Maya jaguar gods

The pre-Columbian Maya religion knew various jaguar gods, in addition to jaguar demi-gods, (ancestral) protectors, and transformers. The main jaguar deities are discussed below. Their associated narratives (part of Maya mythology) are still largely to be reconstructed. Lacandon and Tzotzil-Tzeltal oral tradition are particularly rich in jaguar lore.

The Jaguar God of Terrestrial Fire is recognizable by a 'cruller' around the eyes (making a loop over the nose), jaguar ears, and jaguar fangs. He personifies the number Seven, which is associated with the day Ak'b'al ('Night'). Usually called 'Jaguar God of the Underworld', he has been assumed to be the 'Night Sun' - the shape supposedly taken by the sun (Kinich Ahau) during his nightly journey through the underworld - for reason of having the large eyes and filed incisor that also occur with the sun deity, and of sometimes evincing a k 'in infix. The deity's hypothetical aspect of a nocturnal sun (that is, a subterranean fire) should perhaps be connected to his proven association with terrestrial fire. He is often represented on incense burners and connected to fire rituals, while his 'cruller' may represent a cord used in making fire with a stick (Taube). Moreover, vases in codical style show him, captured, about to be burnt with torches. The nocturnal sun hypothesis is complicated by this very incident, and even more so by the fact that the fiery jaguar deity is identified with a star (or, perhaps, a constellation or planet). The god's other sphere of influence is war, witness for example the stereotypical presence of his face on war shields.

God L (according to the designation of codical gods), one of the oldest Mayan deities, and associated with black sorcery and riches, belongs to the jaguar deities: He has jaguar ears and a jaguar mantle and lives in a jaguar palace. Some take him to be the main ruler over the Underworld. In that sense, god L would have to be considered the true "Jaguar God of the Underworld".

The aged goddess of midwifery, curing, and war Ix Chel, belongs to the jaguar deities. She has jaguar ears and claws and can show the looped cruller element and the large eye of the Jaguar God of Terrestrial Fire (Birth Vase), suggesting that she might be a spouse to this deity.

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