About the mystery of incorruptibility and hidden resources human body we are talking with Galina Ershova, doctor historical sciences, professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities. By the way, it was thanks to her that science learned about Itigelov’s phenomenon. When in 2002, Buryat lamas removed from the ground a wooden box containing the perfectly preserved body of a monk, Ershova found funds and went to Ulan-Ude to figure it all out and, if possible, conduct laboratory research.
Kept my promise
Dmitry Pisarenko, AiF: Galina Gavrilovna, as far as I remember, in Buryatia they did not provide you with much biomaterial - sections of the nails of the deceased, pieces of skin and five hairs. Was this enough to create a sensation?
Galina Ershova: Of course, I wanted more. But it was immediately clear that large-scale research (for example, X-rays or MRI) could not be counted on: no one knew how Itigelov entered this state (and many Buddhists consider him still alive) and what could destroy it. But it’s good that we managed to do at least something, thank you for that Hambo Lama Ayusheev, the current head of the Buryat Buddhists, who provided biomaterial for research. Otherwise, now everyone would be saying: they planted a mummy to fool the people. And so we can say with complete confidence: excuse me, here are the test results, they show that this is not a mummy.
- Then who?!
“It was assumed that if it was a mummy, then the protein compounds and organic matter in the tissues would be destroyed. But it turned out that the protein component did not disintegrate, it had the characteristics of a living person. Professor Zvyagin, forensic expert world-famous, who at one time studied the remains of members royal family, was amazed. And for me, the most amazing thing was that on the torn skin - on the arm and leg - drops of blood appeared, and in different color shades! The blood, however, was in a jelly-like state. But it definitely wasn’t a mummy; mummies don’t have any blood.
And in the samples taken, the concentration of bromine was tens of times higher. It is known that this element, contained in some plants, is capable of suppressing sensitivity and limiting the flow of stimulating impulses from the outside. However, it has almost no effect on the areas of the brain that control breathing and blood circulation.
The studies have shown that from the moment in 1927... Khambo Lama Itigelov, former head Buryat Buddhists, sat down in a meditation pose, having previously ordered himself to be placed underground, he remained alive. That is, he did not die, but went into some other state, similar to suspended animation, and remained in it underground for 75 years! At the same time, he seemed to be counting on the fact that decades later he would be removed from the sarcophagus and brought out of suspended animation.
Unfortunately, there were no exact instructions left by 2002. During the Soviet era, there were persecutions of believers, including Buddhists. Monasteries were destroyed, documents were burned, monks were exiled or shot. Of the people who saw Itigelov during his lifetime, by the beginning of the 21st century. there was only one person left.
— How could Itigelov be brought out of suspended animation?
— Indian yogis have a similar practice. Hot dough or oil is placed on the person’s head and shoulders, warmed, and massaged. After this, the oxygen supply mechanism turns on and the person emerges from suspended animation. But the exit requires a lot of energy. And there is a limit beyond which it is impossible to take a person out.
- But now Itigelov can still be “revived”? Can he get up and walk?
- No. He died. This happened shortly after he was removed from the grave. He was then placed in a glass box, and at some point the glass became covered with moisture from the inside. The Buryats said: “He is giving us some kind of sign.” But any pathologist knows: when a person dies, moisture is released from his body. This is a sure sign of death. When they say that the soul flies out of the body and it loses a few grams of weight, this is precisely the loss of weight due to the release of moisture. The same Zvyagin confirmed: at that moment everything ended, Itigelov died. And after that, his body began to turn into a mummy.
But note that Itigelov kept his promise: he returned to us alive after 75 years, as he had intended.
How a person puts himself into a state of suspended animation remains to be studied. Photo: Reuters
It's all about the fat
- What kind of condition is this in which a person can remain for decades without showing signs of life? What does science know about him?
— The state of suspended animation as a temporary cessation of life activity is well known to biologists. It occurs frequently in nature—every child knows that a bear hibernates in winter. And in a state of hypothermia (cooling), the body even increases its resistance to many external influences. Cells of the cerebral cortex withstand a long absence of blood circulation and do not die, apparently triggering some kind of backup power. Let's say it happens that they find a drowned man who drowned in winter, and he suddenly comes to life.
Biologists who studied the state of suspended animation constructed a scheme for artificially entering it: breathing training leads to an increase in the carbon dioxide content in the body and a decrease in body temperature. At the same time, the processes associated with decay and the activity of microorganisms stop. This ensures the incorruptibility of the body.
This mechanism is usually triggered under stress. And its work is ensured by brown fat cells - it is located between the shoulder blades and along the spine. Previously, it was believed that brown fat was necessary for babies; it served as a kind of heating pad for them, maintaining the desired temperature. But recent research shows that brown fats determine almost all processes in the body. And, perhaps, they turn on the oxygen-free backup mode in which Itigelov was. And not only him, similar cases occurred in other countries. There were especially many of them in India.
- Can any of us learn to enter such a state?
