Mysteries of Egypt :- Mummification

Mummification

The earliest ancient Egyptians buried their dead in small pits in the desert. The heat and dryness of the sand dehydrated the bodies quickly, creating lifelike and natural 'mummies'.  

 Later, the ancient Egyptians began burying their dead in coffins to protect them from wild animals in the desert. However, they realised that bodies placed in coffins decayed when they were not exposed to the hot, dry sand of the desert. 

Mummification has been a real Mystery for the whole world, Till date many theories have been regarded for the same. In this blog we will highlight some of the theories.

 

 
An important man has died and his body needs to be prepared for burial.

The process of mummification has two stages. First, the embalming of the body. Then, the wrapping and burial of the body. 

Embalming:-

 

 First, his body is taken to the tent known as 'ibu' or the 'place of purification'. There the embalmers wash his body with good-smelling palm wine and rinse it with water from the Nile. 

One of the embalmer's men makes a cut in the left side of the body and removes many of the internal organs. It is important to remove these because they are the first part of the body to decompose. The liver, lungs, stomach and intestines are washed and packed in natron which will dry them out. The heart is not taken out of the body because it is the centre of intelligence and feeling and the man will need it in the afterlife. A long hook is used to smash the brain and pull it out through the nose. 

The body is now covered and stuffed with natron which will dry it out. All of the fluids, and rags from the embalming process will be saved and buried along with the body.  The body is now covered and stuffed with natron which will dry it out. All of the fluids, and rags from the embalming process will be saved and buried along with the body. The dehydrated internal organs are wrapped in linen and returned to the body. The body is stuffed with dry materials such as sawdust, leaves and linen so that it looks lifelike. Finally the body is covered again with good-smelling oils. It is now ready to be wrapped in linen.

 In the past, when the internal organs were removed from a body they were placed in hollow canopic jars.

Over many years the embalming practices changed and embalmers began returning internal organs to bodies after the organs had been dried in natron. However, solid wood or stone canopic jars were still buried with the mummy to symbolically protect the internal organs.Each jar has its own properties.

Imsety the human-headed god looks after the liver. Hapy the baboon-headed god looks after the lungs. Duamutef the jackal-headed god looks after the stomach.Qebehsenuef the falcon-headed god looks after the intestines. 
 The body has been cleaned, dried and rubbed with good-smelling oils. Now it is ready to be wrapped in linen. 
Wrapping:-
This is the main part of mummification. Wrapping the corpse in the linen to complete its procedure of afterlife.
First the head and neck are wrapped with strips of fine linen. Then the fingers and the toes are individually wrapped. 
 The arms and legs are wrapped separately. Between the layers of wrapping, the embalmers place amulets to protect the body in its journey through the underworld. 
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The arms and legs are wrapped separately. Between the layers of wrapping, the embalmers place amulets to protect the body in its journey through the underworld.The arms and legs are tied together. A papyrus scroll with spells from the Book of the Dead is placed between the wrapped hands. A cloth is wrapped around the body and a picture of the god Osiris is painted on its surface.
Finally, a large cloth is wrapped around the entire mummy. It is attached with strips of linen that run from the top to the bottom of the mummy, and around its middle.

A board of painted wood is placed on top of the mummy before the mummy is lowered into its coffin. The first coffin is then put inside a second coffin. The funeral is held for the deceased and his family mourns his death. A ritual called the 'Opening of the Mouth' is performed, allowing the deceased to eat and drink again.
Finally, the body and its coffins are placed inside a large stone sarcophagus in the tomb. Furniture, clothing, valuable objects, food and drink are arranged in the tomb for the deceased.
Now his body is ready for its journey through the underworld. There his heart will be judged by his good deeds on earth. If his heart is found to be pure he will be sent to live for all eternity in the beautiful 'Field of Reeds'. 

In Next Post we will inspect the Coffin with scientific methods. Till then Mystery Continues...

Bhangarh:-The most haunted place in India

Bhangarh:-The most haunted place in India

Bhangarh is a village in India that is famous for its historical ruins. It is in the Rajgarh municipality of the Alwar district in the state of Rajasthan. Bhangarh is at the edge of the Sariska Tiger Reserve but other then that Bhangarh is famous for its hauntings and Ghost stories in whole world. 

Writing this blog Focused on the history and its stories.

