The Controversial Mayan Queen: Sak K'uk of Palenque (The Mists of Palenque) (36 page)
Read The Controversial Mayan Queen: Sak K'uk of Palenque (The Mists of Palenque) Online
Authors: Leonide Martin
Although considered a vigesimal (20 base) system, the Maya used modifications in 2 places for calendric and numerological reasons. In Classic times the counts went from 0 to 19 in all but the 2
nd
position, in which they went from 0 to 17. Postclassic adaptations changed the counts to begin with 1, making them 1 to 20 and 1 to 18.
After 19 Kin occur, the Uinal count goes up by 1 on the next day; after 17 Uinal the Tun count goes up by 1 on the next day, after 19 Tun the Katun count goes up by 1 the next day, and after 19 Katun the Baktun count goes up by 1 the next day.
Thus, we see this progression in the Long Count:
11.19.19.17.19 + 1 kin (day) = 12.0.0.0.0
Increasingly larger units of time beyond the Baktun are: Piktun, Kalabtun, Kinchiltun, and Alautun. These were usually noted by placing 13 in the counts larger than Baktun, indicating 13 to a multiple of the 20
th
power:
13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0
When a 13 Baktun is reached, this signifies the end of a Great Cycle of 1,872,000 kins (days) or 5200 tuns (5125.2567 solar years). But this does not signify the end of the Maya calendar. Larger baktun units occur on stela with numbers above 13, indicating that this count went up to 19 before converting into the next higher unit in the 6
th
position. When the 5
th
position (Baktun) reaches 19, on the following day the 6
th
position (Pictun) becomes 1 and the 5
th
position becomes 0. This results in a Long Count such as that projected by glyphs at Palenque to a Gregorian date of 4772 AD (GMT correlation), written as 1.0.0.0.0.0.
Leonide (Lennie) Martin
: Retired California State University professor, former Family Nurse Practitioner, currently author and Maya researcher. My books bring ancient Maya culture and civilization to life in stories about both real historical Mayans and fictional characters. For historical accuracy, I researched Maya archeology, anthropology and history from the scientific. For indigenous viewpoints, I studied with Maya teachers including Aum Rak Sapper, Guatemalan Priestess-Daykeeper and Hunbatz Men, Itza Maya Elder-Daykeeper. I lived in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico for five years to apprentice with Hunbatz Men, becoming a Solar Initiate and Maya Fire Woman in the Itza Maya tradition. The ancient Mayas created the most highly advanced civilization in the Western hemisphere, and my work is dedicated to their wisdom, spirituality, scientific, and cultural accomplishments through compelling historical novels. For more information about my writing and the Mayas, visit:
Website:
www.mistsofpalenque.com
The contributions of many people provide a supportive framework for this book. My greatest respect goes to the archeologists who devoted years to uncovering hidden ruins and analyzing the messages communicated through stones, structures, artifacts and hieroglyphs. Seminal work uncovering Maya civilization was done by Teobert Mahler, Alfred Maudslay, Sylvanus Morley and J. Eric Thompson. Early decipherment made progress through Ernst Forstemann, Eduard Seler, Joseph T. Goodman and Juan Martinez. Franz Blom made early maps of Palenque structures and Heinrich Berlin advanced epigraphy by identifying emblem glyphs for cities.
Alberto Ruz Lhuillier made the famous discovery of Janaab Pakal’s tomb deep inside the Temple of the Inscriptions. Merle Green Robertson, whose drawings of Palenque structures still captivate researchers, gathered an inter-disciplinary team in the Mesas Redondas held near the archeological site. The Palenque Dynasty was identified by the Mesa Redonda teams including Linda Schele, Floyd Lounsbury, Simon Martin, David Stuart, Peter Mathews, Nicolai Grube and Karl Taube. David Stuart and his father George Stuart continued to advance knowledge of Palenque rulers, while Michael Coe captured the public’s interest in books about Maya culture and deciphering the Maya hieroglyphic code.
Two Russian scholars figured large in Maya research. Tatiana Proskouriakoff rendered beautiful reconstructions of cities and uncovered patterns of dates that recorded historical events on monuments. Epigraphy leapt forward with the work of linguist Yuri Knorosov showing that Maya symbols were both syllabic and phonetic. Later scholars added the concept polyvalence, when a single sign has multiple values and a sound can be symbolized by more than one sign.
