often end with “Life Forever.” The idea of the
dwat as a dwelling place for the deceased must
have reached far back into ancient Egyptian antiq-
uity. By the time of the New Kingdom, it was such
an accepted part of the African idea that it was
incorporated into the funerary rituals of the most
important people.
The idea of life after death was complex, how-
ever. Some people thought that the deceased went
to the stars in the sky, others believed that the
deceased sat on tree branches and held communi-
cation with the birds, and still others thought that
the deceased remained on the Earth where his
bones were laid to rest.
However, many of the priests taught that the
deceased was supposed to live in the dwat, a king-
dom of light, the dwelling place of the deities,
traveling around with the happy dead. To the
Egyptians the deceased traveled the way of the
glorified or justified dead only in the dwat. It is
thought that the commoners also believed that the
deceased went to the fields of Earu, where he
could plough and reap the harvest. Obviously, it
was not clear where the deceased went, and so the
Egyptians had various conclusions about the dwat
over their vast philosophical and religious history.
According to the ancient Egyptians, the human
personality was connected after death somewhere
in the dwat. This activity was not fully explained by
the priests, but the general idea was that the person
was not an individual, but rather an entity that con-
sisted of three parts: the body, the soul, and theka,
which is sometimes called the double or the image.
It is most important in the construction of the
human because it is an independent spirit living
within a person, one’s double. Actually, the ka pro-
vides one with protection, health, and happiness, in
the sense that it is the faithful companion of the
person. Every person who is born also has a ka,
a double. When the deity is shown holding a child,
the ka is also being held. Thus, in the dwat, it
appears that the deity looked after the deceased by
taking charge of his ka.
Now when it comes to death, the ka was sup-
posed to enter the dwat as the part of the human
that continued living. One of the things the living
had to do for the deceased is to preserve the body
because without the body there could not be a ka.
In fact, the ka could take possession of the body
whenever it pleased if the body was intact. In most
instances, a statue of the person was close by the
corpse in case thekawanted to find the features
of the person that may have been lost during life
on Earth.
Thus, when a person died, the kept body was
mummified, a tomb was built, and the corpse was
protected with words, paintings, and artifacts that
reflected the person’s life. During the journey in
the dwat, the deceased person’s ka could remem-
ber and reflect on all the achievements of life.
Entering the dwat brought both trepidation and
joyous anticipation because the person wanted to
ensure that the journey through the dwat would
be one of ease and not one complicated by obsta-
cles. The best way to ensure this easy transition
was to work to make the good outweigh the bad
in one’s life.Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoAfterlife; UnderworldFurther Readings
Asante, M. K. (1993).Classical Africa. Saddle Brook,
NJ: Peoples Publishing.
Erman, A. (1971).Life in Ancient Egypt. New York: Dover.DYOW INITIATIONS
All expressions of African religion rely on initia-
tion. The dyow initiation of the Bamana (some-
times calledBambara) people follows a pattern
found throughout the continent. Dyow initiation
is a major part of being a Bamana. Situated
presently in Mali, the Bamana are one of the most
widespread ethnic groups in Western Africa. Two
important regions, Kaarta and Segu, are formida-
ble city-states that were established in the 17th
century and have continued to influence the
social, political, and economic direction of Mali
and the rest of West Africa.
Bamana culture is quite complex. Although
Islamic neighbors surround them, the tendency of
the Bamana people is to advance their traditional
culture over all others. Thus, the syncretism that
one finds in the Bamana area is a result of the
convergence of Islam with the traditions. AmongDyow Initiations 225