Inana, the ruler of the heavens and earth, set her mind on the Nether World, “the land of no return. She abandoned her status and temples, took seven “ME”s (divine powers) and proceeded. She instructed her minister Ninshubur to plead with the deities if she failed to return.
When Inana arrived, the ruler of the Nether World Ereshkigal instructed the gatekeeper, Neti, to close all seven gates and remove one “ME” from Inana at each gate. Ereshkigal turned Inana into a corpse.
Ninshubur pleaded to the deities for their help. One god, Enki, created kurgarra and galatur. They took the “plant of life” and the “water of life”, and fed them to Inana. Ereshkigal and Inana both arose.
The original script of Inanna’s Decent to the nether world
The original script of Inanna’s Decent to the nether world can be read in “The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature” at the Oxford University Website here.