Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts Part 1

Representation of Deities of the Maya Ma.n.u.scripts.

by Paul Sch.e.l.lhas.

PREFACE.

Since the first edition of this pamphlet appeared in the year 1897, investigation in this department of science has made such marked progress, notwithstanding the slight amount of material, that a revision has now become desirable. It can be readily understood, that a new science, an investigation on virgin soil, such as the Maya study is, makes more rapid progress and develops more quickly than one pertaining to some old, much explored territory.

In addition to numerous separate treatises, special mention should be made of Ernst Forstemann's commentaries on the three Maya ma.n.u.scripts (Kommentar zur Mayahandschrift der Koniglichen offentlichen Bibliothek zu Dresden, Dresden 1901, Kommentar zur Madrider Mayahandschrift, Danzig 1902, and Kommentar zur Pariser Mayahandschrift, Danzig 1903) which const.i.tute a summary of the entire results of investigation in this field up to the present time.

The proposal made in the first edition of this pamphlet, that the Maya deities be designated by letters of the alphabet, has been very generally adopted by Americanists, especially by those in the United States of America. This circ.u.mstance, in particular, has seemed to make it desirable to prepare for publication a new edition, improved to accord with the present state of the science.

Warmest thanks are above all due to Mr. Bowditch, of Boston, who in the most disinterested manner, for the good of science, has made possible the publication of this new edition.

January, 1904.

P. SCh.e.l.lHAS.

THE MATERIAL OF THE Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS.

The three ma.n.u.scripts which we possess of the ancient Maya peoples of Central America, the Dresden (Dr.), the Madrid (Tro.-Cort.) and the Paris (Per.) ma.n.u.scripts, all contain a series of pictorial representations of human figures, which, beyond question, should be regarded as figures of G.o.ds. Together with these are a number of animal figures, some with human bodies, dress and armor, which likewise have a mythologic significance.

The contents of the three ma.n.u.scripts, which undoubtedly pertain to the calendar system and to the computation of time in their relation to the Maya pantheon and to certain religious and domestic functions, admit of the conclusion, that these figures of G.o.ds embody the essential part of the religious conceptions of the Maya peoples in a tolerably complete form. For here we have the entire ritual year, the whole chronology with its mythological relations and all accessories. In addition to this, essentially the same figures recur in all three ma.n.u.scripts. Their number is not especially large. There are about fifteen figures of G.o.ds in human form and about half as many in animal form. At first we were inclined to believe that further researches would considerably increase the number of deities, but this a.s.sumption was incorrect. After years of study of the subject and repeated examination of the results of research, it may be regarded as positively proved, that the number of deities represented in the Maya ma.n.u.scripts does not exceed substantially the limits mentioned above. The princ.i.p.al deities are determined beyond question.

The way in which this was accomplished is strikingly simple. It amounts essentially to that which in ordinary life we call "memory of persons" and follows almost naturally from a careful study of the ma.n.u.scripts. For, by frequently looking attentively at the representations, one learns by degrees to recognize promptly similar and familiar figures of G.o.ds, by the characteristic impression they make as a whole, or by certain details, even when the pictures are partly obliterated or exhibit variations, and the same is true of the accompanying hieroglyphs. A purely inductive, natural science-method has thus been followed, and hence this pamphlet is devoted simply to descriptions and to the ama.s.sing of material. These figures have been taken separately out of the ma.n.u.scripts alone, identified and described with the studious avoidance of all unreliable, misleading accounts and of all presumptive a.n.a.logies with supposedly allied mythologies.

Whatever cannot be derived from the ma.n.u.scripts themselves has been wholly ignored. Hypotheses and deductions have been avoided as far as possible.

Only where the interpretation, or the resemblance and the relations to kindred mythologic domains were obvious, and where the accounts agreed beyond question, has notice been taken of the fact so that the imposed limitations of this work should not result in one-sidedness.

Since, for the most part, the accounts of Spanish authors regarding the mythology of the Mayas correspond only slightly or not at all with these figures of G.o.ds, and all other conjectures respecting their significance are very dubious, the alphabetic designation of the deities, which was tentatively introduced in the first edition of this work, has been preserved. This designation has proved to be practical. For the plate at the end of this pamphlet, examples as characteristic as possible of the individual figures of G.o.ds have been selected from the ma.n.u.scripts.