“This mechanism was laid down in us by evolution as a protection against stress and danger. It was formed at a time when living organisms emerged from the World Ocean onto land. In some people this mechanism is able to turn on spontaneously (as in the same drowned people), in others it is not. However, you can train this skill in yourself. Of course, this is hard work, you need a lot of work on yourself. And if a person only thinks about how to eat deliciously and take a cool selfie, he is unlikely to have enough resources for this. And religious consciousness, prayer and meditation apparently help to achieve this state. They excite deep areas of the brain that turn on this mechanism.
I have a dream: to conduct an experiment with a person entering such a state and explore everything that happens to him. For now everything is at the stage of ideas and conversations. But who knows, maybe sooner or later we will conduct this experiment? And then every person will learn to make his body incorruptible...
Who else turned themselves into a mummy?
Thailand
Luang Pho Daeng. Photo: flickr.com / Andrew Yang
Abbot of a Thai Buddhist monastery on Koh Samui. Lived in the 20th century. It is believed that he predicted the possible mummification of his body. At the age of 79, a week before his death, he stopped eating and speaking, plunging into deep meditation. The only thing that decomposed after death were the eyes. For ethical reasons, they were covered with sunglasses.
Vu Khac Minh, Vietnam
Abbot of a Buddhist monastery, lived more than 300 years ago. Towards the end of his days, he plunged into fasting and meditation, allowing his disciples to come to him only when his prayer wheel stopped beating.
For a long time, his body was considered a sculpture, regularly covered with paint and varnish. But something rattled inside the sculpture, and the monks asked to have it x-rayed. It turned out that the torn-off heart was thundering! In addition, bones and many organs were intact.
Italy
Saint Rose of Viterbo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro
The girl died in 1251 and was buried in the ground. After 20 months they decided to rebury her, opened the grave and found a body with no signs of decomposition. As a result, Rose was recognized as a saint and placed in the Clarisse monastery. After some time, the body became mummified and remains in this state to this day. Scientists believe that the girl could have put herself into a state of suspended animation spontaneously.
Japan
Kukai. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Religious and public figure, lived in the 8th-9th centuries. He founded a school that combined elements of Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism and other religions. At the age of 61, he gave up food and water and plunged into meditation. On the 21st day his breathing stopped. He was placed on the top of Mount Koya-san and then buried. After some time, the grave was opened and Kukai was found in a state similar to sleep: his body had not changed, his hair looked healthy.
Ecology of knowledge: It’s hard to believe, and it’s simply impossible to imagine that, according to scientists, the recently discovered mummy of a Tibetan monk, which is more than 200 years old, is still “alive.” Scientists in Ulaanbaatar came into the hands of a 200-year-old mummy of a Tibetan
It’s hard to believe, and it’s simply impossible to imagine that, according to scientists, the recently discovered mummy of a Tibetan monk, which is more than 200 years old, is still “alive.”
Scientists in Ulaanbaatar came across a 200-year-old mummy of a Tibetan monk, which was discovered in the province of Songinokhair Khan.
The mummy is in a seated position in the "lotus-vajra" position, that is, the palm of the left hand is open, and the right palm is turned down and closed, symbolizing the preaching of the Sutra. According to the ancient traditions of Buddhist lamas, this state of a person indicates that the monk has not died, but is in a deep state of meditation, and the longer he remains in such an unusual oblivion, the closer he is to the Buddha.
During a detailed study of the mummy and after a number of various examinations, scientists made an unambiguous conclusion that the protein functions of the mummy’s body have an intravital state, and “the monk is still alive”, he is simply in a very long and deep trance.
According to scientists led by Professor of the Mongolian Institute of Buddhist Art Genhugiyun Purevbata, such a trance into which the monk entered is called “tukdam”, and the monk himself is the teacher of Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, who of his own free will sat in the same lotus position and read the posthumous prayer , died. This event took place on June 15, 1927.
Before sitting down and dying, Itigelov prepared himself mentally and physically for almost ten years, and bequeathed to his students that he should be buried intact in a sitting position. Then, 30 years later, they came and dug it up and looked at it again, but they finally returned it only after 75 years. This is how everything was accomplished by his disciples. A cedar box was built, in which a sitting lama was placed and covered with ordinary rock salt, and then buried in the ground with all honors. Thirty years later (in 1957), Itigelov was dug up again. Those present were amazed by what they saw - the monk sat in the same position as if alive, only he was not breathing. They changed his robe, read the necessary prayers, and the improvised sarcophagus with the monk was buried again, and was dug up again only in 2002.
In fact, the lama returned to our world, as he wanted after 75 years. A forensic examination of the city of Buryatia documented the fact that there is no natural decomposition of the body, there is not even a putrid smell. The soft tissues are elastic, the joints bend and retain their mobility, and there are no signs of any embalming or the use of any oils on the body. Even the lama’s orange robe has not lost its strength and brightness of colors.
By the way, Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov (Pardito Khambo Lama XII) is a religious Buryat figure, and in 1911-1917 he was the head of the Buddhists of Siberia.
To this day, the Lama sits on the podium, in his solemn lotus position, in the Ivolginsky Monastery specially built for him. His body can be said to be incorruptible; for 88 years now it has been in the same condition and has not been subjected to rotting or decomposition. Many believe that the lama is alive and could have returned to our world only if his body had been dug up a little earlier. Or simply the lama’s revival does not occur because those to whom he promised to return are no longer alive.
