Udug Hul Texts

[saharda]

I know that Cyn was doing some work on this a while back, but for now all I have is the big yellow book "Forerunners to Udug Hul" to work with. As such I am working with it slowly.

I plan to post some of it here for discussion. Unless anyone objects I will post in three colors. One for the "original" text taken straight out of the book with as few changes as possible. The second being a rewording of that text as I understand it. and the third being commentary upon that text.

Expect it in a few days.

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***Admin: I wouldnt object to colors, though Id suggest avoiding yellow/green/pink and black. This thread might be thought of as conceptualizing Udug hul incantations. In time I expect complimentary threads following the UrIII discussion format will appear as well "O.B. Incantation catalogue", "O.B Incantations" and "O.B. Ceremony and Ritual" etc. cheers

[saharda]

Udug Hul texts lines 1-53
(01) Enuru Incantations
1 (02) The Namtar spirit was wandering about in heaven, (03) the Asag demon was prowling around like a storm on earth, (04) the evil Udug demon was running amok in the street, (1) while evil Alad envelops him like the Ulu demon. (2) These demons agitated the distraught man, and struck that man. (3) He did not know his own anatomy, where illness crouched.

1 Namtar, the spirit of fate and death, was traveling about through heaven. The Asag, the eagle Djini, was prowling the earth like a storm. An evil demon was rampaging through the street while evil Alad surrounded him like the Ulu demon. A distressed man was agitated and struck by each of these demons. He didn't even know his own body where illness settled.

*This paragraph sets the stage for something bad to happen. Death was in heaven and probably being given instructions. The powerful Asag caused destruction where it wandered. I'm thinking this is a metaphor for a sand storm. Alad and Ulu are unknown to me.

2 (4) I am Enki's man, (5) I am Damgalnunna's man, (6) the great lord Enki has sent me. (7) It is I who was approaching the sick man, (8) when I entered his house, (9) and it was I who placed my hand upon his head, (10) and was carefully examining the sinews of his limbs, (11) and I who recreated the incantation of Eridu for him. (12) After I have administered the incantation to the sick man [...]

2 I am the agent of Enki and his wife Damgalnunna who lives with him in the Apsu. I was sent by Enki, as a doctor for the sick man. I came into the sick man's house, examined him, treated him, and spoke the incantations over him.

*The writer identifies himself as an agent of Enki and his wife perhaps the next paragraph would have alluded to Asalluhi, we'll simply have to wait for more texts to be translated. The writer states that he is a qualified medical practitioner / exorcist. It reads more like a medical journal than a religious text to me.

It is interesting to note that the incantations themselves are only refered to, and not listed. Perhaps the text would have continued on to say them, but I don't think so. This was probably written by an Akkadian speaking man who used Sumerian as a scholarly as well as a sorcerous language. If the incantation were to be found I suspect it would be written in Akkadian so as to lessen it's power for storage.

3 (13) They are the messengers of Enlil, lord of the lands. (14) The evil Udug of the steppe killed the victim, (15) as the evil Ala covered him like a garment. (16) While the evil ghost and evil Galla seized his body, (17) and while the Dimme and Dima infected his body, (18) the lil demons, inhospitable winds of the steppe, swept along, (19)


3 The inhospitable wind demon of the steppe defeated the victim while the evil Ala surrounded him like a set of clothes. The evil Galla and ghost took hold of his body, and the Dimme and Dima infected his body. With this done, the wind swept along. These are the messengers of Enlil, lord of the gods.

* I am equating the demon (Udug) of the steppe and the wind (lil) of the steppe. As I see it this is a description of a coordinated demonic strike on a victim. The Ala holds the victim still while the wind plunges in the knife. The Galla possesses the corpse and the Dimme and Dima ate away at the prize. If any of this is mistranslated I would suspect that it is the translation of the word "killed", the reason being that you don't heal a dead man.

The note that Enlil is ultimately responsable speaks to the time that this was penned down. Enki is now less responsible for bad things, and Enlil is more responsible. Perhaps this is related to Enlil's connection to spirits and demons, and Enki's connection to raw magic.

4 (21) Since his body contained the evil of the broken oath, (22) the demons injected his bad blood separately. (23) Since his body contained the Namtar demon with its evil, (24) or since his body contained its venomous evil, (25) or since his body contained an evil curse, (26) or since his body contained the evil of punishment, (27) or since the venom of misdeed hung over him, (28) thus have the demons wrought evil, approached the distraught man's side, (20) and set the grievous Asag disease in his body.

4 The man's body had been tainted by a broken oath, and so the demons each injected poison into his blood. His body either contained Namtar demon as the result of a curse laid upon him. This punishment was done to him because of a misdeed. This is how the demons have done this to him and infected him with the Asag disease.

*Our doctor diagnoses the causes of the disease before proceeding. The demons each injected poison in addition to the other things that they have done. Why did they do this? Because the man had angered a god or a sorcerer who has cursed them. There seems to be no blame upon the individual who had been the recipient of the broken oath from earlier.

