Linda Schele' version of the Paddler Gods who were transporting the Maize God
on a raft, What happened to their canoe? IMS p. 5
The Paddling Gods, with their legs hanging over the side, are rowing a raft, no longer do they have a canoe, Their paddles seem to have more pertinent information on them, that was not done in the above drawing since the front oar has less clarity. The raft is riding on top of a trefoil with a face with a black eye in the middle of a glyph. Differences in various details are due to deterioration of the painted surface which makes some original items difficult to identify.
In the above, the Maize god who is tossing out maize kernels to those in the water appears to have a macaw beaked-head in his headdress. However, in the vase itself, the form in the Maize god's headdress does not appear to be a bird form, but a human head with a sharp nose [See the original below]. The hand above the head of the Maize god seems to be attached to the headdress figure, not to the god himself. Both hands are left hands
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| Vase K-3033 ©Justin Kerr
The man under the raft is flat on his back with a fish nibbling at his face. His legs are raised in the same position that Pacal's legs are raised on his tombstone. The paddles on either side of the drowned figure are again decorated differently than the sketch above. Linda Schele saw the shadow of several intended lines other than what is defined on the vase itself but decided they were not clar enough to include in her sketch.
The scene above is one of the underworld and in the waters where the Xibalbans threw the ground-up Twins, Hunahpú and Xabalenqu. Whereas the Tulum fresco is specifically a sky of constellations, roped in a sky net, similar to one of two vases, that of the Seven gods. The rope at Tulum, although they are very straight lines still show the twisted rope, indicated by the twist on each section of the sky "rope."
The two nude ladies remind me of the two destroyed warrior figures on the presentation of a sky net of constellations in the Temple of the Frescos at Tulum that Ed. Barnhart is working with. The "rope" indicates that it is the manner which, during their planting season, the Maya viewed the constellations.
These connections are supposed to lead one to a different line of thought. There are whole stories behind every codex-style vase, those which are created as memory joggers. And in this respect, exactly what significance is it to have two left hands in a picture? there are many of these doubled hands in the Mixtec Codices. But no explanation is ever given.
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