Encyclopedia of the Incas

Titicaca and ending with the emergence of the Inca ancestors from a cave in
Pacariqtambo.
The myths set at Lake Titicaca recount first the origin of the sun, moon, and
stars from the lake, at the urging of the Andean creator deity, Viracocha. After
creating the universe, Viracocha set about creating humanity. This was done in
five different episodes, the first four of which ended when the creator deity,
displeased with some aspect or the behavior of the beings he had created,
destroyed them. It was only after the fifth creation that Viracocha was satisfied
with his work. He then scattered the peoples he had created under the ground at
the places where they would later emerge onto the earth. These ancestral peoples
claimed their place of origin (e.g., a cave, or a spring or some other place) as the
unique pacarina (place of dawn/origin) of their respective lineages. Viracocha
was aided in the task of “seeding” people in their home territories by his two
sons. One son passed through the sky from Lake Titicaca toward the northwest,
over the coast; the other son passed through the sky to the east of the Andes
toward the northwest; Viracocha himself went straight over the central Andean
corridor. After completing their work, all three deities passed over the ocean, to
the northwest of Puerto Viejo, on the coast of Ecuador. At Viracocha’s call, the
many different Andean peoples emerged from their places of origin and began to
inhabit their own particular locales in the Andean world. The ancestors of the
Incas, referred to in the Spanish texts as the Hermanos Ayares (Ayar siblings),
came out of a cave called Tambo T’oco (inn of the slit/window), at Pacariqtambo
(inn of dawn/origin).
It should be noted before passing on to the Pacariqtambo myths that the Incas
revered Lake Titicaca as their place of origin and carried out annual pilgrimages
there. These ceremonies focused principally on the Islands of the Sun and the
Moon, located within Lake Titicaca, as well as at the site of Tiahuanaco, home
of the pre-Inca Tiahuanaco culture, just southeast of the lake. Notable Inca
period ruins can be seen at the Island of the Sun today. Rising near these ruins is
a great rock with a split through the center, which is said to be where the sun
emerged at the beginning of the universe (see Oracles; Religion).
The origin myth centering on Pacariqtambo not only accounts for the
emergence of the Inca ancestors from the earth, but also explains the subsequent
actions of the royal ancestors, culminating in their founding of what would
become the capital of Tahuantinsuyu, Cuzco. As recounted in numerous
chronicles, at the beginning of time (for the Inca state) the founder of the Inca
Empire, Manco Capac, emerged from the cave of Tambo T’oco at Pacariqtambo