Book of the Dead Chapter 101
Chapter 101 is an incantation for transfiguring the dead individual, making them into an 'excellent spirit'.
There are no written sources
earlier than the New Kingdom. The formula is sometimes found as a separate charm
written on a small piece of papyrus.
The version below comes from the Book of the Dead of Nu, on a papyrus now preserved in the British Museum (EA 10477) - the letter N alone stands for the name of the individual, written out in full in the original manuscripts:
r n bwt hn dd it n sA
n rx HAw n mAA irt n sDM msDr
iAty n mw pr m Hbbt
iw Xnm.n.k N Ax iqr m ist.k
wDA.k wDA.f
i. ra m rn.k pwy n ra
ir swA.k Hr irt nt mH sfx DfD n mH xmt
kA.k di.k ib n N
Dd-mdw Hr sSd n Ss-nswt sS r pn Hr.f m antyw rdi n Ax iqr r xxy.f hrw n smA
tA
Xnm.f m Smsw Hr iw smn.tw n.f xbs xft imy-spdt
wnn XAt.f m nTr Hna Xr.f r nHH
iw srwd.tw n.f bAt Hr Snbt in mnqt
in Hm n DHwty ir nn n nswt bity wsir mAa xrw
m mryt Htp Sw Hr XAt.f
formula for abhorrence of the chest, given by father to son,
placed at the breast
without those beyond knowing it, not an eye seeing, not an ear hearing.
Voyager of the water, who emerges from the cavern,
who squats on the prow of his boat,
You squat on the prow of your boat,
as you are well, he is well.
O Ra in this your name of Ra
If you pass by the eye of seven cubits, the pupil of three cubits,
If the secrets of the underworld are opened to you to guide the heart of your
group of gods,
Words spoken over a bandage of king's linen, with this formula written on it
in gum, placed at the neck of the spirit on the day of burial.
Anyone at whose neck this amulet is placed,
so that he joins the following of Horus, and a star is fixed for him facing
the one who is in Sopdet,
It is the person of Thoth who did this for the dual king Osiris true of voice
in the desire that Shu might rest upon his body.
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