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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



the chroniclers in describing his life and death. 

 He was not only the highest political authority, 

 but also the representative and incarnation of 

 the primordial god Curicaveri. Thus, he had a 

 twofold job: that of ruling the country, and of 

 maintaining the cult of the god. Both were so 

 intertwined that they are difficult to separate. 

 Wars were made under his direction each fall 

 after the maize harvest, to obtain the necessary 

 prisoners to sacrifice to the god. The king's pow- 

 ers were absolute, extending to life and death 

 over his subjects. He was a member of a clan 

 or lineage known as the Vacuxecha, or eagle. 

 Within his household, in later years at Tzin- 

 tzuntzan, all of the work was done by women. 

 The principal wife, or yreri, was in charge of 

 the rest, and may be considered as queen, al- 

 though her children did not necessarily inherit 

 the throne. One group of women, the daughters 

 of important men of the empire, formed a sort 

 of harem, leaving the royal enclosure only at 

 the time of fiestas, and passing their days weav- 

 ing the cloth used as offerings and gifts. Often 

 they were subsequently married to important 

 lords of the kingdom. Other women were charg- 

 ed with the care of the royal jewels, the lip 

 plugs and earrings, or with caring for die king's 

 bedchamber. Another was his cook, another 

 the cup bearer, another headwaitress, another 

 sauce maker, another shoe watcher, another 

 guardian of salt, another guardian of the seeds, 

 another guardian of thick cloths and another 

 of the thin cloths. Still another received fish 

 brought by fishermen. All of these women were 

 watched over by a woman known as the qua- 

 taper i. 



Under the king was a series of caciques or 

 sehores, local rulers or assistants with precisely 

 defined powers. Each of the four main divisions 

 of the empire had its senor, and each village its 

 cacique. As symbols of obedience all period- 

 ically were required to carry wood to the tem- 

 ples for sacred fires. Ministers and fiscal agents 

 lived in Tzintzuntzan with the king, and during 

 a large part of the year the village and province 

 lords did likewise, probably so that the king 

 could be sure that they were up to no mischief. 

 Other officials were census takers, who within 

 their appointed areas enumerated the people 

 and brought the men together for communal 

 labors for the kingdom. Another official had 



charge of receiving tribute in the form.of cloths, 

 cotton, and mats of reeds, while still another 

 was overseer of the royal fields. Finally there 

 was a long list of mayordomos or chiefs of each 

 class of work, which gives us some idea of the 

 high degree of industrial and craft specializa- 

 tion which had developed: an overseer of the 

 2,000 carpenters and 1,000 chief temple repair- 

 ers, of masons, of hunters of ducks and quail; 

 a chief hunter specializing in overseeing deer 

 and rabbit hunters ; an overseer each of hook and 

 net fishermen; one to receive honey brought 

 to the king; one to receive the pulque; one in 

 charge of featherwork; another to make drums; 

 one to guard the wooded lands ; one to guard the 

 official treasure; a bow-and-arrow maker; one to 

 receive maize brought to the calzonci; another 

 over the war spies; another to guard the captive 

 eagles, an overseer of doctors, of lacquer paint- 

 ers, of potters, of flower-wreath makers, and so 

 forth. All of the official positions were hered- 

 itary, so that a rather tight caste system existed. 



The execution of justice was shared by the 

 king and his high priest, and a well-developed 

 code existed. If a lord took a woman of the 

 king, he and his wife, children, close relatives, 

 and retainers who might be in his house were 

 killed, on the theory that all were guilty. Adult- 

 erers and robbers were punished by death, as 

 were the brothers or sons of tlie king who were 

 perpetually drunk. Witches had their mouths 

 slit to the ears with stone knives, and were then 

 stoned to death. Refusal to bring wood to the 

 sacred fires, to go to war, and wandering with- 

 out working, were all crimes punishable by 

 imprisonment. The main priest, the petamiti, 

 with his turquoise-encrusted gourd and lance as 

 insignia of authority, meted out justice in the 

 patio of the calzonci, surrounded by all who 

 could crowd in. Major judgments took place 

 during a 20-day period following a great fiesta 

 called the Yzquataconscuaro. Lesser crimes were 

 dismissed by publicly warning the evildoer, but 

 upon the fourth off"ense, death was the penalty. 



An aging king selected the son whom he 

 thought best suited to rule as successor. When, 

 in spite of the ministrations of all the doctors 

 of the empire, the old king died, all the lords 

 came to Tzintzuntzan; those who refused were 

 considered traitors. The body was washed, dress- 

 ed in white, covered with jewels of turquoise 



