Address To The Gods Of The Underworld

[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 24).]

[THEN SHALL THE HEART WHICH IS RIGHTEOUS AND SINLESS SAY:](101)

The overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, Nu, triumphant,
saith:

“Homage to you, O ye gods who dwell in the Hall of double Maāti, I, even
I, know you, and I know your names. Let me not fall under your knives of
slaughter, and bring ye not forward my wickedness unto the god in whose
train ye are; and let not evil hap come upon me by your means. Oh, declare
ye me right and true in the presence of Neb-er-tcher, because I have done
that which is right and true in Ta-mera (Egypt). I have not cursed God,
and let not evil hap come upon me through the king who dwelleth in my day.
Homage to you, O ye gods, who dwell in the Hall of double Maāti, who are
without evil in your bodies, and who live upon right and truth, and who
feed yourselves upon right and truth in the presence of the god Horus, who
dwelleth in his divine Disk: deliver ye me from the god Baba who feedeth
upon the entrails of the mighty ones upon the day of the great judgment.
Oh, grant ye that I may come to you, for I have not committed faults, I
have not sinned, I have not done evil, I have not borne false witness;
therefore let nothing [evil] be done unto me. I live upon right and truth,
and I feed upon right and truth. I have performed the commandments of men
[as well as] the things whereat are gratified the gods, I have made the
gods to be at peace [with me by doing] that which is his will. I have
given bread to the hungry man, and water to the thirsty man, and apparel
to the naked man, and a boat to the [shipwrecked] mariner. I have made
holy offerings to the gods, and sepulchral meals to the _Khu_s. Be ye then
my deliverers, be ye then my protectors, and make ye not accusation
against me in the presence of [the great god]. I am clean of mouth and
clean of hands; therefore let it be said unto me by those who shall behold
me, ‘Come in peace; come in peace,’ for I have heard that mighty word
which the spiritual bodies (_sāhu_)(102) spake unto the Cat in the House
of Hapt-re. I have been made to give evidence before the god Hra-f-ha-f
(_i.e._, he whose face is behind him), and he hath given a decision
[concerning me]. I have seen the things over which the persea tree
spreadeth [its branches] within Re-stau. I am he who hath offered up
prayers to the gods and who knoweth their persons. I have come and I have
advanced to make the declaration of right and truth, and to set the
balance upon what supporteth it within the region of Aukert. Hail, thou
who art exalted upon thy standard, thou lord of the _Atefu_ crown, whose
name is proclaimed as ‘Lord of the winds,’ deliver thou me from thy divine
messengers who cause dire deeds to happen, and who cause calamities to
come into being, and who are without coverings for their faces, for I have
done that which is right and true for the Lord of right and truth. I have
purified myself and my breast with libations, and my hinder parts with the
things which make clean, and my inner parts have been in the Pool of Right
and Truth. There is no single member of mine which lacketh right and
truth. I have been purified in the Pool of the South, and I have rested in
the northern city which is in the Field of the Grasshoppers, wherein the
divine sailors of Rā bathe at the second hour of the night and at the
third hour of the day. And the hearts of the gods are gratified(?) after
they have passed through it, whether it be by night, or whether it be by
day, and they say unto me, ‘Let thyself come forward.’ And they say unto
me, ‘Who, then, art thou?’ And they say unto me, ‘What is thy name?’ ‘I am
he who is equipped under the flowers [and I am] the dweller in his
olive-tree,’ is my name. And they say unto me straightway, ‘Pass thou on’;
and I passed on by thy city to the north of the olive-tree. What, then,
didst thou see there? The leg and the thigh. What, then, didst thou say
unto them? Let me see rejoicings in those lands of the Tenkhu.(103) And
what did they give unto thee? A flame of fire and a tablet (or sceptre) of
crystal. What, then, didst thou do therewith? I buried them by the furrow
of Mānāat as ‘things for the night.’ What, then, didst thou find by the
furrow of Mānāat? A sceptre of flint, the name of which is ‘Giver of
winds.’ What, then, didst thou do to the flame of fire and the tablet (or
sceptre) of crystal after thou hadst buried them? I uttered words over
them in the furrow, [and I dug them out therefrom];(104) I extinguished
the fire, and I broke the tablet (or sceptre), and I created a pool of
water. ‘Come, then,’ [they say,] ‘and enter in through the door of this
Hall of double Maāti, for thou knowest us.’ ”