 First question asked to you people is, "Do you Believe in Ghosts?". If Yes then this place is the paradise for the believers and most important thing prepared for the unexpected. Without any more gossip I will come to the point now.

Bhangarh Situated in the Alwar district of Rajasthan, the Bhangarh fort, they say, is not for the faint-hearted people. Rated as the most haunted place in the whole of India this fort demands some nerve on your part to make a visit to this place. A legion of myths and stories hang in the air here, the credibility of which has a double question mark. after it. There is only one way to know the truth of this place and that is by visiting this place in person.

The roads leading to the Bhangarh fort are surrounded by mountains which are undoubtedly by picturesque but perilous at the same time given the fact that the roads are somewhat narrow and very few people pass you by on the road. Once in the vicinity of the Bhangarh fort, you will reach a point where you will be greeted by the following instruction by the Government of India, engraved in a somewhat cheap tin and wood hoarding (such hoardings being ubiquitous in all parts of India):

 The Office of the World heritage is situated 1 km away from the sight which is mostly found near in any of the other heritage. It is not allowed to stay in Bhangarh Fort after Sunset. As it is said that the people who have tried to stay in this place after the sunset doesn't come back again. They are lost under unknown Circumstances. I would like to share one incident with you people about such story.

A local film Crew set up a shooting location in Bhangarh for shooting some horror scenes for their movies. They were restricted to stay there after sunset So the crew came back before sunset. But one of the crew members was missing. So Everyone thought that they will go and search the missing person back in Fort After Sunset. They went back to search him and they never came back again. The Question is Where the Whole Film crew of about 30 people can lost in fort without any trace? Isn't this Weird.

Indian Archeological Survey does not permit any one to enter the bhangarh fort after Sunset. Isn't this scary?
This warning does give you a feel (however faint) that something is horribly amiss here and the fact that a number of tourists complain of the air here being heavy with something peculiar leading to a strange feeling in their gut, does not help. However, if you do succeed to keep the negative emotion and thoughts of fear inspired by this place at bay, you will come vis-a-vis with surreal beauty of the Bhangarh fort. 

How to reach - Bhangarh Fort

Bhangarh-the fabled haunted fort in India must definitely be in your destination list. So come, discover this great monument of mystery. Bhangarh is situated about 86kms from Alwar, the nearest airport being Sanganer airport in Jaipur, at a distance of 56kms from Bhangarh. The nearest station is the Dausa railway station junction, at a distance of just 22kms from Bhangarh.

People who have visited the Fort say that the have a feeling of sadness in the Atmosphere of the fort. Some people feel sick there while others say they are followed by bad spirits till there home.

If anyone is planning to see this place please share your experiences with us so we can share more of this to others.

History

There are two legends narrated to the history of the fort city which is reported to be haunted and no one is allowed to remain in the precincts of the fort at night as per a notice board put up by the Archaeological Survey of India at the entrance^.

One version of the legend is that a sadhu named Baba Balanath lived within the fort area. It was his injunction that any houses built in the precincts of the fort should not be taller than his house and in case the shadow of any such house falling on his house would result in destruction of the fort town.^[6]
In another version, N.K. SINHA, the wizard who was adept in black magic fell in love with Ratnavati, the princess of Bhangarh who was very beautiful and had suitors to marry her from many royal families of the country. One day while the princess, 18 years of age, went shopping with her friends and was buying Ittar (scent). The wizard saw this and replaced the scent with some potion in order to ensnare the princess. He offered the potion to her so that she took a liking for him and marry him. However, the princess saw through the wizard's trickery and when he offered her the bowl of potion, she threw it on a big boulder nearby and as a result the boulder started rolling down towards the wizard and crushed him. Before he died he cursed that Bhangarh would be destroyed soon and no one will be able to live within its precincts. Subsequent to the curse Bhangarh Fort was invaded by the Mughals from the north and the city was surrounded and sacked; 10,000 people lived in the fort city at that time. All the people in the fort including the princess were killed. The present state of the fort is attributed to the curse of the wizard and people believe the ghosts in the fort are that of the princess and the wizard. Since that day, it is believed that paranormal activities take place here during the nights. Some deaths have been reported due to these paranormal activities too. There are sayings that some of the people's spirit surrounds the boundary of the fort as no one can enter the premises. The princess's spirit has been forcefully abducted by the wizard.

