Encyclopedia of the Incas

Sun in all of Tahuantinsuyu, occupied the sanctum sanctorum of the Coricancha.
Many historical sources describe Punchao as a golden image of a seated boy,
with solar rays emanating from his head and shoulders and whose hollow core
contained a paste of gold dust and the ashes of the hearts of deceased kings.
Two other golden images accompanied Punchao in the Coricancha: those of
Viracocha Pachayachachi (The Master of the World) and Illapa. Pucamarca
Quisuarcancha, another major temple complex located midway between the Sun
shrine and the main square of Cuzco, was expressly dedicated to these two
deities (see Cuzco). The chronicler Cristóbal de Molina claims this shrine was
built during a major reformation of the Inca religious system by the ruler
Pachacuti, who placed a golden statue of Viracocha in the temple. The statue was
the size of a ten year-old boy, with his right arm raised as a symbol of authority.
The Incas dedicated another major shrine to Viracocha in Cacha, some 100
kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Cuzco, in the heart of Canas territory. The
Inca ruler visited Cacha during solemn pilgrimages held during the June solstice.
According to Inca lore, the god Viracocha stopped here after emerging from
Lake Titicaca and creating the Sun, the Moon and the stars, as well as the
ancestors of all peoples, along with their languages and traditions (see Myths,
Origin).
Viracocha also paused at a mountain bearing his name near the towns of Urcos
and Huaro, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Cuzco, where the
chronicler Juan de Betanzos claims a shrine contained an image of Viracocha
seated on a large golden throne. After walking across the Andes from the
southeast to the northwest teaching people how to cultivate their crops and live
in a civilized way, Viracocha finally reached the Pacific Ocean. (Accounts of
where Viracocha disappeared into the sea range from Pachacamac on Peru’s
central coast to Manta in Ecuador.)
Given that Viracocha emerged from a lake and ended his earthly mission in the
ocean, and since his name itself includes the term cocha (lake, sea), Viracocha
seems to be closely connected with the sea, which the Inca pictured as a huge
expanse of water that surrounded and supported the earth, and which surfaced
through springs and lakes.
Illapa, who was also known as Chuqui Illa (Golden Light) or Inti Illapa
(Thunder of the Sun), was a veritable “lord of atmospheric phenomena” whom
the Inca called upon to plead for rain and ward off frosts and other adverse
meteorological phenomena. The Jesuit priest Bernabé Cobo noted that Illapa
was believed to be a man formed by the stars in the sky holding a sling in his