But be that as it may, in fact, we will never know this for sure, but with these examples of “living” mummies we can accurately state the fact that the power of faith is simply omnipotent and immense, and in many ways it is not yet possible for a person not to understand this, not explain.published
When a person passes into another world, it is customary to bury his body. But sometimes, for various reasons, people want to preserve the deceased for a longer memory and not in photographs at all...
You won't believe it, but we found 18 dead people, whose bodies are still carefully kept among the living!
1. Vladimir Lenin (1870 – 1924, Russia)
The father of Russian communism and the first leader of the USSR died almost 100 years ago, but his body looks like Vladimir Ilyich fell asleep and is about to wake up!
Back in 1924, the government decided to preserve the deceased leader for future generations. To do this, they even had to invent a complex embalming process! At the moment, Lenin's body does not have any insides (they have been replaced with special moisturizers and pumping system, which maintains core temperature and fluid intake), and requires constant injections and baths.
It is known that during the existence Soviet Union The dead leader’s suits were changed once a year, but after the fall of the communist nation, the leader stopped being fashionable and now “changes” his clothes once every 5 years!
2. Eva "Evita" Peron (1919 - 1952, Argentina)
“Don’t cry for me, Argentina,” Madonna-Evita sang, playing the role of the main and beloved woman of the entire Argentine people, Evita Peron, in the film of the same name.
No, then in 1952 the country did not want to put up with the death of the wife of President Juan Peron. And even more, Eva Peron, who died of cancer, was so skillfully embalmed that the result was later even called the “art of death”!
But indeed, there was even more life in the dead body... You won’t believe it, but the process of preserving the deceased took specialists almost a year. It is known that after the arrival of the new government, Evita’s body was stolen and hidden in Italy, where the caretaker fell in love with it and could not curb his sexual fantasies!
3. Rosalia Lombardo (1918 – 1920, Italy)
Deep in the catacombs of the Capuchin friars in Sicily, inside a small glass casket lies the body of little Rosalia Lombardo. When the girl died of pneumonia in 1920, her father, General Lombardo, could not cope with the loss. He found embalming specialist Alfredo Salafia, and was ready to give all the money so that only his daughter’s body could be preserved. And thanks to the mixture of chemical substances, including formalin, zinc salts, alcohol, salicylic acid and glycerin, we managed to achieve a phenomenal result! After a while, the body was given the name “Sleeping Beauty” and there was even a buyer who bought it!
Look how innocence is preserved on Rosalia's face. And today this mummy is not only the best preserved in the world, but also the most visited in the catacombs.
Well, this x-ray of Rosalia shows that her brain and internal organs are intact, although they have shrunk over time.
4. Lady Xin Zhui (died 163 BC, China)
This deceased woman's name was Xin Zhui, and she was the wife of the imperial viceroy of Changsha County, Marquis Dai, during the Han Dynasty.
Perhaps the woman’s name would have sunk into oblivion if she had not been mummified after death. The body of the Chinese woman was fantastically preserved 2,100 years after her death, and today scientists are scratching their heads over the mystery of the mummy, better known as “Lady Dai.”
Believe it or not, Xin Zhui's skin is still soft, her arms and legs can bend, her internal organs remain intact, and her veins still contain blood. Somehow, the mummy even had eyelashes and hair...Today it has been precisely established that during her lifetime, Xin Zhui was overweight, she suffered from lower back pain, clogged arteries and heart disease.
5. “Virgin” or 500-year-old mummy girl
And you definitely haven’t forgotten this 15-year-old, which has lain in the ice for almost 500 years!
6. Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov (1852-1927, Russia)
If you still don’t believe in miracles, then it’s time to visit Buryatia and look at the incorruptible body of the head of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia, monk Dashi-Dorzhi Titgelov, who sits in the lotus position.
But, the most amazing thing is that the body is in the open air, and not only does not decompose, but also exudes a fragrance!
7. Man of Tollund (390 BC - 350 BC, Denmark)
Another one amazing find“living” dead - a human body that has lain in the peat bogs of Tollund (Denmark) since the 4th century BC!
The "Man from Tollund" was found in 1950. Then archaeologists determined that the deceased was most likely hanged - he had a swollen tongue, and in his stomach there was a portion of eaten vegetables and seeds!
Alas, time and the swamp preserved the body, but people could not - today only the head, legs and thumb remain intact from the find.
8. Tattooed Princess Ukok (lived around the 5th century AD in Siberia)
Another creepy greeting from the past - Altai princess Ukok.
They found the mummy lying on its side with its legs drawn up.
The princess had numerous tattoos on her arms! But the find was dressed even more interestingly - in a white silk shirt, a burgundy woolen skirt, felt socks and a fur coat. The complex hairstyle of the deceased is also unique - it is made of wool, felt and her own hair and was 90 cm in height. The princess died at a young age (about 25 years old) from breast cancer (during the study, a tumor in the breast and metastases were discovered) .
