Popol Vuh

“ The very fact that it was composed in the Kiché tongue is almost sufficient proof of its genuine American character. The scholarship of the nineteenth century was unequal to the adequate translation of the “Popol Vuh”; the twentieth century has as yet shown no signs of being able to accomplish the task. ”

“ The greater portion of the account given at present must of course be regarded as belonging to the region of myth, but at this point the narrative becomes more "historical" in nature. The Popol Vuh naturally exalts the Quiché at the expense of the other tribes, but it appears from other sources that they did actually exercise a certain, though variable, supremacy over their neighbours. Hitherto they had obviously been under a priestly domination, and the leaders of the migration wielded an authority arising from their association with the gods which they received at Tulan. ”

“ In the ancient Quiché manuscript, published by Brasseur de Bourbourg—the Popol Vuh—the first men are mentioned as a race that could reason and speak, whose sight was unlimited, and who knew all things at once. According to Philo Judæus, the air is filled with an invisible host of spirits, some of whom are free from evil and immortal, and others are pernicious and mortal. ”

“ According to our only authority on early events, excepting the Popol Vuh, the time which was occupied by the Quichés under Balam-Quitzé and his companions in their long struggles as animals against the other tribes, is not that which elapsed between their arrival from Tulan at Mt Hacavitz in the sixth or seventh century, and the establishment of their monarchy in the thirteenth, but rather that between their first coming prominently into notice in the mountains of Vera Paz in the twelfth century, and the founding of their empire. ”

“ Now it is a fact very easily proven, that the aborigines of Guatemala had no phonetic alphabet whatever, consequently that they did not write.—Therefore the "Popol Vuh" must have been composed, as an instrument in writing, since the conquest ”

“ A people’s idea of an “otherworld” is often coloured by the configuration of their own country.
One thing is certain: a hell, an abode of bad spirits as distinguished from beneficent gods, Xibalba was not. The American Indian was innocent of the idea of maleficent deities pitted in everlasting warfare against good and life-giving gods until contact with the whites coloured his mythology [44] with their idea of the dual nature of supernatural beings.7 The transcriber of the “Popol Vuh” makes this clear so far as Kiché belief went. ”

“ It is obvious, as has been pointed out, that the dread of death in the savage mind may give rise to such a conception of its vanquishment as appears in the Popol Vuh. But there is reason to suspect that other elements have also entered into the composition of the myth. It is well known that an invading race, driving before them the remnants of a conquered people, are prone to regard these in the course of a few generations as almost supernatural and as denizens of a sphere more or less infernal. ”

“ The Peruvians come from Pacari Tambu, the House of the Dawn, near Cuzco, and an ancient legend of the Aztecâ states that they came from [51] Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caverns, to the north of Mexico.
We find the first Mayan men speedily engaged in migration. Such must always be the life of the unsettled and unagricultural savage. He multiplies. Gods are given to each tribe. These he bears to a new country. In fact we have a complete migration myth in the Third Book of the “Popol Vuh,” and there are not wanting signs to show that this migration took place from the cold north to the warm south. ”

“ A creative faculty is obviously indicated in the name, but Brinton assumes that this Kiché generic name for king can also be rendered “syphilitic,” especially as the name of the Mexican sun-god Nanahuatl has a similar significance.
That Tepeu was a generative force, a creative deity, there can be no doubt, but strangely enough in certain passages of the “Popol Vuh” we find [38] him praying to and rendering homage to Hurakan, the “Heart of Heaven.” ”

“ HAVALITZ AND HACAVITZ.
ADVENTURES OF XQUIQ, HUN AHPU, AND XBALANQUE.
We now come to the heroes with whose adventures the Popol Vuh is chiefly occupied. From the union of the Grandfather and Grandmother who head the list of Quiché deities, proceeded two sons, Hunhun Ahpu and Vukab Hun Ahpu. [XI-48] They incur the suspicion and hatred of the princes of Xibalba, who plan their downfall and for this purpose invite them to their court, under the pretence of playing a game of ball with them. On their arrival they are subjected to various indignities and finally condemned to lose their heads. ”