“ ‘We will not let thee enter in through us,’ say the bolts of the door,
‘unless thou tellest [us] our names;’ ‘Tongue [of the Balance] of the
place of right and truth’ is your name. ‘I will not let thee enter in by
me,’ saith the [right] lintel of the door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my
name;’ ‘Balance of the support of right and truth’ is thy name. ‘I will
not let thee enter in by me,’ saith the [left] lintel of the door, ‘unless
thou tellest [me] my name;’ [‘Balance of] wine’ is thy name. ‘I will not
let thee pass over me,’ saith the threshold of this door, ‘unless thou
tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Ox of the god Seb’ is thy name. ‘I will not open
unto thee,’ saith the fastening of this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my
name;’ ‘Flesh of his mother’ is thy name. ‘I will not open unto thee,’
saith the socket of the fastening of the door, ‘unless thou tellest me my
name;’ ‘Living eye of the god Sebek, the lord of Bakhau,’ is thy name. ‘I
will not open unto thee [and I will not let thee enter in by me,’ saith
the guardian of the leaf of] this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my
name;’ ‘Elbow of the god Shu when he placeth himself to protect Osiris’ is
thy name. ‘We will not let thee enter in by us,’ say the posts of this
door, ‘unless thou tellest us our names;’ ‘Children of the uræi-goddesses’
is your name.(105) ‘Thou knowest us,’ [they say,] ‘pass on, therefore, by
us.’

“ ‘I will not let thee tread upon me,’ saith the floor of the Hall of
double Maāti, ‘because I am silent and I am holy, and because I do not
know the name[s] of thy two feet wherewith thou wouldst walk upon me;
therefore tell them to me.’ ‘Traveller(?) of the god Khas’ is the name of
my right foot, and ‘Staff of the goddess Hathor’ is the name of my left
foot. ‘Thou knowest me,’ [it saith,] ‘pass on therefore over me.’ ”

“ ‘I will not make mention of thee,’ saith the guardian of the door of
this Hall of double Maāti, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Discerner
of hearts and searcher of the reins’ is thy name. ‘Now will I make mention
of thee [to the god]. But who is the god that dwelleth in his hour? Speak
thou it’ (_i.e._, his name). Māau-Taui (_i.e._, he who keepeth the record
of the two lands) [is his name]. ‘Who then is Māau-Taui?’ He is Thoth.
‘Come,’ saith Thoth. ‘But why hast thou come?’ I have come, and I press
forward that I may be mentioned. What now is thy condition? I, even I, am
purified from evil things, and I am protected from the baleful deeds of
those who live in their days; and I am not among them. ‘Now will I make
mention of thee [to the god].’(106) ‘[Tell me now,] who is he(107) whose
heaven is of fire, whose walls [are surmounted by] living uræi, and the
floor of whose house is a stream of water? Who is he? I say.’ It is
Osiris. ‘Come forward, then: verily thou shalt be mentioned [to him]. Thy
cakes [shall come] from the Eye of Rā, and thine ale [shall come] from the
Eye of Rā, and the sepulchral meals [which shall be brought to thee] upon
earth [shall come] from the Eye of Rā. This hath been decreed for the
Osiris the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, Nu,
triumphant.’ ”

(THE MAKING OF THE REPRESENTATION OF WHAT SHALL HAPPEN IN THIS HALL OF
DOUBLE MAATI.) THIS CHAPTER SHALL BE SAID [BY THE DECEASED] AFTER HE HATH
BEEN CLEANSED AND PURIFIED, AND WHEN HE IS ARRAYED IN APPAREL, AND IS SHOD
WITH WHITE LEATHER SANDALS, AND HIS EYES HAVE BEEN PAINTED WITH ANTIMONY,
AND [HIS BODY] HATH BEEN ANOINTED WITH UNGUENT OF _ANTI_, AND WHEN HE
OFFERETH OXEN, AND FEATHERED FOWL, AND INCENSE, AND CAKES, AND ALE, AND
GARDEN HERBS. AND, BEHOLD, THOU SHALT DRAW A REPRESENTATION OF THIS IN
COLOR UPON A NEW TILE MOULDED FROM EARTH UPON WHICH NEITHER A PIG NOR
OTHER ANIMALS HAVE TRODDEN. AND IF [THOU] DOEST THIS BOOK UPON IT [IN
WRITING, THE DECEASED] SHALL FLOURISH, AND HIS CHILDREN SHALL FLOURISH,
AND [HIS NAME] SHALL NEVER FALL INTO OBLIVION, AND HE SHALL BE AS ONE WHO
FILLETH (_I.E._, SATISFIETH) THE HEART OF THE KING AND OF HIS PRINCES, AND
BREAD, AND CAKES, AND SWEETMEATS, AND WINE, AND PIECES OF FLESH SHALL BE
GIVEN UNTO HIM UPON THE ALTAR OF THE GREAT GOD; AND HE SHALL NOT BE TURNED
BACK AT ANY DOOR IN AMENTET, AND HE SHALL BE BROUGHT IN ALONG WITH THE
KINGS OF UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT, AND HE SHALL BE IN THE TRAIN OF
OSIRIS(108) CONTINUALLY AND REGULARLY FOREVER.