Editing Kʼawiil

{{Short description|Maya deity}}
[[File:God K effigy 2, Tikal.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Kʼawiil effigy cast from [[Tikal]]]]
'''Kʼawiil''', in the Post-Classic codices corresponding to '''God K''', is a [[Maya civilization|Maya]] deity identified with power, creation, and lightning.<ref name="Fitzsimmons">{{Cite web |last=Fitzsimmons |first=James L. |date=2024-10-03 |title=Centuries ago, the Maya storm god Huracán taught that when we damage nature, we damage ourselves |url=https://theconversation.com/centuries-ago-the-maya-storm-god-huracan-taught-that-when-we-damage-nature-we-damage-ourselves-238180 |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> He is characterized by a zoomorphic head, with large eyes, long, upturned snout and attenuated serpent foot.<ref>Stone and Zender 2011: 49</ref> As a creator god, K'awiil usually has a torch, stone celt, or cigar coming out of his forehead that symbolizes the spark of life. One of his legs does not end in a foot but in a snake with an open mouth, from which another being can emerge. As lightning and power personified, K'awiil is often carried like an axe by rain gods or as a sceptre by Maya rulers.<ref name="Fitzsimmons"/>

==Names==
From the correspondence between [[Diego de Landa|Landa]]'s description of the New Year rituals and the depiction of these rituals in the [[Dresden Codex]],<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/pt/item/11621/ |title = O Códice de Dresden |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = 1200–1250 |access-date = 2013-08-21 }}</ref> it can be inferred that in 16th-century Yucatán, Kʼawiil was called ''Bolon Dzacab'' 'Innumerable (''bolon'' 'nine, innumerable') maternal generations', probably a metaphor for fertility as well as the power of creation. God K's name in the Classic period may have been the same, or similar, since the numeral 'nine' is repeatedly found included in the deity's [[logogram]].

However, based on epigraphic considerations, the Classic Maya God K is now most often referred to as ''Kʼawiil''. Hieroglyphically, the head of God K can substitute for the syllable ''kʼa'' in ''kʼawiil'', a word possibly meaning 'powerful one', and attested as a generic deity title in Yucatec documents. This substitution has given rise to the idea that, inversely, the title ''kʼawiil'' as a whole should be considered a name specifically referring to God K.<ref>Stuart 1987: 13-16</ref>

==Narratives and scenes==

Lightning plays a crucial role in tales dealing with the creation of the world and its preparation for the advent of mankind. In the cosmogony of the [[Popol Vuh]], three Lightning deities identified with the 'Heart of the Sky' (among whom ''[[Huracan|Huraqan]]'' 'One-Leg') create the earth out of the primordial sea, and populate it with animals. Bolon Dzacab plays an important, if not very clear role in the cosmogonical myth related in the Book of [[Chilam Balam]] of Chumayel, where he is identified with wrapped-up seeds.<ref>Roys 1967: 99</ref> Wielding lightning, the rain gods once opened up a sacred mountain, making the maize seeds therein available to mankind. 
[[Image:God K K'awiil.jpg|thumb|250px|Woman entwined by the serpent leg of Kʼawiil]]

Kʼawiil also figures in an enigmatic Classic scene known only from ceramics (see fig.2), showing an aged ancestor or deity emerging from the serpentine foot of the lightning god, apparently to mate with a nude young woman of decidedly aristocratic allure entwined by the serpent. Not impossibly, the meaning of the scene is ritual, rather than mythological.

K'awiil also features prominently in the stucco reliefs of the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico, where rulers and nobles hold infant forms of K'awiil. This infant form of the god (unen k'awiil) was also one of the three patron deities of Palenque (GII of the so-called Palenque Triad).

==Functions==
The illustrated k'atun cycle of the [[Paris Codex]] suggests that the presentation of the head of Kʼawiil – perhaps holding the promise of 'Innumerable Generations' – was part of the king's ritual inauguration and accession to the throne. As lightning, k'awiil was also raw power and basic to creation as well as destruction.<ref name="Fitzsimmons"/> Holding k'awiil was a sign not only of the king's abilities in war and politics but also his power to bring agricultural abundance (particularly with regard to maize and cacao seeds). Therefore, k'awiil is often depicted with a sack of grains, sometimes accompanied by the expression ''hun yax(al) hun kʼan(al)'' 'abundance'.<ref>Houston, Stuart, Taube 2006: 25</ref>

=== K'awiil sceptre ===
[[Maya Classic Era|Classic-period Maya]] artists depicted the K'awiil [[sceptre]] not as a mere stone object, but as a living, animate participant in the rituals portrayed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doyle |first=James |date=2015-07-02 |title=Grasping the Foot of Lightning in a Maya Scepter Fragment - The Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/maya-scepter-fragment |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=www.metmuseum.org |language=en}}</ref> K‘awiil might merely represent the concept of an [[effigy]], as the term ''kauil'' translates to "idol, false god" in the [[Poqomam language|Poqom]] and [[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]] languages. It could symbolize a general physical representation of [[divinity]], akin to how ''k'uhul'' embodies the "invisible, inherent essence of godhood."<ref>Houston et al. 2006:67-68.</ref><ref name=":0">Wright, M. A. (2011). ''A Study of Classic Maya Rulership'' (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Riverside). https://escholarship.org/content/qt6pb5g8h2/qt6pb5g8h2_noSplash_acc079cd1ba843db7f2864c60cbcdf73.pdf</ref> The K‘awiil sceptre was occasionally taken by individuals outside of royalty. At [[Caracol]] Stela 5, dating to A.D. 613, [[Knot Ajaw]] is depicted with a pair of miniature figures or dwarves at his feet, each holding a K‘awiil sceptre.<ref>Beetz and Satterthwaite 1981:28.</ref> In its earliest form, K‘awiil was prefixed with ''yax'', meaning 'unripe' or 'young.' At [[Yaxchilan|Yaxchilán]], the K‘awiil sceptre was held on various occasions and at different times throughout the year.<ref>Le Fort 2002:3</ref> [[Yaxun Bʼalam IV]] is the only known ruler to have danced with the K'awiil sceptre on his day of accession.<ref name=":0" />

The sceptre can also be found in [[Palenque]] and [[Copán|Copan]]. K‘awiil was a central focus in some polities, while being virtually overlooked in others. Quirigua's dynastic founder, "[[Tok Casper]]," was the first to receive the K‘awiil sceptre (''cham k’awiil'') in Quirigua during his accession.<ref name=":0" /> Although not inherently an accession statement, the K‘awiil sceptre is often utilized in this context. It later became the preferred expression used by [[Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat]] in [[Quiriguá]] to signify his own accession after he overthrew his overlord [[Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil]] in 738.<ref>Le Fort 1994:19</ref><ref>Riese 1986</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Maya gods and supernatural beings]]
*[[Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I]]
*[[Maya religion]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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*Fitzsimmons, James L. (2024-10-03). [https://theconversation.com/centuries-ago-the-maya-storm-god-huracan-taught-that-when-we-damage-nature-we-damage-ourselves-238180 "Centuries ago, the Maya storm god Huracán taught that when we damage nature, we damage ourselves"].  ''The Conversation.''  Retrieved 2024-10-06.
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{{Maya}}

[[Category:Maya mythology and religion]]
[[Category:Maya deities]]