Dennis Tedlock translated the
Popol Vuh
, giving us a poetic rendition of Maya creation mythology. Edwin Barnhart oversaw the masterful Palenque Mapping Project, uncovering numerous hidden structures west of the Great Plaza and demonstrating that Palenque was a very large city. Prudence Rice provided fresh and instructive interpretations of Maya social and political organization, including the
may cycle
in which ceremonial and political leadership passed cooperatively among cities.
Gerardo Aldana explored different interpretations of Palenque dynasties, power structures and astronomy. The amazing intellectual feats of Maya royal courts were exemplified in the 819-day count, a calendric construct used to maintain elite prestige. Aldana’s acumen in reading glyphic texts was pure inspiration for me, leading to major ideas for the succession surrounding Sak K’uk and Muwaan Mat, and Pakal’s reconstruction of the destroyed portal to the gods.
Arnoldo Gonzalez Cruz directed the excavations at Palenque that revealed the tomb of the “Red Queen,” first uncovered by Fanny Lopez Jimenez. The story of discovering the first Mayan queen’s sarcophagus was told in lively fashion by journalist Adriana Malvido in
La Reina Roja
. Arturo Romano Pacheco determined that the bones were those of a woman, one of the queens in my novel.
The richness of my experiences with indigenous Mayas goes beyond description. I could not write about the ancient Maya without the insights gained in ceremony and study with mentors Hunbatz Men and Aum Rak Sapper, who initiated me into Maya spirituality, and the examples of ancient rituals provided by Tata Pedro Cruz, Don Alejandro Cirilio Oxlaj, Don Pedro Pablo and members of the Grand Maya Itza Council of Priests and Elders.
Thanks to my readers Lisa Jorgensen, Cate Tennyson, Karen Van Tassell, and Ginger Bensman. Endless accolades and many hugs to my husband David Gortner, inveterate web researcher who ferreted out esoteric facts and elusive images, tirelessly re-read chapters, dissected grammar, and always challenged me to get things straight and make them clear.
Writing historical fiction about the ancient Mayan culture has its particular challenges. There is a large body of scientific research spanning 150 years, and with continuing discoveries have come fresh interpretations. The predominant archeological view has transitioned from viewing the Mayas as priestly astronomers with ceremonial cities to power-seeking kings conducting endless warfare. In recent years a more balanced view is emerging that acknowledges the importance of spiritual and worldly concerns in a complex, multi-dimensional culture.
Progress in epigraphy and linguistic study of Maya inscriptions has allowed the ancient Mayas to speak for themselves. Experts are able to read about 80% of the complex hieroglyphs left on walls and monuments in many Maya cities. These expressions have their own point of view, usually regaling the accomplishments of rulers or giving the history of dynasties and ceremonial events. New interpretations of glyphic writing bring forth other possibilities for Mayan culture, such as its cooperative aspects and profound engagement with spirituality through vital and immediate relationships with deities.
Mayan rulers and priests were mystics and shamans. They envisioned and experienced other realities, interacted with otherworldly creatures, communicated with and even became the earthly manifestation of deities. Historical fiction about their experiences, in my view, must include these extraordinary events. Some have questioned whether this belongs in historical fiction, but to me it is part of Mayan history.
“History is interpretation.” I have taken a particular interpretation of dynastic succession at Palenque, based on work of Peter Mathews and Gerardo Aldana. Different successions were proposed by David Stuart, Linda Schele and David Friedel, Simon Martin and Nicolai Grube. For my focus on the women rulers, succession makes more sense by placing Yohl Ik’nal as the daughter of Kan Bahlam I, Hun Pakal as her husband, Aj Ne Ohl Mat as her son, and Sak K’uk as her daughter and the mother of K’inich Janaab Pakal. Book I in the
Mists of Palenque
series tells the story of Yohl Ik’nal, who ruled in her own right for 22 years, the first woman ruler of Lakam Ha.
Sak K’uk is the most elusive among the four “queens” because her times were steeped in turmoil. Lakam Ha suffered a terrible defeat in 611 CE at the hands of Kalakmul (Kan, Uxte’tun) in collusion with Usihwitz (Bonampak). In my story, Sak K’uk plays a decisive role in shepherding her city through this devastation by drawing upon the powers of the Great Primordial Goddess, Progenitor of the B’aakal dynasty, Muwaan Mat. For this fresh and inspiring interpretation, I give thanks to Gerardo Aldana in his 2007 book,
The Apotheosis of Janaab’ Pakal: Science, History, and Religion at Classic Maya Palenque.
