Encyclopedia of the Incas

soothsayer who relates, who announces), the head priest of Inca religion. The
Willac Umu lived in the Coricancha, assisted by a number of priests and
hundreds of “chosen women” (mamacunas) and servants (yanacunas). He cared
for Punchao, and served as his spokesperson. The Willac Umu appointed
oracular priests throughout Tahuantinsuyu and, as the Sun god’s spokesperson,
proclaimed who was destined to be the next ruler. The chronicler Pedro
Sarmiento de Gamboa described how then prince Pachacuti, after defeating the
Chancas (see Myths, Origin), asked the Sun who would be the next Inca, and
the god, through the high priest, told him that he would be the new king. As a
matter of fact, what the Sun god manifested in Coricancha was not just the
religious support of any decision and step of some importance taken by the Inca,
but it was the very origin of his legitimacy as ruler.
Next to the Coricancha, a plaza called Rimacpampa (the plaza of he who
speaks) served as the setting for a solemn ceremony attended by the chief lords
and the priests of the empire’s major huacas. There, proclamations of new
emperors took place and oracular pronouncements were made public.
While the Coricancha oracle was reserved only for the Inca ruler, Huanacauri
(the rainbow) served as the oracle of the Inca nobility in general. Its sanctuary
was located near the peak of the eponymous hill that dominates Cuzco to the
southwest. Huanacauri had been the main deity of the pre-imperial Incas and
remained the oracle par excellence of the lords of Cuzco until the arrival of the
Spaniards. According to Inca tradition, it was from the mountain of Huanacauri
that Manco Capac, the mythical founder, glimpsed the valley of Cuzco for the
first time (see Myths, Origin). The apparition of a double rainbow over a
mountaintop, as well as the outcome of divination rites held there, were
interpreted by the Inca as signs that this was the appropriate valley where he
should settle with his people and found Cuzco. Furthermore, one of Manco’s
brothers transformed into a huanca (upright stone) on the summit of Huanacauri.
From that elevated spot, he maintained direct communication with the Sun,
speaking with him and interceding in favor of his people, so that the god would
protect them. This privileged relationship with the Sun god explains why an
agricultural field near the Coricancha was devoted to the shrine of Huanacauri.
The importance of Huanacauri is underscored in a famous drawing by Guaman
Poma that shows the Inca Topa Yupanqui speaking to the images of different
huacas. Among them Huanacauri, the only one identified by name, stands out
due to its dominant position. Guaman Poma’s drawing illustrates the oracular
huaca congress that took place in Cuzco at the annual festival of Capac Raymi,