Ka (kꜣ)

Vital essence — the double

Ka — the vital double, the life-force that distinguishes a living person from a corpse, transmitted from a creator-god (Khnum on his potter's wheel; Atum through breath). At death the ka does not perish; it requires sustenance, which is the entire reason for the offering-cult and the funerary endowment. Tombs are addressed to the ka, not to the deceased as such: 'a thousand of bread, a thousand of beer, for the ka of N.'