Sak K’uk becomes the earthly presence of Muwaan Mat and rules for three years, until her son Pakal accedes at age 12. She continued to guide and advise him well into his reign.
The 611 CE attack took place during the rule of Aj Ne Ohl Mat, and it was devastating. The attackers planned to destroy the sacred shrine of Lakam Ha, the portal through which rulers communicated with the Triad Deities. The portal collapsed as the shrine was defiled. Both the ruler Aj Ne and his father Hun Pakal were taken captive and later killed by Kan. Pakal was 8 years old when this happened, and it surely left a deep impression. The glyphs in the Temple of the Inscriptions written later under Pakal’s direction tell a plaintive tale:
“On the back of the ninth katun, god was lost; ahau was lost. She could not adorn the Gods of the First Sky; she could not give offerings . . . Muwaan Mat could not give their offerings.”
Sak K’uk and her husband Kan Mo' Hix took over leadership during these dark years, but dissention among nobles challenged their position. To consolidate power, Sak K’uk assumed the mantle of Muwaan Mat and held the throne until Pakal acceded. Some Mayanists think Sak K’uk and Muwaan Mat were different names for the same individual, others that Muwaan Mat was actually a man. Some believe Sak K’uk was never a ruler. From this maelstrom of disagreement I selected one stream to follow, the story told in this novel of their extraordinary co-regency.
The life work of Pakal was re-creating the portal to the gods and rebuilding the city, bringing Lakam Ha to its height as the creative, political and spiritual center of the polity. What most visitors see now when they walk the Great Plaza of Palenque are the structures built by Pakal and his sons and grandson.
Names of ancient Maya cities posed challenges. Spanish explorers or international archeologists assigned most of the commonly used names. Many original city names have been deciphered, however, and I use these whenever they exist. Some cities have conflicting names, so I chose the one that made sense to me. The rivers were even more problematic. Many river names are my own creation, using Mayan words that best describe their characteristics. I provide a list of contemporary names for cities and rivers along with the Mayan names used in the story.
Notes on Orthography (Pronunciation)
Orthography involves how to spell and pronounce Mayan words in another language such as English or Spanish. The initial approach used English-based alphabets with a romance language sound for vowels:
Hun – Hoon | Ne – Nay | Xoc – Shoke | Ix – Eesh |
Ik – Eek | Yohl – Yole | Mat – Maat | May – Maie |
Sak – Sahk | Ahau – Ah-how | Yum – Yoom | Ek – Ehk |
Consonants of note are:
H – Him | J – Jar | X – “sh” |
T – Tz or Dz | Ch – Child | |
Mayan glottalized sounds are indicated by an apostrophe, and pronounced with a break in sound made in the back of the throat:
B’aakal | K’uk | Ik’nal | Ka’an | Tz’ak |
Later the Spanish pronunciations took precedence. The orthography standardized by the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala is used by most current Mayanists. The major difference is how H and J sound:
H – practically silent, only a soft aspiration as in hombre (ombray)
J – soft “h” as in house or Jose (Hosay)
There is some thought among linguists that the ancient Maya had different sounds for “h” and “j” leading to more dilemma. Many places, roads, people’s names and other vocabulary have been pronounced for years in the old system. The Guatemala approach is less used in Mexico, and many words in my book are taken from Yucatek Mayan. So, I’ve decided to keep the Hun spelling rather than Jun for the soft “h.” But for Pakal, I’ve resorted to Janaab rather than Hanab, the older spelling. I have an intuition that his name was meant by the ancient Mayas to have the harder “j” of English; this gives a more powerful sound.
For the Mayan word Lord – Ahau – I use the older spelling. You will see it written Ahaw and Ajaw in different publications. For English speakers, Ahau leads to natural pronunciation of the soft “h” and encourages a longer ending sound with the “u” rather than “w.”
Scholarly tradition uses the word Maya to modify most nouns, such as Maya people and Maya sites, except when referring to language and writing, when Mayan is used instead. Ordinary usage is flexible, however, with Mayan used more broadly as in Mayan civilization or Mayan astronomy. I follow this latter approach in my writing.
