Since, however, the subdivisions are divided and the individual month days
also are given for all the parts of the whole Tonalamatl, the
representation follows the order which we have already found on pages
31b-35b and 33c-39c. In this place, as in the two former ones, I will
reproduce in four lines what is set down in the Manuscript in one single
line extending over all four pages.
XIII Akbal (17) IV Ahau (8) XII Lamat (8) VII Cib (8)
II Kan (8) X Eb (8) V Ahau (8)
XIII Lamat (17) IV Chicchan (8) XII Ben (8) VII Imix (8)
II Muluc (8) X Caban (8) V Chicchan(8)
XIII Ben (17) IV Oc (8) XII Ezanab (8) VII Cimi (8)
II Ix (8) X Ik (8) V Oc (8)
XIII Ezanab (17) IV Men (8) XII Akbal (8) VII Chuen (8)
II Cauac (8) X Manik (8) V Men (8)
Thus the days Chicchan, Lamat, Oc, Ben, Men, Ezanab, Ahau, and Akbal are
repeated here twice, and the others occur but once. The 4 (17 + 48)
strongly recalls the 4 (19 + 46) on pages 31b-35b. The repetition of six
times eight days in each quarter of the Tonalamatl is closely connected
with the fact that there are six Chuen signs on each page, two of which,
however, are omitted on page 44. From this it follows, as we have already
found on pages 25-28, that Chuen really denotes 8 days and that the count
of the days in the "Dresdensis" begins with Kan. But the numbers 12, 15, 16
and 17 are entirely unexplained. They show no recognizable order and always
stand near the bundle of Chuen signs. They recall the numbers on pages
25-28, which are equally irregular and unintelligible, and upon which, it
is probable, light will break at the same time as it does upon these now
under consideration.
We come now to the purport of this passage, which seems to be a further
amplification of the contents of pages 29c-30c. The meaning is simply as
follows:--every 65 days the god B discards a cardinal point and the deity
presiding over it and installs another.
From this point of view let us now examine the four pictures.
1. Page 42. B is represented here as a warrior with the front of his body
painted red. He is aiming a blow with his hatchet at a person sunk down
before him, who, from the ornament above his head, seems to be the
grain-deity E, the ruler of Kan and of the east, although the contents of
this passage really demand a deity of the south, a ruler of Cauac. In a
very similar way on page 27, E occurs with the completed Cauac years,
instead of with the Kan years just beginning. Behind B's head is the sign
of the discarded cardinal point, the south, while below it is a vessel with
food, clearly a piece of venison with Kan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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