Indus Religion: The Ancient Egyptian Myth

The Egyptians maintained elaborate stories and descriptions in their buildings leaving behind texts that expose the convictions of the time. From the Pyramid Age, the Pyramid Text was carved on walls and sarcophagi. Later they would form the foundation for the Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead. Turning toward the Indus culture, the interpretation methods can be complicated because the Indus civilization’s original script has yet to be deciphered. However, the Vedic-Aryans handed down orally the Veda that consists of poetry regarding various deities, ritual instructions, and explanations of those rituals.
Creation
The need to explain the origins of existence and creation is fundamental to faith and critical to the practitioner. To the Egyptians the universe was a massive swirling disorder of undistinguishable waters called “Nun.” A primary myth describes the appearance of a mound called the “benben” which was the prototype for pyramids. The god Atum appeared on the mound and created the first deities. In one account, the god Nofertum emerged from a water lily coming out of the disorder. Other myths existed offering differing creation explanations for mankind and deities. Interestingly the Egyptians saw no conflict in this mix of stories.

Vedic-Aryan texts also contain multiple creation stories and, as with the Egyptians, some of them are inconsistent yet were accepted. The description is comparable to the Egyptians, a complete darkness and unknown chaos. In one account, the universe was nothing. The divine incarnation of Brahmă known as Prajapati emerges, like the Egyptian god Horus, from a lotus bloom floating on the primordial waters and created such things as deities, men, day, and night. Both stories have a mysterious beginning essence, Nun in Egypt and the Self-Existent Being as described in the Laws of Manu. The two systems contain similarities in the pre-creation explanation of chaos and water, life created by a single entity, and emergence of beings.
Good and Evil Gods
The Egyptians and the Indus-Aryan saw all nature and life as a constant and eternal dualistic struggle. Both shared a perception that the world is in an eternal conflict of good and evil with the need to appease both the good and bad gods. Recorded from Egypt’s 4th Dynasty (c. 2613–2494 BC) there was a complex polytheistic system with pantheons, chief gods, and “enneads” or gods who existed in animal-headed-human, human, and animal forms. In these texts are found battles between Horus and the Evil-One (Seth) representing the conflict of light and darkness. Aryan hymns in the Rigveda were also deeply rooted in polytheism. They tell of eternal cosmic war between deities of light (Divas) and darkness (Asuras).
The similarities continue in the form of common gods and stories.

One of the more interesting is that of Egyptian goddess Hathor and the god Ra who had to restrain her as she rejoiced in slaughtering the enemies of Ra. In the comparable Indus-Aryan story, the goddess Kali was stopped by her spouse Shiva in order to spare the remnant of their enemies. Many of the gods in each culture bear common characteristics. For example, the Indus sun god Surya, like the Egyptian Ra, had three forms. The Egyptian red demon Seth closely resembled the red demon Rakshasa. Addtionally, In an Indus creation myth Prajápati weeps creative tears like the Egyptian sun-god Ra, whose rays are tears from which all things

spring.
Journey to the Afterlife
In both Egyptian and Vedic-Aryan cultures there exists a concept of eternity and an afterlife. While modern Hinduism derives much of its teaching from Vedic-Aryan thinking, the concept of reincarnation not found in the Veda. The doctrines included in Vedic-Aryan culture point to a heavenly afterlife and required a constant system of sacrifices on earth to “feed” the ancestor who resided in heaven. The Egyptian afterlife consisted of a journey through a complex underworld, transected by a mighty river, containing lakes of fire and snake infested deserts. In the Indus-Aryan version, each person travels a personal path protected by packs of dogs, going through a series of dangers while threatened by various demons.
Contradictions
While similarity is found between the Egyptian and Indus-Aryan’s religious beliefs, there are also contrasts. The most notable difference was the Pyramids of Egypt. In these massive tombs were the mummies of the ruling pharaohs. This ritual was based on the story of the god Osiris who was murdered and dismembered by his brother Seth. Osiris’s wife, Isis reassembled him by binding him together with linen wrappings. Later this practice expanded when the pharaohs demanded embalming courtiers to help in the afterlife. Eventually even the poorest citizens could have a process of pickling in a bath of natron. Turning to the Indus-Aryan’s, they preferred cremation sending the dead “to the world of those who have done good deeds.” Their building focused on well-structured cities and roads to support trade and commerce. Furthermore, the Egyptian Pharaoh was considered a “Man-God” interceding with the gods on behalf of humanity. The Indus-Aryan’s leader was regarded as a king from royal lineage who kept the armed corps in a permanent state of readiness and supervised royal horse sacrifices.