“ According to the Popol Vuh he sought the maize in Paxil and Cayala, 'divided and stagnant waters,' by the aid of Utïu, 'the coyote;' while in the Nahua tradition, aided by Azcatl, 'the ant,' he finds the desired food in Tonacatepetl, 'mount of our subsistence.' Finally, the Codex Chimalpopoca identifies [195] the home of the Nahua nations, whence the search for maize was made, with Tamoanchan, which Sahagun has clearly located in Tabasco. ”

“ In Mexico Ixtlilxochitl, and in Peru Garcilasso de la Vega, wrote exhaustive treatises upon the history and customs of their native countrymen shortly after the conquests of Mexico and Peru, and hieroglyphic records, such as the “Wallam Olum,” are not unknown among the North American Indians. In fact, the intelligence which fails to regard the “Popol Vuh” as a genuine aboriginal production must be more sceptical than critical.
[Contents]
Kiché and Mexican Mythology
The connection of Kiché and Mayan mythology with that of Mexico is obvious, but not altogether proven. ”

“ According to the Quiché chant of lamentation, one division of the refugees from Tulan went north to Mexico, where they found their 'dawn,' their greatness. This seems to point toward the Nahua nations, which alone achieved greatness in Mexico during historic times. The tribes which migrated northward are called, in the Popol Vuh, Yaqui, [188] a name which according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, has much the same signification etymologically as Nahuatl, and was commonly applied by the Maya-Quiché peoples of Central America to the Mexicans. ”

“ Fragments, more or less complete, of these traditions have been preserved. The most notable of them is the National Legend of the Quiches of Guatemala, the so-called Popol Vuh. It was written at an unknown date in the Quiche dialect, by a native who was familiar with the ancient records. A Spanish translation of it was made early in the last century by a Spanish priest, Father Francisco Ximenez, and was first published at Vienna, 1857. [127] In 1861 the original text was printed in Paris, with a French translation by the Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg) . ”

“ When the Maya peoples of Guatemala, the Kiches and the Kakchiquels, first made their way into that territory, they probably found there a race of Maya origin of a type more advanced and possessed of more ancient traditions than themselves. By their connection with this folk they greatly benefited in the direction of artistic achievement as well as in the industrial arts. Concerning these people we have a large body of tradition in the Popol Vuh, a native chronicle, the contents of which will be fully dealt with in the chapter relating to the Maya myths and legendary matter. ”

“ The account is of interest only as proving that the same superstitions at that time prevailed among the Pokonchis as in other portions of Guatemala.24-*
15. A really mighty nagualist was not confined to a single transformation. He could take on many and varied figures. One such is described in the sacred books of the Quiches of Guatemala, that document known by the name of the Popol Vuh, or National Book. The passage is in reference to one of their great kings and powerful magicians, Gucumatz by name. It says:
“Truly he was a wonderful king. ”

“ These personages accompanied Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque to the abode of Vukub-Cakix, whom they found in a state of intense agony. The ancients persuaded him to be operated upon in order to relieve his sufferings, and for his glittering teeth they substituted grains of maize. Next they removed his eyes of emerald, upon which his death speedily followed, as did that of his wife Chimalmat. Hun-Ahpu’s arm was [14] recovered, re-affixed to his shoulder, and all ended satisfactorily for the hero-gods. ”

“ Vanity is common, no doubt, to all savage races, but the Marutse-Mabunda tribes indulge in it with greater tact than the people farther south. Their moral standard is very low, but this, as I have before had occasion to remark, is the result of ignorance rather than of corruption; and I believe that instruction and good example, combined with a little gentle pressure put upon the rulers by white men, would in a very few years work a marvellous amendment; but to bring about a reformation, it must be confessed that the kings should be very different men from Sepopo. ”

