The Controversial Mayan Queen: Sak K'uk of Palenque (The Mists of Palenque)

by Leonide Martin

  Both Sak K’uk and Kan Mo’ Hix met with farmers and gave encouraging speeches. They projected confidence that they really did not have, because it was necessary to show strength in the royal family. When farmers worked in the fields, preparing the soil for maize, squash, tomatoes and beans, they were surprised by visits from the royals offering praise and blessing the fields. Always Sak K’uk kept Pakal at her side, for she could not bear being separated and hoped their bravado would reassure him.

  Fires smoldered for many days after the attack, and the haze of smoke hung overhead longer. During the dry season there was little wind to clear it away. The smoke was a constant reminder of their tragedy. Once the planting process was underway, the royals agreed they must face the destruction and take stock of the damage wrought upon Lakam Ha. Two places in particular concerned Sak K’uk: the Temple of Kan Bahlam and the Sak Nuk Nah. She knew that her grandfather’s burial pyramid would be a target, since the core of Ek Chuuah’s vengeance sprang from the Flower War affront. The Sak Nuk Nah was the primary focus of destruction, as she had observed during the attack.

  From the palace, they crossed the stone bridge over the east tributary of the Bisik River and approached Kan Bahlam’s temple first. Even from a distance they saw that the roofcomb had fallen, but upon reaching the lower platform they were appalled at the temple’s condition. Fires had been lit in all chambers of the upper temple, using every burnable object and raising temperatures to the point that the wooden door lintels also burned. The lintels supported the upper doorways, so when they burned structural support for the corbelled arches was weakened, causing the arched roofs to collapse. These roofs held the roofcomb; now all upper structures lay in crumbled heaps inside the temple chambers.

  With tears stinging her eyes, Sak K’uk climbed the long stairs to the upper temple level. Kan Mo’ Hix and Pakal followed after her. They stood in stunned silence, for the once lovely carved outer piers and interior panels had been axed and chipped until their stucco figures and glyphs fell into fragments. Chips of vibrant colors caught the sunlight amid heaps of blackened ashes. No remnants of Kan Bahlam’s portrait on the middle panel could be identified. She could barely imagine the destructive fury unleashed upon this temple, no doubt expressly commanded by Ek Chuuah.

  Shaking her head, Sak K’uk took Pakal’s hand and led him down the stairs. She could think of no comforting words, and her heart ached at the boy’s severe, tearless face. The family walked slowly north toward the Sak Nuk Nah, past several noble residential complexes where they nodded or spoke briefly to ahauob whose confused, distraught expressions spoke more eloquently than their words. Blackened stucco on the walls of many houses marked the sites of multiple fires that racked the city. The three-tiered stone bridge over a wider section of the Bisik remained intact, because it had allowed the invaders passage to the path descending along the cascades to the Michol River below.

  Sak K’uk hesitated as the Ix Chel Temple came into sight. She was uncertain whether it was a good idea for Pakal to view the damage to the Sak Nuk Nah, where he had many joyful visits as a young child. His eyes met hers, pools of unfathomable darkness. He looked ahead and began walking with determination. Exchanging glances with Kan Mo’ Hix, she followed close behind her son. The Ix Chel Temple’s roofcomb stood intact, for its interior was not the target. A short distance from the temple, an area of open ground had collapsed into a huge hole. There, she knew, the tunnel and underground chamber of the White Skin House had collapsed, opening to the sky.

  Pakal stood on the edge of the ragged hole, clumps of soil and rocks tumbling into the shadowed chasm. His body was rigid for a moment, and then he dropped to his knees and peered down. Sak K’uk hurried to his side, but before she reached him the boy clambered over precarious rocks down into the hole.

  “Pakal! Do not go into the hole, it is dangerous!” she cried.

  He paid no heed, disappearing into the partially collapsed chamber full of soil debris, charred wood, smashed ceramics and fallen rocks.

  Kan Mo’ Hix quickly descended into the hole, Sak K’uk following more carefully. Smells of burnt charcoal, earthy peat, and old excrement assaulted their noses. Most of the chamber roof had collapsed and also part of the tunnel leading to the Ix Chel Temple. As their eyes adjusted to the filtered light, they viewed the total destruction and desecration of their most sacred shrine. Nothing was recognizable, even the floor was disrupted; everything left in tiny fragments or burned heaps. A few fat flies buzzed lazily around dried excrement.

  They called for Pakal, unable to see him as their eyes swept the open area. He emerged from the semi-darkness below a tipping section of chamber ceiling, cradling something in his arms. Now tears streamed down his cheeks, splattering into sooty drops on the small ceramic piece he held.

  “They killed Unen K’awill, the Baby Jaguar,” Pakal uttered between soft sobs. “Here is his head, but it has no life… he is gone, my friend is gone… Oh why, how could they do this?”

  He cradled the decapitated head of the Unen K’awill figurine that once graced the sacred chamber. The chubby flattened jaguar face stared blankly, smeared with dirt and excrement and one stubby ear broken off. Sak K’uk took Pakal in her arms and cried with him. Kan Mo’ Hix stood stiffly, fists clenched in fury and despair.

  Moments passed in anguished silence. The remaining royal family of Lakam Ha felt as desecrated and damaged as their holy Sak Nuk Nah. As the morning sun moved more directly overhead, light fell upon the altar still standing in the chamber and a flash of brilliance startled them. Thousands of glistening crystal shards covered the altar and spilled onto the floor below. The sunlight seemed to ignite the fragments and exploded a kaleidoscope of colors into the chamber.

  Pakal leapt from his mother’s arms, clutching the Baby Jaguar head to his chest. His surprised parents backed away from the brilliant light.

  “It is what did this!” Pakal exclaimed. “Here it is, these are its crystal remnants. It has been shattered by doing its evil work.”

  “What are you saying, Pakal?” asked Kan Mo’ Hix.

  Sak K’uk approached, shielding her eyes to examine the fragments more closely.

  “It has chopped down the Jeweled Tree, it has broken the channel, it has closed the portal to the Upperworld,” Pakal intoned as if entranced. “The portal has fallen. It is closed. It is no more.”

  “Look,” Sak K’uk whispered, pointing to a large crystal fragment that had fallen under the legs of the altar throne. “This was a crystal skull, see there is an eye.”

  Pakal and Kan Mo’ Hix stooped to see, recognizing the arch of an upper orbit and the hollow space of a partial eye socket now displaced from its position in the skull. Sak K’uk understood from her shamanic training.

  “They used a crystal skull, embedded it with a powerful curse that was released to destroy our sacred shrine… and our link to the Triad Deities and ancestors. That must be why the skull shattered, when those forces were activated. This must be the work of a dark shaman-priest using the evil might of the Death Lords.”

  She shuddered as the mantle of ominous intentions wrapped closer around, making her acutely aware of evil presence. The dislodged eye socket seemed to fix its gaping stare at her, sending emanations that chilled her bones. Skin prickling and hairs of her arms standing on end, the sensations of danger were intense.

  “Quickly, we must leave this place,” she whispered. “Here is great evil intent. The forces of the Death Lords are still present.”

  Pakal was also trembling, but she saw it was from fury and not fear.

  “They will not escape without suffering for what they did.” His voice held deadly resolve. “It must be rectified. We must avenge this horrible affront and restore our portal. The Jeweled Tree must be raised again.”

  His parents stared, feeling an intensity and strength beyond imagining emanating from their son. Even in her distraught state, Sak K’uk marveled that he so readily sensed the closed portal and envisioned the fallen Jewel
ed Tree-Wakah Chan. She did not perceive these things, perhaps due to her shocked state but more likely because her intuitive and visionary abilities were not so well developed.

  “So it must, as you have spoken, Pakal,” she murmured. “But first we must leave this profaned and evil place. Come, let us climb out quickly.”

  She reached to take his hand, but he stepped back, his sandals crunching on the shattered crystal fragments.

  “Kan Mo’ Hix!” she commanded. “Take your son out of this danger.”

  He moved quickly and grabbed Pakal before the boy could jump away. As he began to climb out, partly carrying and mostly pulling Pakal, she barked another command.

  “Pakal, the Baby Jaguar must remain here. He has been contaminated. You cannot take his head with you. As you have said, he no longer inhabits this image.”

  Pakal started to protest, but as his eyes met his mother’s, a bolt of understanding shot through him. He sensed the evil and menacing energies. Slowly, reluctantly, he bent with his father still firmly grasping one arm. With his free arm, Pakal cradled the broken head once more to his heart then placed it reverently beside the altar. He turned and began to climb upward out of the hole, in tow behind his father. Sak K’uk scrambled behind them, moving nimbly.

  They gathered a safe distance from the edge of the hole. Pakal felt soothed by the bright midday sun, lifting his face to receive its warm rays. Sak K’uk brushed dirt off her knees and palms, finally sensing they were out of danger. She took several deep breaths and drew in calmness, becoming clear on what was necessary.

  “This desecrated place is filled with evil. We must do ceremony to purify and cleanse it, to remove the destructive forces implanted here by our enemies. Let us prepare to ritually terminate this shrine, to bury all within through correct ceremony, to close this wound upon our souls.”

  Without looking back, they all walked to the palace to prepare the ritual termination of the Sak Nuk Nah.

  The ahauob of Lakam Ha formed a circle around the gaping hole that contained the remnants of their sacred shrine. Most of the city’s residents gathered behind the ahauob, and inside the circle standing close to the collapsed edge were the High Priest Pasah Chan, High Priestess Usin Ch’ob, and remaining members of the royal family except for Hohmay, wife of captured ruler Aj Ne Ohl Mat. Hohmay was too distraught to leave her chambers, and her already fragile emotional state was clearly deteriorating.

  The High Priest and Priestess would conduct a ritual for cleansing and purification, using plant medicine and incantations to dispel the evil magic that had been performed. Sak K’uk, closest in bloodlines to the ruler, would undertake the ceremony to ritually terminate the shrine.

  First the High Priest and Priestess called upon the Lords of the Four Directions, the Bacabs and Pahautuns who held up the sky, and the Chaks of the Four Colors to be present in support. Usin Ch’ob signaled her fire priestesses to light 13 censers that surrounded the hole; 13 embodied the sacred number of spirit and holiness, and there were 13 levels of the Upperworld. As spirals of copal smoke rose from the tall censers, the High Priestess circled four times counter-clockwise and added crushed dried leaves of Kaba-yax-nik (Vervain), mingling the herb’s fragrance with copal’s earthy pungency. Copal-Pom and Kaba-yax-nik were powerful plants for counter-acting evil magic when used in ritual ceremonies. They warded off evil influences and repelled dark spirits.

  Pasah Chan and several priests began the purification chant, circling around the hole nine times, once for each level of the Underworld. In each hand they held bundles made up of four herbs and plants, each infused with specific powers. Pixoy (bay cedar) had long serrated leaves and gray-brown bark that released “bad winds” carrying off spells and bewitchments. Cacal Tun (basil) could cure spiritual ailments such as grief and evil magic with its highly aromatic fresh green leaves. The multiple leaflets on branches of the Chink-in (Bird of Paradise flower) that had absorbed sunlight for half a day were capable of relieving sadness and grief. The square-shaped stems of Pay-che (skunk root) were peeled to release their strong skunk-like odor and used in two ways: Whole stems were burned to dispel evil magic, and shaman-priests drank a tea of boiled stems to strengthen their spiritual powers. All those participating in the ceremony, including Sak K’uk, had partaken of this tea in the morning.

  Waving the bundles and shaking them toward the hole, the priests completed their nine circles as they chanted. They stood, facing the hole, as Pasah Chan and Usin Ch’ob alternated voices in a final prayer requesting that the evil magic be permanently dispelled, and the ground purified and cleansed. The priests then tossed their bundles into the hole, upon a mound of fragrant cedar branches piled at the bottom.

  Sak K’uk stood at the edge of the hole, facing north, and lifted her arms:

  “Here was the most sacred shrine of Lakam Ha, the Sak Nuk Nah.

  Here was born, of the earth, of the sky, the Jeweled Tree-Wakah Chan Te.

  The tree of many splendors, the portal tree to the gods and ancestors.

  Here our rulers for generations, back to the founder of our lineage K’uk Bahlam, made their offerings to the gods, gave the gifts, made the bundles that clothed and adorned and honored the Triad Deities and the deities of the First Sky, the 9 Sky Yoch’ok’in, the 16 Ch’ok’in, and the 9 Tz’aak Ahau.

  Here they performed all the duties required of the K’uhul B’aakal Ahau, nothing was left undone, all needs were satisfied.

  Many are the blessings, many the boons given to the people of Lakam Ha as the rulers satisfied the gods, and the gods gave themselves, their powers, to the rulers.

  This is the sacred covenant of K’uhul B’aakal Ahauob. This keeps the balance between the three levels, the Underworld, the Middleworld, and the Upperworld. This maintains harmony between the worlds of Halach Uinik-Real Humans and the celestial realm of spirits and ancestors, of stars and space.

  But now this most sacred shrine has been desecrated, has been destroyed.

  By the actions of Unen Chan, K’uhul Ka’an Ahau, through the evil magic of his ruthless priests,

  By the treachery of Ek Chuuah of Usihwitz, by the cowardice of Wa-Mut.

  They abandoned the traditions of our people, the Maya; they have forsaken our honorable agreements of the May cycles, they have subverted our ideals of ritual battle and distorted them into destructive warfare,

  Against a city that gave them no affront, no insult, no challenge.

  Their actions are immoral and insulting to the order of the worlds. They have violated the ways of the deities, the sacred agreements that keep the actions of humans in accord with the purposes of the gods.

  For this will they suffer. For this will their lives, their cities, their people be troubled. It will be so, for the gods are not mocked nor ignored.”

  Sak K’uk paused, standing tall and slowly turning to meet the eyes of all in the circle. Solemn faces of the ahauob met her gaze. Commoners craned their necks to catch a view. The priests and priestesses held sacred space with their intense stillness. Sak K’uk signaled for Pakal to come next to her, and for attendants to bring torches. She took one torch and gave another to Pakal. Turning to face the hole, she continued.

  “It is time to terminate this once sacred shrine. The Sak Nuk Nah has been cleansed, it has been purified, it has been prepared for proper closure according to the ordained rituals. The evil magic has been dispelled and removed, it has no more power, it exists here no more. Now shall the burning begin for the final termination.”

  She and Pakal raised their torches and threw them onto the pile of branches and herbs. Immediately the pile burst into flame, releasing waves of sweet-pungent smoke. As smoke billowed, tongues of fire lapped the edges of the hole and leapt upward in fierce abandon. The inner circle moved back to escape the heat while all eyes stared transfixed upon fantastic forms dancing in the flames. The participants remained until the fire had consumed everything and died back to glowing embers.

  Sak K’uk moved farther away and
signaled waiting men to begin filling in the hole. Using sturdy digging sticks they moved rocks and dirt from the edge into the cavity. More soil and rock was brought from other locations to completely fill in the hole and level the ground. This activity would take considerable time, so Sak K’uk led her people away from the now-terminated shrine back into the city.

  The hot summer sun blazed mercilessly on the destitute city. People listlessly carried out daily routines, rationing food carefully to last until the next harvest. Already seeds were planted in gardens and fields, waiting for the late summer rains to initiate sprouting. Small efforts were made to clear debris from structures, but no restoration was undertaken. The people lacked the heart, and the leadership, to rebuild their city. It was widely understood that the elite ahauob could no longer access the main portal for communicating with deities, and uncertainty reigned as to whether they had any other methods. Lakam Ha had lost its ruler and the status of their captured K’uhul B’aakal Ahau was unknown. This created a vacuum in leadership, a void that could not be filled until the fate of Aj Ne Ohl Mat was ascertained.

  Sak K’uk felt confused and despondent. After her show of determination in organizing the ritual termination ceremony, she descended into this unfamiliar state because she could get no sense of direction. She simply did not know what to do next. Lakam Ha’s present situation was utterly different from any other time, either in her own experience or in the city’s history. There was no functioning royal court, no tribute from polity cities, no visitors or traders, little food, and no resources to repair the damage done to numerous structures. Even the Council House-Popol Nah had not yet assembled, for who would call it into session?