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.

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