“ And Wu rarely gave that permission, even to Nang Ping. That bit of garden was his outer solitude, and this room was his indoor privacy. It was here and there he kept alone.
No race prizes privacy more, more realizes its value, conserves and guards it with more dignity and skill, or with so much. A people of interminable clans, knit together and interdependent as is no other people, yet it is with the Chinese people, both Mongol and Tartar, that individuality has its fullest rights, its surest safety. ”

“ All of evil was coming to the land because this had not been done. One Yutah slave belonged to the Quan clan, and a robe and shell beads must be given by the vote of the council to that clan. It would be a better thing to use the new Navahu who was made captive by the men of iron, but their new brothers would not listen to this wisdom.
When the sun looked over the edge of the mountain in the new day the sun must see the heart lifted high;––and the body must go to the murmuring river––then only could hope come that the evil magic be lifted from the land of the Te-hua people. ”

“ It is not altogether visionary to behold in the successive creations by Gucumatz, the 'plumed serpent,' and his companions, as we have done in the coming of Votan, the introduction or growth of a new civilization, new forms of government or religion, new habits of life in America; even if we cannot admit literally the arrival at a definite time and place of a civilizer, Gucumatz, or hope to reasonably explain each of his actions. It is not necessary to decide whether the new culture was indigenous or of foreign origin ”

“ Although they have given kings to most of the upland tribes, they are nevertheless regarded as barbarians by the Negro cultivators, just as in the "Middle Kingdom" the Manchu conquerors are despised by their Chinese subjects. But in the midst of all these enslaved communities, who vaunt their industrial arts and agricultural pursuits, the Wa-Huma have at least the superiority acquired from a free and independent life. They tolerate no masters, and those amongst them who have failed to defend their liberties are no longer regarded as belonging to their nation. ”

“ The pastoral nations of these Steppes,—Moguls, Getæ, Alani, and Usuni,—have shaken the world. As in the course of past ages, early intellectual culture has come like the cheering light of the sun from the East, so, at a later period, from the same direction barbaric rudeness has threatened to overspread and involve Europe in darkness. A brown pastoral race, [11] of Tukiuish or Turkish descent, the Hiongnu, dwelling in tents of skins, inhabited the elevated Steppe of Gobi. Long terrible to the Chinese power, a part of this tribe was driven back into Central Asia. ”

“ The same distinctions prevail with regard to the inhabitants; they belong to various tribes and descend from different races. Some belong to the Tartar, some to the Mongolian, some to the Caucasian family. Some are yellow, and some are white. To-day the rulers are the latter, but it is the home of the former. Will the white remain the dominating race, or will it be overwhelmed by the yellow, or will it become amalgamated and swallowed up by the great majority? What an interesting problem, and how inexplicable! It is, indeed, hard to understand the nature of these people; to read their thoughts ”

“ This wide-lying group of tribes and nations has members nearly or quite touching the savage level in ancient and even modern times, such as Ostyaks, Tunguz, Samoyeds, Lapps, while more or less high ranges of culture are represented by Mongols, Turks, and Hungarians. Here, however, it is unquestionable that the rude tribes represent the earlier condition of the Tatar race at large, from which its more mixed and civilized peoples, mostly by adopting the foreign culture of Buddhist, Moslem, and Christian nations, and partly by internal development, are well known to have risen. ”

“ Judging from the inscription, the Wusun have clung to their heritage. I think we shall find some survivors in Sungan."
"I thought you said the inscription was a form of Sanscrit," objected Gray. "And the Wusun are Chinese——"
"Ah, that is just the point." Sir Lionel reared his blond head, like a setter at scent of game. "Sanscrit is an Aryan language. The white race buried here in the Gobi called themselves the Tall People. Wusun is the Chinese translation of that term. Their own written tongue is probably the dialect we saw on the boundary stone, which is Aryan. ”

“ The indigenous Mongol, Finnish and Tartar tribes of Siberia, which occupy immense tracts, are much smaller in number than the Russian population, whom they surround on all sides. Immediately beyond the Ural and north of the region entirely occupied by Russians, there lives the tribe of Voguls. ”