9. Imperishable Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879, France)
The daughter of a miller, Maria Bernadette was born in Lourdes in 1844.
It is known that during her short life (the girl lived for 35 years and died of tuberculosis), the Virgin Mary (the white lady) appeared to her 17 times, during which she indicated where to find a spring with healing water and where to build a temple.
After death and burial, Bernadette Soubirous was canonized, and therefore the body had to be exhumed and embalmed. Since then, it has been buried and exhumed two more times, before finally being placed in a golden reliquary in the chapel and covered in wax.
10. John Torrington (1825 – 1846, UK)
Sometimes nature can preserve a body much better than embalming experts. Here's how, for example, the body of John Torrington, senior officer of the legendary Franklin expedition to the Arctic Circle. The researcher died of lead poisoning at the age of 22 and was buried in the tundra along with three others at a campsite. In the 1980s, Torring's grave was exhumed by scientists in order to find out the reason for the failure of the expedition.
When the coffins were opened and the ice thawed, the archaeologists were amazed and frightened by what they saw - John Torrington was literally looking at them!
11. Beauty Xiaohe (Lived 3800 years ago, China)
In 2003, at the excavations of the ancient cemetery of Xiaohe Mudi, archaeologists discovered a well-preserved mummy, named after the location - Beauty Xiaohe.
You won’t believe it, but this beauty in a felt hat, after 4 thousand years of being underground in a coffin-boat with bags of herbs, had intact skin, hair and even eyelashes!
12. Cherchensky man (died about 1000 BC, China)
In 1978, a mummified “Cherchen man” dating back to 1000 BC was found in the Taklamakan desert. e. The Cherchenets was blond with light skin, 2 m tall, dressed in clothes made of European wool. He died at the age of 50.
The discovery of this mummy forced historians to rethink everything they knew about the interaction of Eastern and Western civilizations!
13. George Mallory (1886-1924, UK)
In 1924, climber George Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine could have been the first to reach the summit of Everest, but, alas... For 75 years, the fate of the dead climbers remained a mystery, and in 1999, the NOVA-BBC expedition managed to discover the well-preserved body of J. Mallory in clothes torn by the wind!
Researchers found that the two climbers were connected, but Irwin lost his grip and fell.
14. Ramesses II the Great (1303 BC - 1213 BC, Egypt)
The mummy of one of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Ramesses II the Great, is one of the most unique finds of our time. For more than 100 years, scientists have been engaged in a fierce battle to find out the cause of death of a personality of such magnitude. And the answer was found after a computed tomography scan. It turned out that a penetrating cut (7 cm) was found on the pharaoh’s throat all the way to the spine, which affected not only the blood vessels, but also the trachea and esophagus!
15. Wet mummy (lived 700 years ago, China)
In 2011, construction workers were digging the foundation for a new road when they unearthed the mummy of a woman who lived 700 years ago during the Ming Dynasty.
Thanks to the moist soil, the woman’s body was remarkably preserved. Moreover, her skin, eyebrows and hair are not damaged!
But the most impressive thing is the jewelry found on the “wet mummy” - a silver hairpin, a jade ring on a finger and a silver medallion for exorcism.
16. Otzi or ice man from Tyrol (3300 BC -3255 BC, Italy)
Ötzi Iceman (Otzi the Iceman) is the best surviving natural human mummy from around 3300 BC (53 centuries ago). The discovery was made in September 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabhoch, on the border between Austria and Italy.
It got its name due to the place where it was discovered. Scientists have found that the cause of death of the “ice man” was most likely a blow to the head. Today his body and belongings are on display at the Museum of Archeology of South Tyrol in Bolzano, northern Italy.
17. Man from Groboll (late 3rd century BC, Denmark)
In the mid-20th century, several perfectly preserved bodies were discovered in a peat bog in Denmark. The most attractive of them, so to speak, turned out to be the “man from Groball.” You won't believe it, but he still had nails on his hands and hair on his head!
Radiocarbon dating of his intact (!) liver showed that he lived more than 2,000 years ago, and died when he was about 30 years old, probably from a deep cut in the neck.
18. Tutankhamun (1341 BC - 1323 BC, Egypt)
Remember, just recently we remembered, and finally found out what Tutankhamun was like during his life.
Today, the discovery of the pharaoh's mummy can be considered the most unique find of humanity - well, at least remember that the tomb of Tutankhamun was not plundered by ancient robbers and, in addition, all subsequent hoaxes associated with “curses” after the opening of the tomb by G. Carter.
Only, alas, it is worth admitting that of all the surviving “living” dead, Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not in the most “attractive” form.
When you think about mummies, your imagination conjures up a lot of standard images: the bodies of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt wrapped in cloth, the death mask of Tutankhamun, or the creepy mummy of an Andean child. In all these cases, the process of mummification took place after death. But a sect of Buddhist monks in Japan was engaged in the transformation own bodies into a mummy while still alive, striving to become sokushinbutsu - “Buddhas in the flesh.”