Perhaps what I took as a sandstorm metaphor was meant to refer more to a plague. I would have to know more about the Asag disease.

5 (29) The evil man, evil eye, evil mouth, and evil tongue, (30) the evil [...] worked woe in him. (31) They roared at him from the mountain like wind in a porous pot. (32) The destructive acts bound the mouth, (33) and the spells through their evil seized the tongue.

5 An evil man with an evil eye spoke dark words that howled down from the mountain like wind through the holes in a pot. This spell worked havoc on the afflicted man. It caused his tongue to be seized and bound his mouth taking away his voice.

*Here we definitely have a sorcerer. It is specifically an evil man rather than a demon or a god. The use of the evil eye and the words binding the target sound more like manipulation of magic than manipulation of demons. The presence of demons suggests that perhaps practitioners of the arts were simply assumed to know both.

The fact that this is something I have been arguing for years, and this section conveniently points in my favored direction makes it possible that I am simply reading too far into the texts. I will have to read on to find more evidence.

The disease that is afflicting him is taking hold of his tongue. Perhaps a tooth problem or tetanus. Tooth problems were treatable, but could get really bad. Tetanus attacks the joints and shuts the mouth. I don't think this was treatable. I also suspect that he had a fever.


6 (34) As the great lord Enki left, there was the Evil god. (35) The demons plagued that man at the main crossroad.


6 Enki had departed, and in his place was Enlil a hostile god who did not want anything good for the afflicted man. At the crossroads he was set upon by demons who served this god.

*You will note a similarity between P6 and P3, and also P5 and P1 I see these as building upon the earlier paragraphs to add more detail. This makes the evil god Enlil. This makes sense as he was earlier noted as the one behind the other demons.

I changed it from "evil" to "hostile" as I think the sense of evil as inherently evil is too ingrained in the modern psyche. This was not a concept shared by the Sumerians, Akkadians, or Babylonians.

7 (36) I am Enki's man, (37) I am his messenger. (38) To heal the man in his illness, (39) the great lord Enki sent me. (40) Since he made his holy incantation into my incantation, [...]

7 Lord Enki acts through me. I am his messenger, and I came to heal the afflicted man's illness. Enki taught me his incantation, and I have made it my own. With this incantation I am able to help this man. [...]

*We have a break in the text here. I think it may have said something brief about how he healed the ailments in addition to the incantations. I have read that the incantation followed by physical treatment was the common practice.

8 (41) That which surely attacked the limbs is in the sick man's body. (42) It is an effective incantation, the word of Enki. (43) They were the evil ones who were indeed uprooted.

8 The demons that hindered the sick man's limbs was in his body. I used the incantation of Enki. The incantation was effective and the malicious entities were uprooted from the sick man's body.


*Again it would be instructive to know what that incantation was exactly. This is definitely useful in it's own right, but it doesn't answer certain fundamental questions.

9 (44) In my hand I raised the manu wood, the exalted instrument of heaven. (45) Pisangunu, the herald of Kulaba, walks behind me while I enjoy good health. (46) As the good Udug walked with him on my right side, (47) and the good Lamma walked with him on my left side, (48) Geshtin-anna, the great scribe of Arali, recited with each one of them the liturgy of the holy incantation. Ningirsu, the lord of the weapon, surely adjured you.

9 I raised the Manu wood staff, a renown tool of heaven, in my hands. The herald of Kulab, Pisangunu, walks behind me and so my health is good. To my right is the good demon, and to my left is the good Lamma. Dumuzi's sister Geshtin-anna, the great scribe of the underworld, chanted the incantation with each of these spirits. As Ninurta, master of weaponry, solemnly instructed you.

10 (50) May they who are the evil ones not approach my body, (51) nor go behind me, nor enter my house, (52) nor climb on my roof, nor slip into my dwelling. (53) Be you adjured by heaven, be you adjured by earth.


10 "May those with bad intentions not approach me from the front or from behind. May they not come into my house, climb my roof, or enter my door. You are instructed by heaven and by earth," we chanted.

*This looks to be the incantation he was talking about. The tone of these lines changed so I attempted to keep it close to the original. It is interesting that it is not invoking any god or demon here, but rather invoking by heaven and earth.

Gods were mentioned in the previous line, but more for them to lend their strength to the chant rather than to give the chant authority. A distinct difference.

Instructing them thus is like saying, "You know the order of the universe, obey the rules."

[saharda]

In the Udug Hul section under Demonology I adopted the following conventions. (Conventions listed again in the ideas thread) Orange for direct translation. In this case taken word for word from the Geller translation of the Udug Hul texts. "beige" (though it looks like an off white) for my adaptation of the text, and green with Italics for my commentary and thoughts on the text.

*With apologies to Us He Gal for the green. I just thought it looked better.

I fully expect this to spark off discussion about Mesopotamian magic, but as this was a text on Evil demons, I thought it most strongly belongs here.

I should also note that this is only the first of many texts from M J Geller's "Forerunners to Udug Hul" Many of the next few texts are fragmentary and confusing. There are several useful sections never the less.