The Visionary Mayan Queen: Yohl Ik'Nal of Palenque (37 page)

About Author

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. I’ve studied Maya archeology, anthropology and history from the scientific and indigenous viewpoints. Living for five years in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, I apprenticed with Maya elder Hunbatz Men, becoming a Solar Initiate and Maya Fire Woman in the Itza Maya tradition. I also studied with indigenous teachers in Guatemala and the U.S. 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

Blog:
http://leonidemartinblog.wordpress.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/leonide.martin

Author Notes

Wise people say “all history is interpretation.” When writing historical fiction, this becomes even truer. There are contending views of nearly every historical event, and authors must select one viewpoint and forge ahead. Ancient Mayan history is fragmented, because the early Spaniards destroyed innumerable texts. With recent progress in epigraphy experts are able to read most of the complex hieroglyphs left on walls and monuments in many Maya cities. However, new subtleties are emerging in the interpretation of inscriptions and experts’ ability to understand the complex symbolism of this sophisticated language.

Readers familiar with Maya research will see that 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 and not her son, Aj Ne Ohl Mat as her brother and not her son, and Sak K’uk as her daughter who becomes the mother of K’inich Janaab Pakal the Great.

In the ruler list of the Palenque dynasty, experts seem to agree that Yohl Ik’nal ruled in her own right for 22 years, the first woman ruler of Lakam Ha. Some contend that Hun Pakal was also a ruler, and designate him Pakal I. In my view he was a royal consort, not ruler, and did not have the name Janaab. I gave him the name “Hun” which means “one” in Mayan, to distinguish him from K’inich Janaab Pakal (designated by some as Pakal II, but by others Pakal I). The next three rulers are controversial. Aj Ne Ohl Mat is left out of some ruler lists. In older lists, Sak K’uk follows Aj Ne Ohl Mat, but newer interpretations contend she was not a ruler. The successor is given the name glyph Muwaan Mat. Some think Sak K’uk and Muwaan Mat referred to the same individual, others that Muwaan Mat was actually a man. From this maelstrom of disagreement I selected one stream to follow, the story told in this novel of their extraordinary co-regency.

The “axing” events in which Lakam Ha was “chopped down” in 599 CE, 603 CE and 611 CE also required making interpretations of history. Yohl Ik’nal was ruler during the first and second attacks, Aj Ne Ohl Mat during the third. My interpretation portrays her as a visionary who rebuked the first attack from Usihwitz (fueled by Kan) so her city suffered minor damage. The second attack is obscure but probably involved the same enemies. Many years later, Janaab Pakal inscribed these events on the steps of House C in the Palace, providing rationale for his subsequent aggressions against Kan. I chose to treat the 603 CE event as a ritual ballgame conflict in which Lakam Ha was the loser. The 611 CE attack was devastating, for “god was lost; ahau (Lord) was lost.”

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. In the front material, I provide a list of contemporary names for cities and rivers along with the Mayan names used in the story.

Notes on Orthography

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:

Consonants of note are:

Mayan glottalized sounds are indicated by an apostrophe, and pronounced with a break in sound made in the back of the throat:

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.

Acknowledgements

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 Mesa 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 and revelations 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.

Every author needs a cadre of readers willing to suffer through first drafts and catch errors. Thanks to my kind but incisive readers Lisa Jorgensen, Cate Tennyson, Becky Rowe, 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.

Other Works by Author

Dreaming the Maya Fifth Sun: A Novel of Maya Wisdom and the 2012 Shift in Consciousness

Suppose dreams were portals to different realities? ER nurse Jana Sinclair’s recurring dream compels her journey to jungle-shrouded Maya ruins where she discovers links with ancient priestess Yalucha, who was mandated to hide her people’s esoteric wisdom from the Conquistadors. Jana’s reluctant husband is swept into strange experiences and warns against further involvement. As the Maya calendar approaches the 2012 cycle end, Jana answers the call across centuries to re-enact a mystical ritual for transiting into the new era. She struggles against dark shamanic forces bent on preventing her mission and faces her husband’s devastating ultimatum, activating forces that could heal or destroy their relationship. Fans of historical fiction with adventure and romance will love this story of an ancient Maya priestess and contemporary woman whose lives weave together in the countdown to 2012, as they unravel secret bonds to fulfill the Maya prophecy that can make the difference for the planet’s future.

Hyperlink for book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZH8NO4/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B004ZH8NO4&link_code=as3&tag=madforsuc-20