1. Why would anyone do something like this?
On the one hand, self-mummification is terrifying, and it’s hard to imagine that anyone would want to do something like this. The first person to strive to become a living mummy was Kukai, later known as Kobo Daishi. Kukai was a Buddhist priest who lived over 1000 years ago in Japan. During his life, he founded the Shingon ("true words") school of Buddhism. Kukai and his followers were convinced that spiritual strength and enlightenment could be achieved through self-denial and an ascetic lifestyle.
Shingon monks would often sit for hours under the icy waterfall, ignoring all discomfort. Inspired by Chinese tantric practices, Kukai decided to take his ascetic lifestyle to the extreme. His goal was to transcend the limitations of the physical world and become Sokushinbutsu. To achieve this goal, Kukai took certain measures that turned his body into a mummy while he was still alive.
2. First stage - 1000 days
The process of turning yourself into a mummy is long and grueling. There are three stages, each lasting 1000 days, which ultimately lead to the person becoming a mummy. During these approximately nine years, the monk is alive for most of the time. Once the monk decides to try to mummify himself, he begins the first stage. The monk completely changes his diet, eating nothing but nuts, seeds, fruits and berries.
This restricted diet is combined with a strict schedule of physical activity. During the first 1000 days, fats quickly disappear from the monk's body. It should also be noted that mummification requires minimal moisture, but human fat has a high water content, which causes faster decomposition after death.
Corpses with more body fat also retain heat for longer periods of time. Heat leads to improved reproduction of bacteria, which promote decomposition. The monk's loss of fat is the first step in his fight against the decomposition of the body after death.
3. Next 1000 days
The next stage is characterized by an even more limited diet. For the next 1000 days, the monk eats only the bark and roots in gradually decreasing quantities. Physical activity is replaced by long hours of meditation. As a result, the monk loses even more fat and muscle tissue. These efforts, during which the person becomes emaciated, ultimately result in the body not decomposing after death. Some of the main factors that lead to body decomposition are bacteria and insects.
After death, bacteria in the body begin to destroy cells and organs. While these bacteria cause the body to decay from the inside, the soft and fatty tissues of the dead body provide an ideal environment for flies and other insects to lay eggs in it. After the larvae hatch, they feed on rotting flesh mixed with fat. At the end of the process, all soft tissue completely disappears, leaving only bones and teeth. And the extreme diet of the monks leads to the fact that insects have nothing to eat.
4. Severe vomiting
The second 1000 days of asceticism result in the monk's body becoming exhausted. When the amount of fat in the body is reduced to a minimum, constant meditation and almost complete lack of physical activity leads to the loss of muscle tissue. But this is not enough and the strict diet continues. During final stage Upon transformation into sokushinbutsu, the monk drinks tea made from the sap of the urushi tree or lacquer tree.
Typically, this juice is used as furniture varnish and is very toxic. Drinking urushi tea quickly leads to severe vomiting, sweating and urination. This dehydrates the monk's body and creates ideal conditions for mummification. In addition, the poison from the urushi tree accumulates in the monk's body, killing larvae and insects that may try to take up residence in the body after death.
5. Buried Alive
After 2000 days of painful fasting, meditation and consumption of poison, the monk is ready to leave this plane of existence. The second stage of sokushinbutsu ends with the monk climbing into the stone tomb. It is so small that he can barely sit in it, stand, or even just turn around. After the monk assumes the lotus position, his assistants close this grave, literally burying him alive.
Only a small bamboo tube through which air enters connects the grave with the outside world. Every day the monk rings a bell to let his assistants know that he is still alive. When the assistants can no longer hear the sound of the bell, they pull the bamboo tube out of the coffin and seal it completely, leaving the monk in what becomes his tomb.
6. Last 1000 days
The sealed grave is left alone, and the body inside is turned into a mummy. The low content of fat and muscle tissue prevents the body from rotting. This is aggravated by dehydration of the body and high amounts of urushi poison. The monk's body dries out and slowly mummifies. After 1000 days, the grave is opened and the mummified monk is removed from it. His remains are returned to the temple and worshiped as a sokushinbutsu or living Buddha. The monk's mummy is looked after and her clothes are changed every few years.
7. There is a high chance of failure
Since Kukai's self-mummification process 1,000 years ago, it is believed that hundreds of monks have attempted to become living mummies. But there are about two dozen successful examples left in history. Becoming a Buddha in the flesh is very difficult. For more than five years, a person striving to become sokushinbutsu eats almost nothing, he has no physical activity and he meditates for long hours every day.
Few people have the self-control and willpower to willingly submit to such suffering for 2,000 days. Many monks gave up this activity halfway through. And even if they did successfully cope with the ascetic lifestyle, there is still a high probability that their bodies did not turn into mummies after death.
Japan's humid climate and high salt content in the soil are poor conditions for mummification. Despite all efforts, the monk's body may decompose inside his tomb. In this case, the monk will not be considered a living Buddha, and his remains will simply be reburied. However, he will be highly respected for his endurance.
8. Violation of laws
Self-mummification was practiced in Japan from the 11th century to the 19th century. In 1877, Emperor Meiji decided to put an end to this form of suicide. Was published new law, which forbade opening the graves of those who tried to become sokushinbutsu. As far as is known, the last Sokushinbutsu was Tetsuryukai, who was sealed in his tomb in 1878. After the last 1000 days ended, his followers had problems: they wanted to open the grave and see if Tetsuryukai had turned into a sokushinbutsu, but no one wanted to go to prison.
