Viracocha and the legendary origins of the inca .

Acquired From Google.com

1. By Christopher Minster
:
The Inca people of the Andean region of South
America had a complete creation myth which
involved Viracocha, their Creator God. According to
legend, Viracocha emerged from Lake Titicaca and
created all of the things in the world, including
man, before sailing off into the Pacific Ocean.
The Inca Culture:
The Inca culture of western South America was one
of the most culturally rich and complex societies
encountered by the Spanish during the Age of
Conquest (1500-1550).

2. The Inca ruled a mighty empire that stretched from
present-day Colombia to Chile. They had
complicated society ruled by the emperor in the
city of Cuzco. Their religion centered on a small
pantheon of gods including Viracocha, the
Creator, Inti, the Sun, and Chuqui Illa, the Thunder.
The constellations in the night sky were revered as
special celestial animals. They also
worshiped huacas: places and things that were
somehow extraordinary, like a cave, a waterfall, a
river or even a rock that had an interesting shape.

Inca Record Keeping and the Spanish Chroniclers:
It is important to note that although the Inca did
not have writing, they had a sophisticated record-
keeping system.

They had a whole class of individuals whose duty it
was to remember oral histories, passed down from
generation to generation. They also had quipus,

3. sets of knotted strings which were remarkably
accurate, especially when dealing with numbers. It
was by these means that the Inca creation myth
was perpetuated. After the conquest, several
Spanish chroniclers wrote down the creation myths
they heard.

Although they represent a valuable source, the
Spanish were far from impartial: they thought they
were hearing dangerous heresy and judged the
information accordingly. Therefore, several different
versions of the Inca creation myth exist: what
follows is a compilation of sorts of the major points
on which the chroniclers agree.

Viracocha Creates the World:
In the beginning, all was darkness and nothing
existed. Viracocha the Creator came forth from the
waters of Lake Titicaca and created the land and

4. the sky before returning to the lake. He also
created a race of people - in some versions of the
story they were giants.
 Inca
 Inca Machu Picchu
 Myths and Legends
 Myth Stories
 God Created Man
These people and their leaders displeased
Viracocha, so he came out of the lake again and
flooded the world to destroy them. He also turned
some of the men into stones. Then Viracocha
created the Sun, Moon and stars.
People are Made and Come Forth:
Then Viracocha made men to populate the different
areas and regions of the world. He created people,
but left them inside the Earth. The Inca referred to
the first men as Vari Viracocharuna. Viracocha then
created another group of men, also
called viracochas. He spoke to these viracochas and

5. made them remember the different characteristics
of the peoples that would populate the world. Then
he sent all of the viracochasforth except for two.
These viracochas went to the caves, streams, rivers
and waterfalls of the land - every place where
Viracocha had determined that people would come
forth from the Earth. The viracochas spoke to the
people in these places, telling them the time had
come for them to come out of the Earth. The
people came forth and populated the land.
Viracocha and the Canas People:
Viracocha then spoke to the two that had remained.
He sent one to the east to the region called
Andesuyo and the other to the west to Condesuyo.
Their mission, like the other viracochas, was to
awaken the people and tell them their stories.
Viracocha himself set out in the direction of the city
of Cuzco. As he went along, he awoke those people
who were in his path but who had not yet been
awakened. Along the way to Cuzco, he went to the

6. province of Cacha and awoke the Canas people,
who emerged from the Earth but did not recognize
Viracocha. They attacked him and he made it rain
fire upon a nearby mountain. The Canas threw
themselves at his feet and he forgave them.
Viracocha Founds Cuzco and Walks Over the Sea:
Viracocha continued to Urcos, where he sat on the
high mountain and gave the people a special
statue. Then Viracocha founded the city of Cuzco.
There, he called forth from the Earth the Orejones:
these "big-ears" (they placed large golden discs in
their earlobes) would become the lords and ruling
class of Cuzco. Viracocha also gave Cuzco its name.
Once that was done, he walked to the sea,
awakening people as he went. When he reached
the ocean, the otherviracochas were waiting for
him. Together they walked off across the ocean
after giving his people one last word of advice:
beware of false men who would come and claim
that they were the returned viracochas.

7. Variations of the Myth:
Because of the number of conquered cultures, the
means of keeping the story and the unreliable
Spaniards who first wrote it down, there are several
variations of the myth. For example, Pedro
Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532-1592) tells a legend
from the Cañari people (who lived south of Quito)
in which two brothers escaped Viracocha’s
destructive flood by climbing a mountain. After the
waters went down, they made a hut. One day they
came home to find food and drink there for them.
This happened several times, so one day they hid
and saw two Cañari women bring the food. The
brothers came out of hiding but the women ran
away. The men then prayed to Viracocha, asking
him to send the women back. Viracocha granted
their wish and the women came back: the legend
says that all the Cañari are descended from these
four people. Father Bernabé Cobo (1582-1657) tells
the same story in greater detail.

8. Importance of the Inca Creation Myth:
This creation myth was very important to the Inca
people. The places where the people emerged from
the Earth, such as waterfalls, caves and springs,
were venerated as huacas - special places inhabited
by a sort of semi-divine spirit. At the place in Cacha
where Viracocha allegedly called fire down upon
the belligerent Canas people, the Inca built a shrine
and revered it as a huaca. At Urcos, where
Viracocha had sat and given the people a statue,
they built a shrine as well. They made a massive
bench made of gold to hold the statue.Francisco
Pizarro would later claim the bench as part of his
share of the loot from Cuzco.
The nature of Inca religion was inclusive when it
came to conquered cultures: when they conquered
and subjugated a rival tribe, they incorporated that
tribe's beliefs in their religion (although in a lesser
position to their own gods and beliefs). This
inclusive philosophy is in stark contrast to the

9. Spanish, who imposed Christianity on the
conquered Inca while attempting to stamp out all
vestiges of native religion. Because the Inca people
allowed their vassals to keep their religious culture
(to an extent) there were several creation stories at
the time of the conquest, as Father Bernabé Cobo
points out:
"With regard to who these people may have been
and where they escaped from that great inundation,
they tell a thousand absurd stories. Each nation
claims for itself the honor of having been the first
people and that everyone else came from them."
(Cobo, 11)
Nevertheless, the different origin legends have a
few elements in common and Viracocha was
universally revered in Inca lands as the creator.
……………………………………………………………