Ajtoltekat

En la larga lista de los nombres alternativos de las deidades Xpiyakok e Ixmukane, Ajtoltekat ("maestros artesanos" en la traducción española del lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop [2008: 35]) aparece en la decimoquinta posición, inmediamente después de la invocación de su par, Ajq'ol ("maestros del incienso"). La identidad plural del par apunta la importancia en la cosmovisión y filosofía k'iche' de vincular las fuerzas divinas en balance y equilibrio, no obstante diferentes traductores han interpretado el par y su significado en varias maneras a lo largo del tiempo. Colop (1999: 23 y 2008: 35n33) comenta esta historia en una nota al margen de la edición poética k'iche' (1999). Explica ahí que la voz "toltekat" en k'iche' "era usado para identificar una profesión 'artesano' y no necesariamente a un lugar de origen (Edmonson y otros traductores). Este significado, concuerda con el de la línea anterior [Ajq'ol], y con la cual conforman un verso paralelo." En la nota al margen de la edición española, el señalado investigador añade: "El texto k'iche' dice ajtoltekat que no necesariamente identifica a los toltecas como pueblo, sino a una profesión. Esto se deduce de las líneas anteriores. Recinos (1953: 92) anota, además, que 'Los toltecas, en efecto, fueron grandes maestros en la platería.' Edmonson (1971: 22) taduce esta línea como 'artesanos' y Tedlock (1996: 69) como 'maestro artesano.'"

In the long list of alternate names for creator deities Xpiyakok and Ixmukane, Ajtoltekat ("Master Artist" in the translation by anthropologist Allen J. Christenson [2007: 80]) appears in the fourthteenth position, immediately before the invocation of their pair, Ajq'ol ("Incense Maker"). Whereas Christenson and anthropologist Dennis Tedlock (1996: 69) represent the deity as in the singular, translators like anthropologist Munro Edmonson (1971: 22) and K'iche' linguist Sam Colop (2008: 35) render the name in the plural, following Maya concepts of balance and complimentarity. Whereas Colop insists that the name Ajtoltekat refers to a general class of artisans, perhaps inspired by the Toltecs, Christenson reads the Toltec influence in much stronger terms. In an extensive note (2007: n102), he writes:

"The Quiché title Aj Toltecat is given to anyone who is highly skilled in art, science, religion, and creative endeavors in general. Toltecat refers specifically to the ancient Toltecs, who, under the legendary priest-ruler Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, founded the city of Tula in Central Mexico in the tenth century a.d. Although the city fell some two centuries later, the fame of its people was passed from generation to generation, undoubtedly embellished significantly with each retelling. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the ancient Toltecs had achieved an almost mythic reputation as masters in all the arts. The Aztecs gave the following description in folio 172v of the Codex Matritensis:

The Toltecs were a skillful people; / all of their works were good, all were exact, / all well made and admirable.

Their houses were beautiful, with turquoise mosaics, / the walls finished with plaster, / clean and marvelous houses, which is to say / Toltec houses, beautifully made, / beautiful in everything...

Painters, sculptors, carvers of precious stones, / feather artists, potters, spinners, weavers, / skillful in all they made....

The Toltecs were truly wise; / they conversed with their own hearts.... / They played their drums and rattles; / They were singers, they composed songs / and sang them among the people;

They guarded the songs in their memories, / they deified them in their hearts. (León-Portilla 1980, 207)."