Having made their way into the grave, they discovered that Tetsuryukai had turned into a mummy. To place the body of their new Buddha in the temple but avoid prosecution, Tetsuryukai's followers changed his death date to 1862, when there was no law yet. Tetsuryukaya's mummy can still be seen today in the Nangaku Temple.
9. Natural self-mummification
Although many monks tried to become sokushinbutsu after Kukai, only two dozen people succeeded. Some of these mummified monks can be seen in Buddhist temples in Japan and are revered by Buddhists to this day. The most famous sokushinbutsu is probably the monk Shinnyokai-Shonin, the remains of which can be found at the Dainichi-Bu Temple on Mount Judono. Shinnyokai began dreaming of becoming a sokushinbutsu at the age of 20 and even then limited his diet. But his dream did not come true until 1784, when the monk was 96 years old. At that time, famine was raging in Honshu, hundreds of thousands of people were dying from hunger and disease.
Shinnyokai was convinced that the Buddha needed a sign of compassion to end the famine. He dug a grave on a hill near the temple and isolated himself inside, bringing out only a thin bamboo tube to breathe. Three years later, the grave was opened to reveal the completely mummified remains of the monk. Whether this was related to Shinnyokai is unknown, but in 1787 the famine ended.
10. The Last Buddhist Mummy
In January 2015, another Sokushinbutsu was found. This time, the mummified monk was from Mongolia. It was discovered by police when the mummy was put on the black market for sale. The monk's remains were confiscated and taken to the National Forensic Center in Ulaanbaatar. Like his Japanese counterparts, the Mongolian monk sits in the lotus position. He still looks like he was in deep meditation and didn’t notice when he died. In fact, some Buddhists believe that the monk has not died at all, but is in a meditative state on his path to becoming a Buddha. However, scientists are convinced that the monk has been dead for 200 years.
Behind the idealized images of kings and eloquent descriptions of their divine exploits were hidden living people - sick, aging and mortals (the statue of Hatshepsut in the form of a sphinx)
I recently watched a program about how Zahi Hawass, at that time the head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, was looking for the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut. It must be said that on screen the enthusiasm of the temperamental Egyptian scientist often looks premature, and sometimes not even entirely justified, and not all conclusions are clearly perceived as 100% convincing; the criticism of his numerous opponents is generally understandable to me. And in general, as I understand it, there has always been a lot of dancing with tambourines around Egyptology, but the program still seemed quite interesting to me.
Mummy of Queen Hatshepsut
The identification of the previously nameless mummy was helped by the queen’s illness, which quickly brought her to the grave - in one of the canopic jars (organ storage vessel) signed with the queen’s name, a tooth was discovered, which was apparently pulled out shortly before her death, because the queen suffered from a dental abscess. The tooth exactly “matched” the jaw of the “anonymous” mummy, and so Hatshepsut was identified after a long search. Later, the relationship with other representatives of the 18th dynasty was confirmed, or rather, it coincided mitochondrial DNA grandmothers of the queen and Hatshepsut herself.
Figure of the court dwarf Saneb with his wife and children (5th-6th dynasty, Cairo Museum).
This man was a funerary priest and suffered from achondroplasia, a disease in which the growth zones of long bones close prematurely and the proportions of the body are severely disturbed.
This is how the intimate secret of the ruler of Egypt was revealed - she had a bad dentist. The mummy's teeth were in poor condition. However, like the entire bone skeleton, the bones turned out to be very softened, however, I did not understand from the transmission how the researchers determined that this change in bone tissue was intravital. The periodontal abscess brought the queen long, exhausting torment; Most likely, it was difficult for her to eat; the queen was in severe pain. Court doctors eventually pulled out the tooth, but it was too late - the infection spread throughout the body, and the queen died at the age of about 50.
Also, by scanning the mummy, it was possible to determine that the queen suffered from a rather large tumor in abdominal cavity and had excess weight(and in general she was a large woman, but with a beautiful chiseled face with noble features). The tumor center was located in the liver, metastases spread to the bones. It is possible that for an organism tormented by cancer (and also diabetes), a tooth infection was the last straw. And the queen’s life itself at that time, it must be said, had lost its meaning for her - her only daughter, young Nefrura, died, her parents and husband, her beloved friend, adviser and most close person, the architect Semnut also died - all his relatives were already in the Kingdom of the Dead.
An ancient papyrus depicts chiropractors - surgeons who reduce dislocations and treat fractures.
The researchers also discovered that, among other things, Hatshepsut had a genetically determined skin condition that affected her entire family - something like eczema or psoriasis, which caused her skin to be covered with unsightly itchy plaques. Her father, husband-brother and some other relatives suffered from the same disease.
