B'alaj Chan K'awiil

B'alaj Chan K'awiil
B'alaj Chan K'awiil
Born	October 15, 625
Other names	Ruler 1, Flint Sky God K and Malah Chan K'awil
Title	King of Dos Pilas
Successor	Itzamnaaj B'alam
Spouse(s)	Lady of Itzan ; Lady Bulu'
Children	Itzamnaaj B'alam ; Itzamnaaj K'awiil ; Wak Chanil Ajaw
Parent(s)	Tikal king
Relatives	K'ak' Tiliw Chan Chaak (likely grandson)

Last updated March 12, 2019

B'alaj Chan K'awiil^{[ pronunciation? ]} (October 15, 625 – ??) was a Maya ruler of Dos Pilas. He is also known as Ruler 1, Flint Sky God K and Malah Chan K'awil.

The Maya peoples are a large group of Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. They inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region that share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term embraces many distinct populations, societies, and ethnic groups that each have their own particular traditions, cultures, and historical identity.

Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, being founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 629 in order to control trade routes in the Petexbatún region, particularly the Pasión River. In AD 648 Dos Pilas broke away from Tikal and became a vassal state of Calakmul, although the first two kings of Dos Pilas continued to use the same emblem glyph that Tikal did. It was a predator state from the beginning, conquering Itzan, Arroyo de Piedra and Tamarindito. Dos Pilas and a nearby city, Aguateca, eventually became the twin capitals of a single ruling dynasty. The kingdom as a whole has been named as the Petexbatun Kingdom, after Lake Petexbatún, a body of water draining into the Pasión River.

Life

He claimed to be a member of the Tikal royal line. On Dos Pilas Panel 6 he names a king of Tikal as his father, this was probably the 23rd or 24th ruler of Tikal. He probably saw himself as the legitimate heir to the Tikal throne and defected from Tikal in AD 648 to found Dos Pilas as a rival kingdom under the overlordship of Calakmul.^[1]

Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The known rulers of Tikal, a major centre of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization in modern-day Guatemala:

Calakmul is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands.

B'alaj Chan K'awiil began his program of monumental inscriptions in 682, recording his travails and ultimate victory.

Mystery cloaks the circumstances under which B'alaj Chan K'awiil became the first known ruler of a previously uninhabited site in the Petexbatún. Inscriptions at Dos Pilas make it clear that he eventually swore allegiance to Calakmul, and this during the time of Tikal's Hiatus when Calakmul might well have involved itself directly in the royal succession at Tikal. This led to speculation that B'alaj Chan K'awiil might have been a ruler of Tikal under the aegis of Calakmul who was driven out by a rival lineage.^[2]

Family

B'alaj Chan K'awiil had two wives - Lady of Itzan and Lady Bulu'.

Lady of Itzan was a queen of Dos Pilas.

Lady Bulu' was a Queen of Dos Pilas. She was the wife of B'alaj Chan K'awiil, the king of Dos Pilas. She was a stepmother of kings Itzamnaaj B'alam and Itzamnaaj K'awiil.

A daughter of B'alaj Chan K'awiil, Wak Chanil Ajaw, left Dos Pilas to found a dynasty at Naranjo.^[3] Another daughter (or perhaps a sister) married into the royal lineage of Arroyo de Piedra.

Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau was a Maya princess c. 682 AD who was part of an arranged marriage between the Maya cities of Dos Pilas and Naranjo to include Naranjo into the Calakmul–Dos Pilas alliance. Instead, Naranjo defeated Caracol in a power struggle.

B'alaj Chan K'awiil was a father of Itzamnaaj B'alam and Itzamnaaj K'awiil and likely a grandfather of K'ak' Tiliw Chan Chaak.

Itzamnaaj B'alam was a king of Dos Pilas. His reign was short.

Itzamnaaj K'awiil was a Mayan king of Dos Pilas. He was the third known ruler of that place. He is also known as the Ruler 2 and Shield God K.

K'ak' Tiliw Chan Chaak, alternatively known by the nickname Smoking Squirrel bestowed before his name glyph was deciphered, was a Maya ruler of Naranjo.

In art

Dos Pilas Stela 9, dated to AD 682, bears the only known portrait of this king.^[1]

Notes

1 2 Martin & Grube 2000, p. 56.
↑ Bajlaj Chan K'awiil at Mesoweb.
↑ Martin & Grube 2000, pp. 57, 74.

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References

Martin, Simon; Nikolai Grube (2000). Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London and New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05103-8. OCLC 47358325.

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[MG56-1] 1 2 Martin & Grube 2000, p. 56.

[2] Bajlaj Chan K'awiil at Mesoweb.

[3] Martin & Grube 2000, pp. 57, 74.