LOL:- I hope many of you go and invade this theories. May be I can sometime travel there to feel it myself. The beauty hidden in the secrets and mysteries of Spirits and overwhelming pleasures of FEAR.

Keep reading and subscribe for more news rapidly. Mystery continues......

 

Ashwatthama

6000 Year Old Man Still Alive! Believe it or Not But its Interesting.

India is full or varied heritage and its mysterious culture. Life Span of a Normal Person is Maximum 80 Years to 100 Years Average in India. But what will you say to a person whose age is More then 6000 Years. Don't Believe it ? Read more you will know.

Ashwatthama was the son of guru Dronacharya.  Dronacharya did many years dhyan and penance of Bhagwan Shiv Shankar in order to obtain a son who possesses the same valiance as of Lord Shiva. Aswatthama is the avatar of one of the eight Rudras and he is one of the seven Chiranjivi’s or the immortal ones. Aswatthama is the lone survivor still living, who actually fought in the kurukshetra war.
Aswatthama was born with a gem in his forehead which gave him power over all living beings lower than manav yoni. This gem protected him from any attacks of ghost, demons ,poisonous insects, snakes, animals etc. The gem was later removed from his forehead.

Aswathama was cursed to roam in Kaliyuga  due to his sinful deed of killing innocent 5 sons of Draupadi, wife of Pandavas.

There have been various accounts of People seeing Him.Below are few of them.

Incident 1 – Ashwathama seen by Railway Employee

A more than a decade old newspaper article ran about a railway employee on leave. During his wanderings in the jungles of Navsari (Gujarat) he had reported a very tall man of about 12 feet with a wound on his head. He claimed to have conversation with him and learnt that Bheem was much taller and stronger than him.

Incident 2 – Ashwathama met Pilot Baba ?

The last record of his existence came to my notice while reading a book called “Himalaya kah raha hai” by Pilot Baba. you can also go to his website to read the excerpts. The temple where he stayed was washed away in the floods a few years back. But before that he had interesting encounters with Aswathama which he shared and we have detailed as incident 9.

Incident 3 – Prithviraj Chauhan Hindu King Meeting Ashwathama

When in 1192, Prithveeraaj Chauhaan lost the battle from Mohammad Gauree, he left for jungle. There he met one old person with a scar on his head. Being a very good doctor Prithveeraaj Chauhaan confidently asked him that he can cure his scar. The old man agreed. But even after week’s medication it remained as it is. Prithveeraaj was surprised and understood the details. He asked old man if he is Ashwatthaamaa. Because only the scars that is created through taking up the “MANI” the gem from forehead cannot be cured. The old man told that he was Ashwatthaamaa and then he went away. This description is given in “Prithviraj Raso” the book written in 12th century on him.

