Project MUSE – An Encounter of Two Worlds: The Book of Chilam Balam of Kaua (review)

The publication of a new edition of one of Chilam Balam’s books is always something of an event. Written alphabetically in Maya, the manuscripts are rich sources of information on Yucatecan Maya history and culture, and only nine have survived from the colonial period. This edition is especially noteworthy, because although Chilam Balam of Kaua’s book is the longest of the nine surviving books (approximately 280 manuscript pages), it has never been published, transcribed, or translated in its entirety, and above all, Victoria Bricker and Helga -maria miram has done such a thorough and expert job.

Named after a Mayan prophet (chilam) called the balam, the nine extant books fall loosely into two categories: those dealing primarily with historical and prophetic matters, and those “dealing largely with astronomy, astrology and medicine” (p. . 1). the kaua falls into the latter category, but it also contains a historical and prophetic text and shares passages with seven of the other books, making it “the most encyclopedic of all the chilam balam books, a virtual treasure trove of information reflecting the intellectual concerns of the colonial Mayan scribe” (p. 3).

You are reading: The books of chilam balam are named after

Bricker and Miram argue that the Kaua “rivals in meaning” the best-known of the manuscripts, the Chumayel (p. 3). The wealth of topics covered in the manuscript itself would seem to support this claim (although to some extent it depends on which aspects of the Maya past one is most interested in), but Bricker and Miram’s case is also supported by three features of their editing. the first is the translation of the text. Some earlier editions of Chilam Balam books have been marred by translations that are too literal or too fanciful; Bricker and Miram have chosen a middle path between these two sirens, adopting what they call (quoting William Hanks) a “grammatical” translation rather than a “word” (p. 9). this isn’t as simple as bricker and miram make it sound, and there’s no doubt [end page 725] that specialists will have trouble with the individual glosses, but I’d be surprised if any mayanists consider the product is generally different from successful, if not outright.

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The second happy feature of the edition is the analytical work of the editors (although they are modestly labeled as mere translators and annotators). the introduction (of 88 large pages) is a virtual monograph in itself, the 3,285 footnotes in the edition sometimes displace the text entirely, and the appendices of plant names are an important contribution to the Mayan ethnobotany. The third feature emerges from this work, indicated in the title of the edition and detailed in the introduction: the thesis. this is presented in three lengthy sections of the introduction, entitled ‘the European background’, ‘the Mayan background’, and ‘the intellectual encounter’. bricker and miram identify, with meticulous detail, the various European and native sources used by the colonial Mayan scribe or notary who compiled the kaua, arguing and detailing how the result illustrates “the process of syncretism” in calendars, religion, astronomy and medicine (p. 85 )—the search “for some common denominator to relate fundamental concepts in the system of thought alien to the most familiar intellectual tradition” (p. 3 ) of the native Yucatan.

That an edition of a primary source should even have a thesis is surprising; for you to have one that is thoughtful, consistent, and compelling is nothing short of inspiring. This volume is an important contribution to a nexus of related fields and subfields: Maya studies, native writing, Yucatecan anthropology and ethnohistory, colonial Mesoamerica, early modern Spanish intellectual culture, history of medicine, and more. Within the genre of translated and annotated editions, the volume is exemplary.

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