It is a well known fact that we possess no definite knowledge either of the time of the composition or of the local origin of the Maya ma.n.u.scripts. The objection might, therefore, be raised that it is a hazardous proceeding to treat the material derived from these three ma.n.u.scripts in common, as if it were h.o.m.ogeneous. But these researches themselves have proved beyond a doubt, that the mythologic import of the ma.n.u.scripts belongs to one and the same sphere of thought. Essentially the same deities and the same mythologic ideas are, without question, to be found in all the ma.n.u.scripts.

The material of the inscriptions has been set entirely at one side, because the style of representation contained in them, both of the mythologic forms and of the hieroglyphs, renders comparison exceedingly difficult. In this field especial credit is due to Forstemann and Seler, for the work they have done in furtherance of interpretation, and mention should not be omitted of the generosity with which the well known promoter of Americanist investigations, the Duke of Loubat, has presented to the Berlin Museum of Ethnology costly originals of reliefs and inscriptions for direct study. The representations on the reliefs from the Maya region, it is true, give evidence of dealing with kindred mythologic conceptions. Figures and hieroglyphs of G.o.ds, made familiar by the ma.n.u.scripts, can also be found here and there. But on the whole so little appears in support of inst.i.tuting a comparison with the ma.n.u.scripts, that it seems expedient to leave the inscriptions for independent and special study.

I. REPRESENTATIONS OF G.o.dS.

A. The Death-G.o.d.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figs. 1-6]

G.o.d A is represented as a figure with an exposed, bony spine, truncated nose and grinning teeth.[10-1] It is plainly to be seen that the head of this G.o.d represents a skull and that the spine is that of a skeleton. The pictures of the death-G.o.d are so characteristic in the Maya ma.n.u.scripts that the deity is always easily recognized. He is almost always distinguished by the skeleton face and the bony spine. Several times in the Dresden ma.n.u.script the death-G.o.d is pictured with large black spots on his body and in Dr. 19b a woman with closed eyes, whose body also displays the black spots, is sitting opposite the G.o.d. While the Aztecs had a male and a female death-deity, in the Maya ma.n.u.scripts we find the death-deity only once represented as feminine, namely on p. 9c of the Dresden ma.n.u.script. Moreover the Dresden ma.n.u.script contains several different types of the death-G.o.d, having invariably the fleshless skull and (with the exception of Dr. 9c) the visible vertebrae of the spine.

Several times (Dr. 12b and 13b) he is represented apparently with distended abdomen. A distinguis.h.i.+ng article of his costume is the stiff feather collar, which is worn only by this G.o.d, his companion, the war-G.o.d F, and by his animal symbol, the owl, which will both be discussed farther on. His head ornament varies in the Dresden Codex; in the first portion of the ma.n.u.script, relating in part to pregnancy and child-birth (see the pictures of women on p. 16, et seq.), he wears on his head several times a figure occurring very frequently just in this part of the Dresden Codex and apparently representing a snail (compare Dr. 12b and 13b), which among the Aztecs is likewise a symbol of parturition. In view of these variations in the pictures of the Dresden Codex, it is very striking that in the Codex Tro.-Cortesia.n.u.s, there is only one invariable type of the death-G.o.d.

[10-1] See Plate for representations of the G.o.ds, A-P

A distinguis.h.i.+ng ornament of the death-G.o.d consists of globular bells or rattles, which he wears on his hands and feet, on his collar and as a head ornament. As can be distinctly seen in Dr. 11a, they are fastened with bands wound around the forearm and around the leg; in Dr. 15c these bells are black.

Among the symbols of the death-G.o.d a cross of two bones should be mentioned, which is also found in the Mexican ma.n.u.scripts. This cross of bones seems to occur once among the written characters as a hieroglyph and then in combination with a number: Tro. 10.* The figure [Death-G.o.d symbol] is also a frequent symbol of the death-G.o.d. Its significance is still uncertain, but it also occurs among the hieroglyphs as a death-sign and as a sign for the day Cimi (death).

The hieroglyphs of the death-G.o.d have been positively determined (see Figs. 1 to 4). Figs. 1 and 2 are the forms of the Dresden ma.n.u.script and Figs. 3 and 4 are those of the Madrid ma.n.u.script. G.o.d A is almost always distinguished by two hieroglyphs, namely Figs. 1 and 2 or 3 and 4.

Moreover the hieroglyphs are always the same, have scarcely any variants.

