Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Of Making Perfect the Khu (1)

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OF MAKING PERFECT THE KHU

[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 16).]

The Book of making perfect the Khu, which is to be recited on the day of the month. The Osiris Nu, the Overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, triumphant, saith:

“Rā riseth in his horizon, and his company of the gods follow after him. The god cometh forth out of his hidden habitations, and food falleth out of the eastern horizon of heaven at the word of the goddess Nut who maketh plain the paths of Rā, whereupon straightway the Prince goeth round about. Lift up then thyself, O thou Rā, who dwellest in thy divine shrine, draw thou into thyself the winds, inhale the north wind, swallow thou the skin(?) of thy net on the day wherein thou breathest right and truth. Thou separatest the divine followers, and thou sailest in [thy] boat to Nut; the divine princes march onward at thy word. Thou takest count of thy bones, thou gatherest together thy members, thou settest thy face toward the beautiful Amentet, and thou comest, being renewed each day. Behold, thou art that Image of gold, and thou dost possess the splendors of the disks of heaven and art terrible; thou comest, being renewed each day. Hail, the horizon rejoiceth, and there are shouts of joy in the rigging [of thy boat]; when the gods who dwell in the heavens see the Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, triumphant, they ascribe unto him as his due praises which are like unto those ascribed unto Rā. The Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, triumphant, is a divine prince and he seeketh(?) the ureret crown of Rā, and he, the only one, is strong in good fortune(?) in that supreme body which is of those divine beings who are in the presence of Rā. The Osiris Nu is strong both upon earth and in the underworld; and the Osiris Nu is strong like unto Rā every day. The Osiris Nu shall not tarry, and he shall not lie without motion in this land forever. Being doubly beautiful [he] shall see with his two eyes, and he shall hear with his two ears; rightly and truly, rightly and truly. The Osiris Nu is like unto Rā, and he setteth in order the oars [of his boat] among those who are in the train of Nu. He doth not tell that which he hath seen, and he doth not repeat that which he hath heard in the secret places. Hail, let there be shouts of joy to the Osiris Nu, who is of the divine body of Rā, as he journeyeth over Nu, and who propitiateth the Ka of the god with that which he loveth. The Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, is a hawk, the transformations of which are mighty (or manifold)."^[1]

[this chapter shall be] recited over a boat four^[2] cubits in its length and made of green porcelain [on which have been painted] the divine sovereign chiefs of the cities; and a heaven with its stars shall [also] be made, and this thou shalt have made ceremonially pure by means of natron and incense. and, behold, thou shalt make an image of ra in yellow(?) color upon a new plaque and set it at the bows of the boat. and behold, thou shalt place an image of the khu which thou dost wish to make perfect [and place it] in this boat, and thou shalt make it to travel about in the boat [which shall be made in the form of the boat] of ra; and he shall see the god ra himself therein. let not the eye of any man whatsoever look upon it with the exception of thine own self, or thy father,^[3] or thy son, and guard [this] with great care.^[4] [now these things] shall make the khu perfect in the heart of ra, and it shall give unto him power with the company of the gods; and the gods shall look upon him as a divine being like unto themselves; and mankind and the dead shall look upon him and shall fall down upon their faces, and he shall be seen in the underworld in the form of the radiance of ra.

1. The Papyrus of Nebseni has, “The Osiris Nebseni is the lord of transformations in the presence of the hawk of gold.”
2. The Papyrus of Ani has “seven cubits.”
3. The words “or thy father” are from the Papyrus of Ani.
4. These words are from the Brocklehurst Papyrus (see Naville, op. cit., Bd. II. p. 334). There are three copies of this rubric extant and no one of them is complete!