KA
Inancie nt Egypt,thewordka wasusedtomean
thelifeenergyin humans an d deities.Theword
wasus edinmanydifferentcontexts,butalways
at the baseof its use wasthe id eaof thelife
energyofanindividual. TheancientEgyptians
re presentedthekabya pair ofup-stretchedarms,
similartotheverticalhornsofa bull.Bec auseth e
kawaslif e energy,it di d notexistina deadper-
son;it wasa livingforce, however,thatcontinued
evenafterthepersonha d died.Therefore,theka
couldbemadetoliveforever if theproperrituals
wereper formed.
Inthetraditionoftheancient Egyptians,when
a pe rsonwasborn,thekawascreatedat thesame
time.Infact,Khnumascreatorgo d wouldmake
the kaon a potter’swheel ri ghtalongsidethe
hu man fig ure.Becausethekawasalsoconsidered
a typeofforce—indeed,a lifefo rc e—theidea was
thatthekawasa do ubleoftheindividual. It was
often depictedina formsmallerth anthein divid-
ualperson,butsimilartotheperson inshape.
Therearemanytextswherethewords“May
yourkaliveforever!”arewrittenattheendofa
particularstatement.The worstsituationthat a
hu man couldhaveis tohavea kathathasnot
be enproperlycaredforinli fe.Thus,whena pe r-
sondied,thekacontinued tolive.Becauseit lived,
it alsohadtobefedwithfood,andnormallythe
food wasofferedin scenes onthewalls of the
tomb reflecting fo od.This food was activated,
madeusablebytheka,withanOfferi ngFormula
thatwasaddressed totheka.Theka,oncethe
food wasactivated,tookthefoodand,insteadof
eati ngit, drained the necessary life-preserving
energyfr omthefood.Thekacouldalsotakethe
necessarysustenance,a namesometimesusedfor
theka,fr omdr inks.Amongtheliving, sometimes
theancientEgyptiansgreetedeachotherwiththe
words,“foryourka,”whileservingdrinks.
Elaboratetombsoftenhadfalsedoors,an d it
was atthefalse doorthat offeringsweremade
for theka.Sometimesimages of thekaofthe
deceasedasfunerarystatues weresetupinthe
tombs.One wanted,ofcourse,tohaveone’ska
liveforeverandalsotohavethekatransformed
in toanAkh,oneoftheblesseddead.Toensure
thispossibility, onesought tohavethekapro -
tectedan d ritualized.
Thekawas thedivineessenceof thehuman
being.It wasthatwhichlivedforeverandeverand
wastherefore indestructiblebecauseit wasa part
ofth e eternalcontinuumthatconnectedallliving
beings.Infact,intheroyalcontinuum, onecould
saythateachnewkingorqueenat birthbecame a
partofth e lineth atstretchedacrossthegenera-
tionsandthroughhistorytothetimewhenthe
gods ruledtheEarth.
The way the ancient Egyptians understood
theirworldwasthroughideasandconcepts.The
kawasanidea,butit wasoneofthemostpower-
fulideasinthesocietybecauseit wentalongwith
thenatureofth e kingship.Suchanideacouldbe
mademorepotentinthemindsofthepeopleby
thevariousrituals.Whentheking,forexample,
performedtheOpetfestivalatWaset,hewould359