Which Maya language is the Popol Vuh written in?

The Popol Vuh is written in K'iche', the Maya language of the K'iche' people of the Guatemalan highlands. The surviving text preserves K'iche' mythology, history, genealogies, and ideas about creation, including the adventures of the Hero Twins and the creation of humans from maize.

The work was first maintained through oral tradition and was recorded in writing during the colonial period, probably in the sixteenth century. Its earliest surviving manuscript is associated with the Dominican friar Francisco Ximenez, who transcribed the K'iche' text and produced a Spanish translation in the early eighteenth century.

K'iche' belongs to the Quichean branch of the Mayan language family and is still spoken in Guatemala. Older publications often spell the language “Quiché,” reflecting Spanish colonial orthography, while modern usage commonly writes K'iche' or Kʼicheʼ. These spellings refer to the same language tradition, not to different books.

The Popol Vuh is sometimes casually called “the Maya Bible,” but that label can mislead. It is a foundational sacred narrative of the K'iche' people, not a single scripture shared uniformly by every Maya community. Tzotzil, Kaqchikel, and Yucatec are also Maya languages, but they are not the language of the surviving Popol Vuh text.