THE GOD "D" IN THE CODEX CORTESIANUS *

BY J. WALTER FEWKES

In his most valuable contribution to the study of Mayan codices Dr. Schellhas ('86, passim†) has suggested a nomenclature for their pictures of gods most advantageous in the study of their symbolism and worthy the recognition given it by the foremost students of Mayan pictography. He proposed to designate the figures of deities in these aboriginal "books" by the letters A, B, C, D, etc. Following that nomenclature, the pictographs considered in this article are those referred to D, taken from that fragment of the Codex Tro-Cortesianus called the Cortez codex. The resemblance of D to B and G has led me to discuss all three together, although G does not occur in Codex Cortesianus, as I regard them all related gods. I shall preface what I have to say of D with a brief reference to B, which I have already considered elsewhere ('94).

B-Long-nose God.

This god, identified by Schellhas as Kukulcan, by Brinton as Itzamná, has snake and rain attributes, as already pointed out, and is associated with symbols of all four cardinal points. It is a beneficent deity, and is never represented as hostile or as a captive. He frequently occurs engaged in planting, and in some instances bears one or more torches, suggesting a god of light, as the sun. The symbolism of his mask or ceremonial helmet I have already pointed out, and need not be repeated. As, however, one of the marked peculiarities of B in Cod. Cort., which

* In justice to the author, the editors desire to say that owing to his absence in Arizona it was not possible for Dr Fewkes to read the proofs of this paper. †See bibliographie references at the end of this paper.

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was there emphasized, appears to have been overlooked in a subsequent publication of a recent writer, I will again refer to this character. "The god B," says Brinton ('95, p. 51), "is associated with the signs of the east, and his especial and invariable (sic) characteristic are two long, serpent-like teeth, which project from his mouth, one in front, the other to the side and backward." As I have elsewhere ('94, p. 263) shown in my criticism of Schellhas' diagnosis of B, the so-called portion of the tongue (serpent-like tooth," (?) Brinton), in front of the mouth is not an invariable characteristic of B, but is always (in the shape referred to) absent in Cod. Cort., and, I will now add, in Cod. Tro. as well. In Cod. Dres. it is likewise often wanting. Although I find it somewhat difficult to prove from Cod. TroCort. alone that B is a sun god, the symbolism and association of figures of him in Cod. Dres. lean, no doubt, on this point.

As I have already ('94, p. 272) pointed out, the features which distinguish the god D from B in Cod. Cort. are the absence of the teeth in the upper jaw and the want of a backward curving oral object or appendage of the mouth. The remainder of the mask or ceremonial helmet,‡ with unimportant variations which are not constant, is similar in the figures of the gods B and D.

* The homology of this object, identified as part of the tongue by Schellhas and called tooth by Brinton, is doubtful. It occurs in figures of certain animals, serpents, and quadrupeds, where its homology with a tooth is doubtful.

† Brinton is also mistaken in ascribing the second figure of his fig. 14 ('95, p 53) to the Dresden codex. He evidently copied this from an erroneous one by Schellhas ('86, taf. 11, fig. 7), which was rightly referred to Cod. Cort., p. xi b, by the latter author. As I have elsewhere ('94, p. 263) shown, this copy is erroneously drawn, for the "part of the tongue (Schellhas), "tooth" (Brinton), in front of the mouth has been modified as compared with the original, which it little resembles. Brinton's fig. 12 ('95, p. 52) of B has the union of the lateral "tooth" with the upper jaw inaccurately copied. This faulty figure is a copy of B from Cod. Tro. xxvII, where, as in all figures of B from Cod. Tro-Cort., the line of the jaw extends across the base of this oral object (see Brasseur, '80). By the omission of this line in the copy the object is thus made to resemble a "tooth" more than it does in the original. The true teeth of B in Cod. Tro-Cort are regular and prominent, and the backward curving body at the side of the mouth may or may not be a "tooth." Until, however, it can be shown that this lateral body is a "tooth," the reference of B to Cogulludo's god with teeth muy desformis " is doubtful, so far as this object is concerned.

From the fact that it was customary in Central America, as in many other places, for divinities to be personified in ceremonials by men wearing grotesque masks with the symbolism of those divinities, it is possible to speak without valid objections of the heads of these divinities depicted in the codices as ceremonial masks or representations of the same. The terms "masks" and "ceremonial helmets" are significant words to use in this connection, against which nothing of value has yet been urged. The use of masks in certain Mayan dances still survives, and according to Valentini ('95) the tapir mask is still employed in a "ballet" of the "Zayi' dance. This latter fact, as mentioned by this author in connection with a cephaloglyph of B, is interesting, as the nose of B has been compared to the snout of the tapir by several authors.

