No. 35. | Kukulcan. (?) This is the symbol of the long nosed god, which Dr. Schellhas designates “the god with the snake-like tongue,” of which representations appear so frequently in the different codices (see [Fig. 381]). |
The snake-like appendages hanging from the side of the mouth may possibly be intended to represent a curved fang rather than part of a divided tongue. A remarkable figure on Plate 72 of the Borgian Codex deserves special notice here. This is the representation of a deity supposed by Kingsborough and others to be Quetzalcoatl, in which the head is as represented in [Fig. 382]. Here we see both tongue and fang, and also an eye precisely of the form found in the Maya symbol.
Fig. 381. The long nosed god (Kukulcan) or “god with the snake-like tongue.”
Whether Kukulcan is the god indicated is uncertain, unless he is identical with the long nosed god, or Maya Tlaloc, so frequently figured in the Manuscript Troano and the Cortesian Manuscript. It is only necessary to compare the figures on Plates 2 to 5 of the latter codex with the long nosed, green figures of Plates XXVI, XXVII, XXIX, XXX, and XXXI of the former to be convinced that they represent the same deity, and that this is the Maya Tlaloc or rain god, whatever may be the name by which he was known.
As the symbol which accompanies these is the same as that found in connection with the “snake tongued,” long nosed god of the Dresden Codex, there is no doubt that the same deity is referred to. It is worthy of notice in this connection that Plates 29-41 of the Dresden Codex, which are devoted almost exclusively to this deity, refer very largely to water, the god being figured in connection with water no less than twenty-eight times. He is also twice colored black, probably to symbolize the dark rain cloud, and twice blue, denoting water. It is therefore fair to conclude that the author of this codex considered him the giver of rain.
Fig. 382. Copy of head from the Borgian Codex (Quetzalcoatl).