Kʼawiil
God K is the Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube designation of a deity occurring in the three remaining Maya codices. In earlier depictions, his main characteristic is firstly, a blade or torch running through his forehead, and secondly, an elongated, serpentine leg. God K personifies the lightning axe of the rain deity, Chaac, which is also a stereotypical attribute of the king as represented on his steles.
Names
From the correspondence between Landa's description of the New Year rituals and the depiction of these rituals in the Dresden Codex, it can be inferred that god K was called Bolon Dzacab 'Innumerable (bolon) maternal generations" in 16th-century Yucatan. God K's name in the Classic period is uncertain. Hieroglyphically, the head of god K can substitute for the syllable k'a in the generic Yucatec title k'awiil (a word with a possible meaning of 'powerful one'). This substitution has been adduced to suggest that the title k'awiil itself should be considered a name specifically referring to god K, an hypothesis which has become popular with many scholars.
Functions
God K embodied the king's lightning power, but was more generally a god of agricultural abundance, and of the maize and cacao seeds in particular. Therefore, he is often depicted with a sack of grains.
Narratives
The rain gods or lightnings once opened up the Maize Mountain, making the maize seeds available to mankind. Bolon Dzacab plays an important, if not very clear role in the eschatalogical myth related in the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, where he is identified with wrapped-up seeds.
God K also figures in an enigmatic Classic vase scene showing an aged man or god emerging from the serpentine foot of the lightning deity, apparently to mate with a nude young woman of decidely aristocratic allure in front of him. Not impossibly, the referent of the scene is ritual, rather than mythological.
Bibliography
- Martin, Simon, Cacao in Ancient Maya Religion
- Schele, Linda, Maya Cosmos
- Stuart, David, Ten Phonetic Syllables
- Taube, Karl, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan