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The Maya death gods, known under various names, belong to only two basic types, respectively represented by the 16th-century Yucatec deities Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau mentioned by Spanish Bishop Landa. Hunhau is the lord of the Underworld. Iconographically, Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau correspond to the Gods A and A'. In recent narratives, particularly in the oral tradition of the Lacandon people, there is only one death god (called "Kisin" in Lacandon), who acts as the antipode of the Upper God in the creation of the world and of the human body and soul. This death god inhabits an Underworld that is also the world of the dead. As a ruler over the world of the dead (Metnal or Xibalba), the principal death god corresponds to the Aztec deity Mictlantecuhtli. The Popol Vuh has two leading death gods, but these two are really one: Both are called 'Death', with only the prefixes ('One' and 'Seven') being different. They were vanquished by the Hero Twins. The two principal death gods count among the many were-animals and spooks (wayob) inhabiting the Underworld, with the God A ''way'' in particular manifesting himself as a head hunter and a deer hunter. ==Post-Classic names== ''Kisin'' is the name of the death god among the Lacandons as well as the early colonial Choles,〔Tozzer 1941: 132 note 617〕 ''kis'' being a root with meanings like 'flatulence' and 'stench'. Landa uses another name and calls the lord of the Underworld and "prince of the devils" ''Hunhau'',〔Tozzer 1941: 132〕 a name that, recurring in early Yucatec dictionaries as ''Humhau'' and ''Cumhau'', is not to be confused with Hun-Ahau; ''hau'', or ''haw'', means 'to end' and 'to lay on its back (mouth up)'.〔Cordemex Dictionary〕 Other names include ''Yum Kimil'' 'Lord of Death' in Yucatán and ''(Ah) Pukuh'' in Chiapas. The name Hun Ahau ("One Lord") appears frequently in the Ritual of the Bacabs, but is never specified as a death god. ''Ah Puch'', though often mentioned in books about the Mayas, does not appear to be an authentic Maya name for the death god. (An Ah Puch is mentioned in the opening of the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel in passing as a ruler of the North, and one of the Xibalba attendants in the Popol Vuh is called Ahal Puh.)〔Thompson 1970: 303〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maya death gods」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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