Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 1 (of 8) / Aboriginal America

by Unknown

Spanish writers received statements from the Indians that one or other of these cyclopean ruins was built by some particular Inca. Garcilasso de la Vega even names the architects of the Cuzco fortress. But it is clear from the evidence of the most careful investigators, such as Cieza de Leon, that there was no real knowledge of their origin, and that memory of the builders was either quite lost, or preserved in vague, uncertain traditions.

The most ancient myth points to the region of Lake Titicaca as the scene of the creative operations of a Deity, or miracle-working Lord.[1155] This Deity is said to have created the sun, moon, and stars, or to have caused them to rise out of Lake Titicaca. He also created men of stone at Tiahuanacu, or of clay; making them pass under the earth, and appear again out of caves, tree-trunks, rocks, or fountains in the different provinces which were to be peopled by their descendants. But this seems to be a later attempt to reconcile the ancient Titicaca myth with the local worship of natural objects as ancestors or founders of their race, among the numerous subjugated tribes; as well as to account for the colossal statues of unknown origin at Tiahuanacu. There are variations of the story, but there is general concurrence in the main points: that the Deity created the heavenly bodies and the human race, and that the ancient people, or their rulers, were called Pirua. Tradition also seems to point to regions south of the lake as the quarter whence the first settlers came who worked out the earliest civilization.[1156] We may, in accordance with all the indications that are left to us, connect the great god Illa Ticsi with the central figure of the Tiahuanacu sculpture, and the kneeling worshippers with the rulers of all the nations and tribes which had been subjugated by the Hatun-runa,[1157]—the great men who had Pirua for their king, and who originally came from the distant south. The Piruas governed a vast empire, erected imperishable cyclopean edifices, and developed a complicated civilization, which is dimly indicated to us by the numerous symbolical sculptures on the monolith. They also, in a long course of years, brought wild plants under cultivation, and domesticated the animals of the lofty Andean plateau. But it is remarkable that the shores of Lake Titicaca, which are almost treeless, and where corn will not ripen, should have been chosen as the centre of this most ancient civilization. Yet the ruins of Tiahuanacu conclusively establish the fact that the capital of the Piruas was on the loftiest site ever selected for the seat of a great empire.

The Amautas, or learned men of the later Inca period, preserved the names of sovereigns of the Pirua dynasty, commencing with Pirua Manco, and continuing for sixty-five generations. Lopez conjectures that there was a change of dynasty after the eighteenth Pirua king, because hitherto Montesinos, who has recorded the list, had always called each successor son and heir, but after the eighteenth only heir. Hence he thinks that a new dynasty of Amautas, or kings of the learned caste, succeeded the Piruas. The only deeds recorded of this long line of kings are their success in repelling invasions and their alterations of the calendar. At length there appears to have been a general disruption of the empire: Cuzco was nearly deserted, rebel leaders rose up in all directions, the various tribes became independent, and the chief who claimed to be the representative of the old dynasties was reduced to a small territory to the south of Cuzco, in the valley of the Vilcamayu, and was called “King of Tampu Tocco.” This state of disintegration is said to have continued for twenty-eight generations, at the end of which time a new empire began to be consolidated under the Incas, which inherited the civilization and traditions of the ancient dynasties, and succeeded to their power and dominion.

It was long believed that the lists of kings of the earlier dynasties rested solely on the authority of Montesinos, and they consequently received little credit. But recent research has brought to light the work of another writer, who studied before Montesinos, and who incidentally refers to two of the sovereigns in his lists.[1158] This furnishes independent evidence that the catalogues of early kings had been preserved orally or by means of quipus, and that they were in existence when the Spaniards conquered Peru; thus giving weight to the testimony of Montesinos.

