Page 111 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

‘family’ of obviously related but slightly different gods sharing the
11
symbol of the snake. Quetzalcoatl/Kukulkan/Itzamana was quite
explicitly portrayed in many of the Mexican and Mayan accounts as
having been accompanied by ‘attendants’ or ‘assistants’.
Certain myths set out in the Ancient Mayan religious texts known as the
Books of Chilam Balam, for instance, reported that ‘the first inhabitants
of Yucatan were the “People of the Serpent”. They came from the east in
boats across the water with their leader Itzamana, “Serpent of the East”, a
healer who could cure by laying on hands, and who revived the dead.’
12
‘Kukulkan,’ stated another tradition, ‘came with nineteen companions,
two of whom were gods offish, two others gods of agriculture, and a god
of thunder ... They stayed ten years in Yucatan. Kukulkan made wise laws
and then set sail and disappeared in the direction of the rising sun ...’
13
According to the Spanish chronicler Las Casas: ‘The natives affirmed
that in ancient times there came to Mexico twenty men, the chief of
whom was called Kukulkan ... They wore flowing robes and sandals on
their feet, they had long beards and their heads were bare ... Kukulkan
instructed the people in the arts of peace, and caused various important
edifices to be built ...’
14
Meanwhile Juan de Torquemada recorded this very specific pre-
conquest tradition concerning the imposing strangers who had entered
Mexico with Quetzalcoatl:

They were men of good carriage, well-dressed, in long robes of black linen, open
in front, and without capes, cut low at the neck, with short sleeves that did not
come to the elbow ... These followers of Quetzalcoatl were men of great
knowledge and cunning artists in all kinds of fine work.
15
Like some long-lost twin of Viracocha, the white and bearded Andean
deity, Quetzalcoatl was depicted as having brought to Mexico all the
skills and sciences necessary to create a civilized life, thus ushering in a
golden age. He was believed, for example, to have introduced the
16
knowledge of writing to Central America, to have invented the calendar,
and to have been a master builder who taught the people the secrets of

11 Not only obviously related but specifically related. Votan, for example, was often
referred to as the grandson of Quetzalcoatl. Itzamana and Kukulkan were sometimes
confused by the Indians who transmitted their legends to Spanish chroniclers shortly
after the conquest. See Fair Gods and Stone Faces, p. 100.
12 Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids, p. 347.
13 New Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology, p. 439.
14 James Bailey, The God-Kings and the Titans, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1972, p.
206.
15 Fair Gods and Stone Faces, pp. 37-8.
16 According to the sixteenth century chronicler Bernardino de Sahagun: ‘Quetzalcoatl
was a great civilizing agent who entered Mexico at the head of a band of strangers. He
imported the arts into the country and especially fostered agriculture. In his time maize
was so large in the head that a man might not carry more than one stalk at a time and
cotton grew in all colours without having to be dyed. He built spacious and elegant
houses, and inculcated a type of religion which fostered peace.’

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