There is one interesting version of the origin of the tumor in the queen’s womb - scientists from the Egyptian Museum of the University of Bonn discovered dangerous carcinogens - creosote and benzopyrene - in the medicine for the queen’s skin. This was discovered after examining a bottle of ointment or lotion (it was clearly not perfume - the substance emitted a very nasty smell, and it had a very specific composition), the drug also contained various oils and was intended to relieve inflammation and reduce itching. Apparently, the unfortunate queen, suffering from itching and rubbing in the life-saving remedy, did not realize that she was slowly poisoning herself.
The deadly bottle of Hatshepsut (photo AP Photo / DAPD, Sascha Schuermann).
I became interested: after all, over the past 20 years, modern research science has acquired very effective methods- several scanning techniques, scintigraphy, precise chemical, genetic and DNA analysis, and modern microscopes will soon look at bosons. All this should be used to study mummies, and not only such famous ones as Hatshepsut. It became interesting what diseases the ancient Egyptians generally suffered from. I rummaged through the book and the Internet, it turned out that in pathopaleology modern science very successful for last years.
Relatively recently, the mummy of another famous ruler, Tutankhamun, was carefully examined, although he is famous not so much for his deeds, since he died at only 19 years old, but for his luxurious, unplundered burial.
On this 18th Dynasty stela we see a polio victim - a man with a deformed foot, leaning on a crutch.
It was traditionally believed that he died from a complication of a wound, possibly received while hunting, but it turned out that everything was much more prosaic - the king was killed by tropical malaria - an ailment very common in the swampy areas around the Nile. Plasmodium falciparum DNA was isolated from the mummy's tissues.
It must be said that the young tsar was unlikely to last long in any case; his health was clearly not great. And while hunting, he certainly did not gallop briskly from bump to bump, since he could hardly move without crutches. His parents were brother and sister, which Ancient Egypt was a completely normal practice due to the nature of succession to the throne, so the king had a whole bunch of genetic defects. He was found to have a cleft palate (“cleft palate”), Köhler’s disease, which led to severe deformation of the foot, and congenital absence of several toes was noted on the other foot.
Reconstruction of the appearance of Tutankhamun (all fingers are in place here)
In the burial of King Tut, the mummies of two stillborn babies, apparently his children, were discovered; they also had congenital anomalies, such as spina bifida and skull deformation, as in hydrocephalus.
The first serious researcher of Egyptian mummies for causes of death and intravital diseases was the American pathologist Michael Zimmerman (no, not the one who shot the black teenager). He began his research back in 1993, without sophisticated techniques. At first, research was hampered by the fact that the mummies' tissues were too dry and stiff to be able to study their cellular composition. Later, samples taken from mummies were soaked in a solution based on alcohol and soda.
The ancient Egyptians practiced male circumcision. In a hot climate, in clouds of desert dust, this was necessary. In the picture, adults are being circumcised - slaves from barbarian tribes, apparently. The Egyptians themselves were circumcised in early childhood.
Zimmerman had to face many difficulties (even with fake "mummies"), but he was able to make a number of interesting discoveries.
His first “patient,” as it turned out, died from pneumonia caused by Klebsiella - this is still a common causative agent of respiratory tract infections, normally calmly coexisting with the human body, and when the body is weakened or hypothermic, it becomes pathogenic. Apparently, the poor guy whose mummy was examined by the American was just unlucky.
For a long time it was believed that the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, the husband of Nefertiti, suffered from a rare genetic disease - Marfan syndrome. Such patients have long, ugly limbs, a wide pelvis, an elongated face with “dog” eyes. Studies of mummies of close relatives (the mummy of the heretic himself was not found) showed: many relatives were similar to Akhenaten in appearance, but no signs of Marfan were found in them. So the pharaoh was simply a freak and had a specific appearance, romantically played up by artists and sculptors.
Zimmerman also encountered the first dead person found who died from tuberculosis - it was a 6-year-old child who died 1300 years ago (however, later even more ancient “tuberculosis victims” were discovered in the territory of what is now Israel - a mother and baby, whose remains are more than 9000 years old) .
In general, tuberculosis was a real scourge of Egypt. After all, the settlements of the Egyptians were crowded, families were quite large, and their homes were cramped. Mortality from this disease was high among both children and adults. Both bovine and human mycobacteria tuberculosis are detected; scientists suggest that the pathogen appeared thousands of years ago due to a mutation of the causative agent of infection in cattle. Remains with traces of the most different forms tuberculosis, not only pulmonary. Bone tuberculosis was quite common.
Egyptian women, as you can see, gave birth to children while squatting.
Zimmerman concluded that the low incidence of cancer among Egyptians confirms that cancer is a disease of modern civilization caused by overeating and smoking.
Egyptian surgical instruments(from here)
His opponents believe that, perhaps, “detection” suffers when studying mummies - cancer still existed, only after thousands of years it is difficult to detect. They also consider it possible that the short average life expectancy of Egyptians simply did not allow them to live to an age when the incidence of cancer increases.
Zimmerman counters that he came across mummies of 90-year-old people, and his “subjects” often had metabolic diseases of old age - diabetes, atherosclerosis and osteoarthritis. The very wide distribution of atherosclerosis is surprising - this has been noted by other researchers. Perhaps this was due to some dietary features, for example, it is known that the Egyptians consumed large quantities of beer (and maybe they also had fast foods?) or with genetics, because the Egyptians had consanguineous marriages in the order of things.