The second myth of the Peruvians refers to the origin of the Incas, who derived their descent from the kings of Tampu Tocco, and had their original home at Paccari-tampu, in the valley of the Vilcamayu, south of Cuzco. It is, therefore, an ancestral myth. It is related that four brothers, with their four sisters, issued forth from apertures (Tocco) in a cave at Paccari-tampu, a name which means “the abode of dawn.” The brothers were called Ayar Manco, Ayar Cachi, Ayar Uchu, and Ayar Sauca, names to which the Incas, in the time of Garcilasso de la Vega, gave a fanciful meaning.[1159] One of the brothers showed extraordinary prowess in hurling a stone from a sling. The others became jealous, and, persuading Ayar Auca, the expert slingsman, to return into the cave, they blocked the entrance with rocks. Ayar Uchu was converted into a stone idol, on the summit of a hill near Cuzco, called Huanacauri. Manco then advanced to Cuzco with his youngest brother, and found that the place was occupied by a chief named Alcaviza and his people. Here Manco established the seat of his government, and the Alcaviza tribe appears to have submitted to him, and to have lived side by side with the Incas for some generations. The Huanacauri hill was considered the most sacred place in Peru; while the Tampu-tocco, or cave at Paccari-tampu, was, through the piety of descendants, faced with a masonry wall, having three windows lined with plates of gold.

There is a third myth which seems to connect the ancient tradition of Titicaca with the ancestral myth of the Incas. It is said that long after the creation by the Deity, a great and beneficent being appeared at Tiahuanacu, who divided the world among four kings: Manco Ccapac, Colla, Tocay[1160] or Tocapo,[1161] and Pinahua.[1162] The names Tuapaca, Arnauan,[1163] Tonapa,[1164] and Tarapaca occur in connection with this being, while some authorities tell us that his name was unknown. Betanzos says that he went from Titicaca to Cuzco, where he set up a chief named Alcaviza, and that he advanced through the country until he disappeared over the sea at Puerto Viejo. It is also related that the people of Canas attacked him, but were converted by a miracle, and that they built a great temple, with an image, at Cacha, in honor of this being, or of his god Illa Ticsi Uira-cocha. This temple now forms a ruin which in its structure and arrangement is unique in Peru, and therefore deserves special attention.

The ruins of the temple of Cacha are in the valley of the Vilcamayu, south of Cuzco. They were described by Garcilasso de la Vega, and have been visited and carefully examined by Squier. The main temple was 330 feet long by 87 broad, with wrought-stone walls and a steep pitched roof. A high wall extended longitudinally through the centre of the structure, consisting of a wrought-stone foundation, 8 feet high and 5½ feet thick on the level of the ground, supporting an adobe superstructure, the whole being 40 feet high. This wall was pierced by 12 lofty doorways, 14 feet high. But midway there are sockets for the reception of beams, showing the existence of a second story, as described by Garcilasso. Between the transverse and outer walls there were two series of pillars, 12 on each side, built like the transverse wall, with 8 feet of wrought stone, and completed to a height of 22 feet with adobes. These pillars appear to have supported the second floor, where, according to Garcilasso, there was a shrine containing the statue of Uira-cocha. At right angles to the temple, Squier discovered the remains of a series of supplemental edifices surrounding courts, and built upon a terrace 260 yards long.

The peculiarities of the temple of Cacha consist in the use of rows of columns to support a second floor, and in the great height of the walls. In these respects it is unique, and if similar edifices ever existed, they appear to have been destroyed previous to the rise of the Inca empire. The Cacha temple belongs neither to the cyclopean period of the Piruas nor to the Inca style of architecture. Connected with the strange myth of the wandering prophet of Viracocha, it stands by itself, as one of those unsolved problems which await future investigation. The statue in the shrine on the upper story is described by Cieza de Leon, who saw it.

Both the Titicaca and the Cacha myths have, in later times, been connected and more or less amalgamated with the ancestral myth of the Incas. Thus Garcilasso de la Vega makes Manco Ccapac come direct from Titicaca; while Molina refers to him as one of the beings created there, who went down through the earth and came up at Paccari-tampu. Salcamayhua makes the being Tonapa, of the Cacha myth, arrive at Apu Tampu, or Paccari-tampu, and leave a sacred sceptre there, called tupac yauri, for Manco Ccapac. These are later interpolations, made with the object of connecting the family myth of the Incas with more ancient traditions. The wise men of the Inca system, through the care of Spanish writers of the time of the conquest, have handed down these three traditions and the catalogue of kings. The Titicaca myth tells us of the Deity worshipped by the builders of Tiahuanacu, and the story of the creation. The Cacha myth has reference to some great reformer of very ancient times. The Paccari-tampu myth records the origin of the Inca dynasty. Although they are overlaid with fables and miraculous occurrences, the main facts touching the original home of Manco Ccapac and his march to Cuzco are probably historical.