All about history book of myths and legends. ( PDFDrive )

A number of people representing the lower classes of peasants

and slaves emerged from the other two entrances to the cave.

Then the first Incan settlements were established.

THE PEOPLE AND THE SUN GOD

Some chroniclers of the origin myth told a diferent version

of the story. They said that Manco Capac and the other

Incas had been set down by the sun god Inti, on the

shores of Lake Titicaca. The deity gave Manco Capac a

staf or rod of gold and instructed the people to travel

around the region, advising them to plunge the gold rod

into the ground whenever they stopped to eat or rest. Inti

told them that after travelling for a while, they would arrive

at a place where the staf would vanish completely into the

ground on being plunged. This would indicate that the soil

at that location was deep and

fertile, and Inti told Manco

Capac to build a grand city at

that site. The people followed

the sun god’s commands and

after having wandered for some

time, they reached a place

where the rod disappeared from

view into the ground. The Incas

built their capital city of Cuzco

not far from this spot, and

Manco Capac became the first

ruler of the Incan kingdom.

Thus began the Incan dynasty.

THE MYTH

The Incan creator god, called Con Tiki Viracocha, or simply

Viracocha, was one of the most important deities in Incan

mythology. In most versions of the creation story, he emerged

from the waters of Lake Titicaca to create a race of giants.

But he was dissatisfied with these creatures, and so he

brought about a great flood called Unu Pachacuti that

drowned them. Subsequently, he created the first humans

out of pebbles that he found beside the lake. He gave these

people a variety of languages, costumes, and foods, and

then spread them around the world; though some say

that Viracocha sent the first humans to a cave to await

the appropriate time for emergence. It was believed by

some that the cave was at a place called Pacaritambo

(Tavern of the Dawn), which is about 25km (16 miles)

southwest of modern-day Cuzco. Others believed that

the real name of the place was Tambotocco (Tavern of the

Windows), because the people had made three ceremonial

entrances to the natural cavern.

THE EMERGENCE

Chief among the Andeans was

a man called Manco Capac, who

dwelt in the cave with his three

brothers and three sisters. One

of his sisters, Mama Ocllo, was

also his wife. Together, they

constituted the Incan royal

family and became the ancestors

of the Incan rulers who followed

them. Eventually, a small group

of people representing Incan

nobility came out of the cave

through one of its entrances.

Manco Capac

Like all Incan rulers, Manco

Capac was always associated

with the sun. Some said he wore

a cape of gold during his arrival

ceremony in Cuzco.

SOUTH AMERICA

In the centuries preceding the Spanish conquest of Peru in the 16th

century, the Incas built a vast empire in the Andes mountains of

western South America. They had a sophisticated oral culture, and

their mythology tells many different tales of their origin, all of

which feature an ancestor called Manco Capac who, together

with a number of followers, emerges into the world from a cave.

Inca Beginnings

Cuzco

The Peruvian city of Cuzco was the Incan capital. Second only to

Lake Titicaca, Cuzco and its neighbourhood was the most important

area in Incan religion, with a number of shrines and sacred sites.

148