Pukuj is the demon or devil, the principle of malevolence in the highland cosmos. He tempts, deceives and sickens the living, and in the origin narrative of the sun he leads the monstrous beings who hunted the child-sun before his ascent to the sky. Sources differ on whether Pukuj denotes a single adversary or a class of demons, for the term is used both ways in Tzotzil and Tzeltal narrative.