Even in Dr. 9c, where the deity is represented as feminine, there are no variations which might denote the change of s.e.x. The hieroglyphs consist chiefly of the head of a corpse with closed eyes, and of a skull. The design in front of the skull in Figs. 2 and 4 and under it in Fig. 3 is a sacrificial knife of flint, which was used in slaying the sacrifices, and is also frequently pictured in the Aztec ma.n.u.scripts. The dots under Fig.

1 are probably intended to represent blood.

The death-G.o.d is represented with extraordinary frequency in all the Maya ma.n.u.scripts. Not only does the figure of the G.o.d itself occur, but his attributes are found in many places where his picture is missing. Death evidently had an important significance in the mythologic conceptions of the Mayas. It is connected with sacrifice, especially with human sacrifices performed in connection with the captive enemy. Just as we find a personification of death in the ma.n.u.scripts of the Mayas, we also find it in the picture-writings of the ancient Mexicans, often surprisingly like the pictures of the Maya codices. The Aztec death-G.o.d and his myth are known through the accounts of Spanish writers; regarding the death-G.o.d of the Mayas we have less accurate information. Some mention occurs in Landa's Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan, --XXIII, but unfortunately nothing is said of the manner of representing the death-G.o.d. He seems to be related to the Aztec Mictlantecutli, of whom Sahagun, Appendix to Book III, "De los que iban al infierno y de sus obsequias," treats as the G.o.d of the dead and of the underworld, Mictlan. When the representations of the latter, for example in the Codex Borgia, and in the Codex Vatica.n.u.s No. 3773, are compared with those of the Maya ma.n.u.scripts, there can be hardly a doubt of the correspondence of the two G.o.d figures. In the Codex Borgia, p. 37, he is represented once with the same characteristic head ornament, which the death-G.o.d usually wears in the Maya ma.n.u.scripts, and in the Codex Fejervary, p. 8, the death-G.o.d wears a kind of breeches on which cross-bones are depicted, exactly as in Dr. 9 (bottom).

Bishop Landa informs us that the Mayas "had great and immoderate dread of death." This explains the frequency of the representations of the death-G.o.d, from whom, as Landa states, "all evil and especially death"

emanated. Among the Aztecs we find a male and a female death-deity, Mictlantecutli and Mictlancihuatl. They were the rulers of the realm of the dead, Mictlan, which, according to the Aztec conception, lay in the north; hence the death-G.o.d was at the same time the G.o.d of the north.

It agrees with the calendric and astronomic character of the Maya deities in the ma.n.u.scripts, that a number of the figures of the G.o.ds are used in connection with specified cardinal points. Since, according to the Aztec conception, the death-G.o.d was the G.o.d of the north, we might expect that in the Maya ma.n.u.scripts also, the death-G.o.d would be always considered as the deity of the north. Nevertheless this happens only _once_, namely in the picture at the end of Codex Cort., pp. 41 and 42. Elsewhere, on the other hand, this G.o.d is connected with other cardinal points, thus Dr. 14a with the west or east (the hieroglyph is illegible, but it can be only west or east), and in Dr. 27c with the west. It is interesting to note that once, however, in a series of cardinal points, the hieroglyph of the death-G.o.d connected with the numeral 10 stands just in the place of the sign of the north; this is on Tro. 24* (bottom).

In regard to the name of the death-G.o.d in the Maya language, Landa tells us that the wicked after death were banished to an underworld, the name of which was "Mitnal", a word which is defined as "h.e.l.l" in the Maya lexicon of Pio Perez and which has a striking resemblance to Mictlan, the Aztec name for the lower regions. The death-G.o.d Hunhau reigned in this underworld. According to other accounts (Hernandez), however, the death-G.o.d is called Ahpuch. These names can in no wise serve as aids to the explanation of the hieroglyphs of the death-G.o.d, since they have no etymologic connection with death or the heads of corpses and skulls, which form the main parts of the hieroglyph. Furthermore, the hieroglyphs of the G.o.ds certainly have a purely ideographic significance as already mentioned above, so that any relation between the names of the deities and their hieroglyphs cannot exist from the very nature of the case.

The day of the death-G.o.d is the day Cimi, death. The day-sign Cimi corresponds almost perfectly with the heads of corpses contained in the hieroglyphs of the death-G.o.d.