The ancient Egyptian prosthetic big toe was not for beauty, for burial: the deceased must have had all the required body parts.
Just recently, 52 mummies from the Cairo Museum were examined, another cancer was found - a prostate tumor in an elderly man, and Zimmerman's observation was confirmed - atherosclerosis was found in more than a third.
An interesting discovery was also associated with ancient Egyptian dentistry. Hatshepsut was not the only one who suffered from dental problems. Most of the examined remains had very poor teeth. Firstly, severe dental infectious complications were very common - abscesses, periodontal disease and caries; almost every mummy was missing several teeth.
Secondly, there is severe wear and tear on the chewing surfaces of the teeth. There is a hypothesis that this is due to the peculiarities of flour-grinding production of that time: the bread consumed by the Egyptians contained a large percentage of dusty sand, which quickly “erased” teeth. But among the inhabitants of the banks of the Nile, almost no problems were found with the dentition and bite; the Egyptians had strong, well-developed jaws, probably due to the consumption of hard, rough food. Traces of the work of ancient dentists have also been found - artificial teeth made of bone, fastened with gold wire, are sometimes found in burials.
Queen Punta Ati, met by the ambassadors of Queen Hatshepsut, clearly suffered from severe obesity or even elephantiasis, which made a strong impression on the Egyptians. Excessive obesity was clearly not held in high esteem in Egypt...
Interestingly, at least one other ruler, Ramses II, probably died from a dental abscess. His mummy is also well studied. He, like many, was found to have atherosclerosis, as well as many traces of battle wounds and old fractures, and also age-related arthritis. It also turned out that in his youth the pharaoh had red hair! At first, scientists did not attach any importance to the red color of the rare remaining hair of the mummy - the hair of the dead was often dyed with henna, but upon examination it was discovered that this was also a natural pigment.
Other pharaohs also had jaw abscesses (Psusenes the First, for example; he died very old, when he was already crooked from arthritis).
...Although the Egyptians themselves were not all crazy about diets! (statue of village chief Kaaper, 25th century BC, tree(!!!)).
The mummified body of a one-year-old child was found, apparently dying of scurvy - it would seem, how could a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C be allowed to happen?! They have a lot of lemons there! Perhaps the baby “received” the disease from his mother, who suffered from scurvy, and she did not have enough the right vitamin in breast milk.
In general, a whole medical encyclopedia! The examined remains were sometimes diagnosed with quite rare diseases - Hand-Schüller-Christian syndrome, for example, (a congenital disorder of lipid metabolism when a person develops areas of softening of the bones of the skull). Osteomyelitis was often found - after all, there were no antibiotics, and any complicated bone fracture could end in failure.
Brewery.
The Egyptians drank beer almost instead of water. Is this where atherosclerosis is so widespread?
Here we should mention an interesting document - the Smith Papyrus. This is a real textbook of military field surgery of the 16th century BC with a fairly accurate description of 48 types of injuries and methods of managing them.
For example:
“Case five.
Title: Instructions regarding a gaping head wound with a broken skull. Examination: If you examine a man who has a gaping wound in the head, penetrating to the bone, (and) with a split skull; you must feel the wound. It is advisable to find what broke the skull if parts of it are located deep in the wound(s); remove the fragments floating under your fingers. At that time there may be a tumor over the wound, blood may flow from both nostrils (and) and both ears, (and) the person suffers from a feeling of stiffness in his neck, so that he is unable to look at both his shoulders and chest (in modern neurology This is called “stiff neck”).
Diagnosis: You should say about it: "It is a gaping wound in the head, penetrating to the bones, (and) a broken skull, with stiffness in the neck, not associated with any other ailment."
Treatment: you don’t tie it too tightly, but you connect and fix the fragments for the entire time until the wound is healed.”
Can you imagine? Just!
It is surprising that the wounds are described in great detail, and the recommendations in most cases are given sensibly! And no magic, which one might well expect to find in an Egyptian manuscript, because the Egyptians were literally obsessed with it!
Magic was used in one case - during the plague, in the face of the Black Death, ancient doctors were powerless.
Due to the constant dust, the Egyptians most likely suffered from eye diseases. Beautiful arrows in the eyes of pharaohs and their wives are not easy cosmetic product. The Egyptians applied a thick layer of paste based on grated malachite to the upper eyelid. It just protected from dust.
An ancient ophthalmologist (and maybe a cosmetologist)
I think they were bitten by scorpions and snakes - it was not in vain that they asked the god Horus for protection from them. And crocodiles, of course, ate them, and all sorts of large cats gnawed them. Injuries were common, and especially so in the military.
In the burials of builders, skeletons are found with strong growths of bone tissue in the lumbar region - due to carrying heavy loads, but all these diseases were characteristic of other peoples and in other times.
So the Egyptians died, mainly due to heart attacks and strokes as a result of atherosclerosis, as well as due to infections - malaria, schistosomiasis and tuberculosis. Well, or violent death.
And you live long and don’t get sick!
