Encyclopedia of the Incas

How did the beneficiaries of these Inca gifts assess their new fortunes? Having
multiple wives worked to the recipient’s advantage in several ways. Not only did
aclla represent a bond with reigning power holders, but they also, through their
labor, became economic boons for political ends (see Labor Service; Weaving
and Textiles). In the Andes, largesse cemented political ties and both Inca and
provincial authorities needed textiles to distribute to their constituencies and
superiors as a sign of generosity and obligation. Who wove these textiles?
Wives. So aclla were not only alienable objects that Inca rulers could distribute
to meet needs of government, but their labor, crucial for cloth production, was
desired to keep the wheels of the Andean political economy running smoothly.
As befitted their standing, secondary wives were also beneficiaries of Inca
largesse, receiving material rewards in the form of land grants and labor. These
grants also supported their children who formed lineages of high imperial
standing.
The most renowned aclla never became living wives, but were sacrificed and
put to death in the service of imperial rites of power (see Capac Hucha). The
chilling history of Tanta Carhua gives us a window into these gendered
ceremonies of conquest. Tanta Carhua, the young daughter of a local curaca
(headman), was “chosen” by the Inca to represent her province in the yearly
commemorations of the Sun. This momentous, holy day was a celebration of
Inca rule, as aclla throughout the empire, accompanied by their huacas (titular
deities) and local headmen (curacas), performed rituals of public obeisance to
the Sun and the Inca king in Cuzco. After the Inca himself, with great ceremony,
paid them homage, some aclla were deified in Cuzco; others, like Tanta Carhua,
led processions home. Tanta Carhua, feted for a second time in her conquered
province, was buried alive in the “lands of the Inca,” which bordered on the
lands of her ayllu. By imperial rite and decree, Tanta Carhua was made holy.
Tanta Carhua, who once belonged to an ayllu, was transformed into an Inca
divinity. And, like other imperial gods, Tanta Carhua received lands and labor to
maintain the religious organization established in her honor. Tanta Carhua’s
death also marked her father’s—and his lineage’s—ascendancy in Inca politics;
her father became the region’s principal authority and its representative to
Cuzco.
The aclla were sacred and they were chaste. As wives of the conquering Sun
or of the Inca, their standing as imperial subjects was couched in religious and
sexual terms. Chastity was a proscription unique to the aclla and it was tied to
the design of the “conquest hierarchy,” the designation of aclla as “conquered”