Mayan Civilization

Ravi Venu

It was an exciting time, having a travel plan to the ancient land of the Maya, for me it was a clear cut case of the Sun versus Snow. If you are not a native of Michigan, it is not difficult to understand why we love the sand and the sun as much. A direct flight takes us from Detroit to Cancun in 3 hours and we are in the land of white sand and crystal clear seas.
Land of Maya, the very word falling in line with what we are used to hearing in our native.

Maya, meaning Illusion in most common notion, is a known word across the globe, which is also a part of this coverage.
Prior to going and having the first hand account of what is there, I also made some studies ahead of time which led to a very excited and enjoyable time.

I would like to explain about the Mayans for a start before delving into many interesting aspects of comparisons.
For the new comers, Mayans are an ancient civilization, who have been in the Meso American continent for more than 5000 years, starting from 3000 BC (some researchers argue 1000BC though) till date. There are still Mayan communities in pockets within Central Mexico.

No one is really clear about their origins, though I speculate that they were a part of the great Asian migration through the Beringian landscapes which is to have happened during the ice age when the continents of Asia and North America were forged in ice.

So my real question was, how does a community, located about 8000 miles away from our country, adopt a name that is very much imbibed in our culture. To start with, I wanted to see how they approached nature.

The Mayans believed that the Rulers of the land were direct descendants of the Gods, the universe was divided into various levels and position of earth was in 4 directions. These Gods (who were from realms above earth) created humans in their form and left, promising to return back…

A main character : Kukulkan - the Winged Serpent God

Now this one is a very interesting character across all civilizations, we have a head of a bird and body of a man, he is also seen as a winged serpent (or a bird with a serpent in its beak??).

I am going by a more plausible understanding of winged man with a snake like feature. For some reason the winged serpent God or a winged God holding a serpent, seem to be a prominent figure in many civilizations too, could be related to Ares of Greek myth, Thoth & Horus of Egypt, Thoth of Sumer, Karura of Buddhist and our very own Garuda.

This God was the owner of the Pyramid of the Sun, the Mayans were very attached to the Sun and nature surrounding it, now please be reminded that they had an accurate astronomical calculations between the planets, Sun and the Moon. Their solar cycles were impeccable considering a community that had not done any recording of arithmetic on stone, was by itself a miracle.

Getting back to our Winged God, he was supposed to be the direct descendant of the Sun god. His temple was called the Pyramid of the Sun named as….. ‘CHOLULA’, what a close connect on our own back town boys in the early times. This Cholula had a chief priest who commanded great deal of respect and was the real king maker.

This specific pyramid was the largest construction known to man during the regime of Kukulkan (Mayan God).

Painting of the Cholula Pyramid, A closer view of Cholula Pyramid

It has a base of 450 by 450 m (1476x1476 ft) and a height of 66 m (217 ft). According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is in fact the largest pyramid as well as the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world, with a total volume estimated at over 4.45 million m³, even larger than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt which is about 2.5 million m³.

Now I was very intrigued, in fact, fascinated as I did pride of the Big temple to be the largest Temple in the world in the ancient time line (Giza pyramid was a Tomb not temple). My pride being crushed, I was digging more into the time lines and names etc. Now here is what I found.

Mayans Cholas
Begin at least 1000 years BC Prior to Sangam period, disputed time lines
God – Kukulkan – Winged God – Descendant of the Sun God God – Shiva / Vishnu, Cholas pulse a lineage of the Sun
Greatest Monument – Cholula Pyramid (temple) Greatest monument – Periya Kovil
Historical periods
1000 BC – 200 AD : Native migrants
200 AD – 900 AD : Rise of Mayans **
800 AD – Date : Decline of the Mayans
** - Check out the Indian Cholas missing in action Historical periods
1000 BC – 200 AD: First Generation Cholas
200 AD – 848 AD : Interregnum
848 AD – 1279 AD: Second Generation Cholas
Prominent leader or Myth
KUKULKAN 1st Generation leaders
KARIKALAN – NedunKilli – Killivalavan – Kopperuncholan – Kocenganan – PerunKilli
Flag – Jaguar Flag – Tiger
Exploration: Land
** Kukulkan was believed to have arrived via Sea Exploration: Land
Cholas Mastery over the oceans was no secret

So with this is mind, I set out to Cancun and Chichen Itza. From the pristine beaches and sand at the Cancun strip, a 2 hour journey through some beautiful landscapes took us to the great pyramid temple of Chichen Itza. The name seems to have derived from the meaning of Magical Water (apparently denoting the Cenote’s) . This is recorded in the sacred book called ‘Chilam Balam’. Chilam meaning Oracle and Balam meaning Jaguar (its close rhyming to the note of Chidam baram or silam balam or thillai ambalam, can be denounced as rumblings of a Cholan fanatic ) .

Cenote’s are sacred waters, where people were beheaded to appease the rain gods. Getting back to the pyramid of Chichen Itza, a trip around it was mystical, something like going around our periya kovil or more precisely I was reminded of Thirubhuvanam.

Jaguar Throne

This was the prime ruling spot of the Kukulkan, his throne was designed as a Chair on the head of a Jaguar.

EL Castillo

Center of Chichen is the Temple of Kukulkan referred as El Castillo. This pyramid has a ground plan of square terraces with stairways up each of the 4 sides to the temple on top called as STEP Pyramid. On the Spring and Autumn equinox, at the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a plumed serpent - Kukulkan - along the west side of the north staircase. On these two days, the shadows from the corner tiers slither down the northern side of the pyramid with the sun's movement to the serpent's head at the base.

El Castillo Pyramid

Inner sides of the Temple were built using Jade stone and the base contained of Lime stones.

Great Ball Court

A court where the Mayans played a very difficult game of native basket ball, just that they had to loop through the hoop a tough leather ball by hitting it across with the hip.

The famous carving on that court is of a player (most likely defeated one), decapitated and from the wound emits seven streams of blood; six become wriggling serpents and the center becomes a winding plant. (Refer to the beheading found in Chola temple carving)

Temple of a Thousand Columns

Along the south wall of the Temple of Warriors are a series of what are today exposed columns, although when the city was inhabited these would have supported

an extensive roof system. The columns are in three distinct sections: an east group that extends the lines of the front of the Temple of Warriors; a north group, which runs along the south wall of the Temple of Warriors and contains pillars with carvings of soldiers. The northeast column temple also covers a small marvel of engineering, a channel that funnels all the rainwater from the complex from a former cenote.

Warrior beheading, 4 streams to ground and 7 to heaven(Mayan sculpture)

To the south of the Group of a Thousand Columns is a group of three, smaller, interconnected buildings. There is also the Palace of Ahau Balam Kauil, a small building with two levels that has depictions of Jaguars (balam in Maya) and the Mayan god Kahuil (God of the Heavens).

The whole place was so mystical that, when we boarded the bus back to our hotel, I had a feeling that the world was one big chunk and something has been lost over the past 1000 years, something vital yet missing.

Are the Mayans a part of the Asians ? A tribe by name Nahuas was also present in central Mexico, pronounced as Nahas. The names, behaviors, constructions, myths and legends, why even the throne has so much in common but just the question of 8000 miles in between …

There are no conclusions, there are questions. There are no answers, just the puzzles. I am no historian or time traveler to theorize or visualize the real actions, however, I feel comfortable with the statement that history shows the path to the future.
There are amazing similarities between these magnificent and ancient civilizations, that seem to prove that my travel to the country has made me look at that famous statement ‘Yaadhum oore, yavarum kelir’ from an absolutely different light with a subtle sense of smile.