The following features are common to all the figures of D in the Cod. Cort.:

1. Nose prominent, not hanging below the lower lip, pointed, not continuous with an upper lip, but separated from it by a notch; end of nose not curving upward.

2. Eye bounded by a scroll with marginal blocks.

3. Upper jaw toothless; single tooth in lower jaw.

4. No curved oral object at the corner of the mouth. 5. No scroll over the nose.

6. Headdress present but variable.

The following table gives suggestive associations of D:

Associated with the symbol kan (maize).......

kan in the hand..

kan inix in the hand..

kan on ground before him.

seated on kan.

Associated with it.

Associated with kin †.

Associated with akbal

Associated with ahau..

11

Associated with snake....

Associated with falling water

3

1

In an analysis of this table we are struck by the large number of figures of D associated with the sign kan, maize.|| D is, we should judge from associations, a beneficent, not a malevolent, god connected with life, and the association of the snake with D and the existence of the kin sign on the head and at the feet suggest the sun. A figure of D is found once at least in the

*This notch is absent in all figures of B in Cod. Cort. Attention is called to the fact that the sign akbal is wanting on the head of D in Cod. Cort. In figures of D in Cod. Dres. it is sometimes present, as shown by Schellhas.

In one instance on the head, in another on the ground before him. In some of the cephaloglyphs of D is a half circle which resembles a conventional sign of the sun.

The existence of akbal on the forehead of the cephaloglyph of D will be discussed later. This sign occurs in the hieroglyphs of D in Cod. Cort., but not on the figures themselves.

Although associated with D in other codices, I find it with this god in Cod. Cort. only in one or two doubtful cases.

Many English equivalents of kan have been pointed out, but there is a singularly uniform acceptance of the belief that one of these is corn or maize. Some of the derivative meanings are not difficult to explain, as, for instance, “wealth" (abundance), etc., on the ground that kan, yellow, or corn is a primary translation. The Tusayan Indians use in the same way the word ka-e, maize, which has a startling phonetic resemblance

to kan.

neighborhood of the hieroglyph for west, and once near that of east. He is frequently seated in a house marked with a cross. The hieroglyph * ascribed by Schellhas ('86, p. 57) to G occurs, in Cod. Cort., over D on page xxix a 1. The cephaloglyph of D occurs over D in xvi a 1,† xxi c 1 (xxi d 3 without akbal, but with dots), xxx b 1 (?), xxvi e 2, xxviii b 1. It is found over another god in xxxiii b 2 and xxix, xx c 1. Modifications of the cephaloglyph of D with akbal surrounded by dots occur over animals or gods not identified as D in xxx a 1, xxix c 1.

Identifications of D.

It is natural that a pictorial element which forms such a constant and extensive element in the illustrations of the codices should be thought to represent an important deity, and it is not strange that D is identified with one of the most important of the deities mentioned by Spanish writers. Three identifications have more or less in their favor, viz., Itzamná, Moon god, and Kukulcan, and it is believed the evidence is good that it belongs to one or another of these three.

One of the first steps taken to identify D was by Schellhas ('86), who in his earliest publication pointed out some of the main features of symbolism, but assigned no definite name beyond the letter "D" and "God with the face of an old man." Later, however, he became convinced that it is a "Moon god." From Schellhas' first description ('86, p. 57) I quote as follows: "Geschicht eines alten Mannes mit eingefallenen, Zehnlosem Munde, verziertem Auge wie die Gott mit der Schlangenzunge" "vor den Gesicht herabhangenden Koppsmück der das Tageszeichen akbal

enthält."

*The form of this hieroglyph given by Schellhas (92, p. 104, first figure of D) does not occur with D in Cod. Cort., so far as I can find.

Unfortunately the pages of the Rada y Delgado facsimile of the Cod. Cort. are not numbered, so that for uniformity with the enumeration of the pages of Cod. Dres. I have used Roman numerals, adopting the pagination of Rosny's copy. While, however, there was no other course to follow in referring to the Cod. Cort., I believe, as it and Cod. Tro. are undoubtedly fragments of one large codex, that a simpler paging of the Cod. Tro-Cort., taken together, is called for and must be devised to insure convenience of references as research progresses.

This feature must have been overlooked by Brinton when he identified a figure of D with the akbal on the head as Kin ich ('95, fig. 74). The proper identification of the middle figure of fig. 74 (op. cit.) is not Kin ich, but the god D, if we limit Kin ich as Schellhas and Brinton have in their articles.