K'awiil

thumb|right|upright|Kʼawiil effigy cast from Tikal Kʼawiil, in the Post-Classic codices corresponding to God K, is a Maya deity identified with power, creation, and lightning. He is characterized by a zoomorphic head, with large eyes, long, upturned snout and attenuated serpent foot. As a creator god, K'awiil usually has a torch, stone celt, or cigar coming out of his forehead that symbolizes the spark of life. One of his legs does not end in a foot but in a snake with an open mouth, from which another being can emerge. As lightning and power personified, K'awiil is often carried like an axe by rain gods or as a sceptre by Maya rulers.

==Names== From the correspondence between Landa's description of the New Year rituals and the depiction of these rituals in the Dresden Codex, it can be inferred that in 16th-century Yucatán, Kʼawiil was called Bolon Dzacab 'Innumerable (bolon 'nine, innumerable') maternal generations', probably a metaphor for fertility as well as the power of creation. God K's name in the Classic period may have been the same, or similar, since the numeral 'nine' is repeatedly found included in the deity's logogram.