A hieroglyphic sign, which relates to death and the death-deity and occurs very frequently, is the sign Fig. 5, which is probably to be regarded as the ideogram of the owl. It represents the head of an owl, while the figure in front of it signifies the owl's ear and the one below, its teeth, as distinguis.h.i.+ng marks of a bird of prey furnished with ears and a powerful beak. The head of the owl appears on a human body several times in the Dresden ma.n.u.script as a subst.i.tute for the death-deity, thus Dr. 18c, 19c, 20a and 20c and in other places, and the hieroglyphic group (Fig. 5) is almost a regular attendant hieroglyph of the death-G.o.d.

A series of other figures of the Maya mythology is connected with the death-G.o.d. This is evident from the fact that his hieroglyphs or his symbols occur with certain other figures, which are thus brought into connection with death and the death-deity.

These figures are as follows:

1. His companion, G.o.d F, the G.o.d of war, of human sacrifice and of violent death in battle, apparently a counterpart of the Aztec Xipe, who will be discussed farther on.

2. The moan bird. See beyond under Mythological Animals, No. 1.

3. The dog. See the same, No. 3.

4. A human figure, possibly representing the priest of the death-G.o.d (see Dr. 28, centre, Dr. 5b and 9a). The last figure is a little doubtful.

It is blindfolded and thus recalls the Aztec deity of frost and sin, Itztlacoliuhqui. A similar form with eyes bound occurs only once again in the Maya ma.n.u.scripts, namely Dr. 50 (centre). That this figure is related to the death-G.o.d is proved by the fact that on Dr. 9a it wears the Cimi-sign on the middle piece of the chain around its neck. Furthermore it should be emphasized that the Aztec sin-G.o.d, Itztlacoliuhqui, likewise appears with symbols of death.

5. An isolated figure, Dr. 50a (the sitting figure at the right). This wears the skull as head ornament, which is represented in exactly the same way as in the Aztec ma.n.u.scripts (see Fig. 6).

6. Another isolated figure is twice represented combined with the death-G.o.d in Dr. 22c. This picture is so effaced that it is impossible to tell what it means. The hieroglyph represents a variant of the death's-head, Cimi. It seems to signify an ape, which also in the pictures of the Mexican codices was sometimes used in relation to the death-G.o.d.

The symbols of the death-G.o.d are also found with the figure without a head on Dr. 2 (45)a, clearly the picture of a beheaded prisoner. Death symbols occur, too, with the curious picture of a hanged woman on Dr.

53b, a picture which is interesting from the fact that it recalls vividly a communication of Bishop Landa. Landa tells us, the Mayas believed that whoever hanged himself did not go to the underworld, but to "paradise," and as a result of this belief, suicide by hanging was very common and was chosen on the slightest pretext. Such suicides were received in paradise by the G.o.ddess of the hanged, Ixtab. Ix is the feminine prefix; tab, taab, tabil mean, according to Perez' Lexicon of the Maya Language, "cuerda destinada para algun uso exclusivo". The name of this strange G.o.ddess is, therefore, the "G.o.ddess of the Halter" or, as Landa says, "The G.o.ddess of the Gallows". Now compare Dr. 53. On the upper half of the page is the death-G.o.d represented with hand raised threateningly, on the lower half is seen the form of a woman suspended by a rope placed around her neck. The closed eye, the open mouth and the convulsively outspread fingers, show that she is dead, in fact, strangled. It is, in all probability, the G.o.ddess of the gallows and halter, Ixtab, the patroness of the hanged, who is pictured here in company with the death-G.o.d; or else it is a victim of this G.o.ddess, and page 53 of the ma.n.u.script very probably refers, therefore (even though the two halves do not belong directly together), to the mythologic conceptions of death and the lower regions to which Landa alludes.

7. Lastly the owl is to be mentioned as belonging to the death-G.o.d, which, strange to say, is represented nowhere in the pictures realistically and so that it can be recognized, although other mythologic animals, as the dog or the moan bird, occur plainly as animals in the pictures. On the other hand, the owl's head appears on a human body in the Dresden ma.n.u.script as a subst.i.tute for the death-deity itself, for example on Dr. 18c, 19c, 20a and 20c and elsewhere, and forms a regular attendant hieroglyph of the death-G.o.d in the group of three signs already mentioned (Fig. 5).

Among the antiquities from the Maya region of Central America, there are many objects and representations, which have reference to the cultus of the death-G.o.d, and show resemblances to the pictures of the ma.n.u.scripts.

The death-G.o.d also plays a role, even today, in the popular superst.i.tions of the natives of Yucatan, as a kind of spectre that prowls around the houses of the sick. His name is Yum Cimil, the lord of death.