Incident 4 – Ashwatthama Ecounter with Saint Naranappa

In late 14th, early 15th century there lived in Gadag, Karnaatak, a poor Braahman called Naranappa. Later, because of the Mahabharata epic “Karnata Bharata Kathamanjari” that he wrote in Kannada, he came to be called as Kumara Vyasa. His greatest desire was to write Mahaabhaarat based on original sources, and to this end he prayed day-in and day-out in the Temple of Veera Naaraayan, temple of Trikooteshwar. One day the Almighty decided to answer his prayers and appeared in his dream and said: “Attend the forthcoming Dwaadashee Paaran (Dwaadashee feast) in the Veera Naaraayan Temple. Watch out for one lone Braahman who would leave the feast earliest. He is none other than Ashwathaamaa of MBH. Fall at his feet and ask him to narrate the MahaBharat as it happened. You can record it in writing and claim your share of fame”. Promptly Naranappa (Narayanappa) attended the following Dwaadashee Paaran at the Veera Narayan Temple, and then followed the Brahmin who finished his feast the earliest and started walking out of the Temple. He approached him and fell at his feet saying, “I know who you are, you are the very same Ashwatthaamaa of MahaBharat, please help me”. At this Ashwathaamaa was taken aback and asked him how do you know this? Naranappa responded saying “The Veera Naaraayan Swamy” appeared in his dream and told me so. Ashwatthaamaa was mightily pleased hearing this and asked Naranappa, OK, tell me what can I do for you. Naranappa responded saying he would like to write the Mahaabhaarat in Kannada as it happened.
To this Ashwatthaamaa agreed under two conditions. He said that Naranappa should start writing the Mahaabhaarat everyday after he finished his bath, wearing a wet Veshti (Dhotee). Ashwatthaamaa said – “You can keep writing till such time your Veshti is wet and the MahaBharata would flow from your pen as it happened. The moment your clothes dry up, the flow would stop. He also put a condition that he should not disclose this secret to anyone failing which the flow would stop forever. Needless to say, our Naranappa, was immensely excited about the project, and he kept his secret till the time he reached the “Gadaa Parv” (the time when Duryodhan and Bheem fought the duel of the mace fight). At this moment it is believed that Ashwatthaamaa appeared before Naranappa and he was in tears — remembering his friend Duryodhan and the A-Dhaarmik (unjustified) way in which Bheem defeated Duryodhan. Naranappa overcome with excitement disclosed this secret to his wife, and his writing flow stopped immediately. That is why his Mahaabhaarat ends with Gadaa Parv only. Later someone might have added up from Vyaas’ MahaBharat, but our Kumara Vyaas’s MahaBharata ended only with Gadaa Parv. End of Mahabharat and Beginning of Kaliyuga further suggest that Dronacharya’s son is very much alive and is bound to roam in India to serve the curse bestowed on him. The curse that “Ashwatthaamaa would roam the world carrying his own sins, with people shunning him, and suffering the pain of the wound on his forehead from where the “Mani” was removed by force”, 5000 years ago. Or Vikram Samvat 2070** years, since Mahabharata is now long passed, and I am sure, Ashwatthaamaa is there somewhere in the Himaalaya, performing Tapasyaa.

Curse of Krishna to Ashwathama

Incensed over the cowardly act of Ashwathama, the Pandavas went after him to sage Vyasa’s ashram. Seeing this, Ashwathama, as a last resort, used his sacred knowledge of the Vedas to devise a Bramhastra from a blade of grass and invoked it against the Pandavas and Krishna, although he was strictly forbidden to do so by his father Dronacharya for any purpose. Krishna asked Arjuna to invoke the same. Arjuna invokes Bramhastra, which he received by Dronacharya itself, towards Ashwathama.
On seeing the two powerful astras heading for a head on catastrophic collision that would result in the total devestation of the entire Earth, sage Vyasa stopped these divine weapons from colliding with each other by using his yogic power. He asked both these warriors to withdraw their respective weapons. Arjuna was able to withdraw his Brahmastra, while Ashwatthama could not do so as Dronocharya did not teach his son how to withdraw it. An archer who is able to invoke and withdraw any Divyastra (Divine Weapon) can invoke it as many times as he wishes. Dronacharya taught Arjuna to withdraw Brahmastra but he did not do so to Ashwathama, thus limiting the power of Ashwathama to invoke Brahmastra for only one instance. However, Ahswathama was given the option of deviating his weapon towards one single isolated object in a place that was not inhabited by any form of life. But Ashwathama, out of spite, directed the weapon towards the womb of Uttara (wife of Abhimanyu) who was carrying Abhimanyu’s son (Parikshit) in an attempt to end the lineage of the Pandavas. Krishna used his Sudarshan Chakra to stop the Brahmashirastra and save Uttara’s unborn child.
Lord Krishna then placed a curse on Ashwathama that “he will carry the burden of all people’s sins on his shoulders and will roam alone like a ghost without getting any love and courtesy till the end of Kaliyuga; He will have neither any hospitality nor any accommodation; He will be in total isolation from mankind and society; His body will suffer from a host of incurable diseases forming sores and ulcers that would never heal”. Ashwathama was asked to surrender his gem which was on his forehead. Lord Sri Krishna further states that “the wound caused by the removal of this gem on his forehead will never heal and will suffer from leprosy, till the end of Kaliyuga”. It is believed that in Kaliyuga, his name will be “Suryakant”. Thus, Ashwathama will be in search of death every moment, and yet he will never die. At the end of Kali Yuga, Ashwatthama is to meet Sri Kalki, the tenth and final avatar of Lord Vishnu.

We don't know whether this accounts are real or Not. But this mystery is Interesting isn't it?
Also If Any of you Meet Ashwatthama please let me know as seeing the Person who is 6000 years old is itself a honor.

Keep reading for more mysteries.