalt come forth into heaven,

thou shalt sail over the sky, and thou shalt hold loving intercourse

with the Star-gods. Praises shall be made to thee in the Boat. Thy

name shall be proclaimed in the Atett Boat. Thou shalt look upon Ra

within his shrine. Thou shalt make the Disk to set [with prayer] every

day. Thou shalt see the Ant Fish in his transformations in the

depths of the waters of turquoise. Thou shalt see the Abtu Fish in his

time. It shall be that the Evil One shall fall when he deviseth a plan

to destroy thee, and the joints of his neck and back shall be hacked

asunder. Ra saileth with a fair wind, and the Sektet Boat

progresseth and cometh into port. The mariners of Ra rejoice, and

the heart of the Lady of the Hour is glad, for the enemy of her Lord

hath been cast to the ground. Thou shalt behold Horus standing on

the pilot's place in the Boat, and Thoth and Maat shall stand one on

each side of him. All the gods shall rejoice when they behold Ra

coming in peace to make the hearts of the Spirit-souls to live, and

the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, the assessor of the holy

offerings of the Lords of Thebes, shall be with them!