bolize rain. Gold was the symbol par excellence of the sun,
and the robes of head shamans were covered with oscillating
metal disks that reflected the sun’s rays and imitated its
radiance.
Pachamama-Quilla. Pachamama (“mother earth”)
symbolized the feminine element of divinity for the Andeans.
Pachamama is incarnated as the primordial mother of mythic
literature, and she is personified as Quilla, the moon. In this
connection she is symbolized by silver; with this metal many
representations of Pachamama were made, especially in the
form of the half-moon (called tumi), which was one of the
most important religious symbols of the Andes. The cult of
Pachamama was, and still is, extensive (Mariscotti de Görlitz,
1978). Pachamama was held to be the producer of food, ani-
mals, and the first human. As primordial mother, she creates
through the fertilizing action of the Sun, and she later be-
comes co-donor of food plants, especially maize.
The mythological literature tells of several female super-
natural beings. These are likely regional versions of Pachama-
ma. Among them are Chaupiñanca, the primordial mother
of Huarochirí mythology; Illa, who appears in the mythic
traditions of the Ecuadorian Andes; and Urpihuáchac, sister
and wife of Pachacámac, who seems to be an expression of
Cochamama, the marine form of Pachamama. To Cochama-
ma is attributed the creation of fish and of seabirds such as
the guanay, which latter act is in turn related to agricultural
productivity because of the use of guano to fertilize crops.
Ancient documents show that Pachamama was individ-
ualized ad infinitum to guarantee the abundance of specific
produce—maize, for example. Andean iconography offers
representations of Pachamama incarnated in specific vegeta-
ble forms: multiple ears of maize, for instance, or groups of
potatoes. In other instances these agricultural products meta-
phorically acquire human aspects, and they are also por-
trayed as being fertilized by a supernatural, anthropomorphic
personage. Pachamama in her Cochamama aspect also ap-
pears to symbolize the presence of abundant water—essential
for fertilizing the agricultural fields.
The symbolism of Pachamama has implications regard-
ing the social status of women: As compared with the male
element of divinity, Pachamama, the female, is clearly a pas-
sive and subaltern being. Her dependence on the male is es-
tablished in the mythological literature. She uses her femi-
nine attributes to win from the male gods favors, such as
irrigation canals, that are beneficial to the collectivity. Pacha-
mama also enshrines the modesty and passivity in sexual
matters that characterizes the Andean woman to this day.
The attitude of sexual modesty is to be seen in the many rep-
resentations that appear to show versions of Pachamama,
from the archaic terracotta figures of Valdivia to those of the
late Chancay civilization of the central coast of Peru. In all
these, sexual characteristics are not pronounced: The figures
seem to represent almost asexual beings, and they remind
one of the existence of non-Christian sexual taboos (see
Kauffmann Doig, 1979a). Not only do these figures rarely
stress sexual characteristics, but, curiously, they seldom por-
tray pregnant women or women giving birth. Perhaps the an-
thropomorphic figures with birdlike attributes that appear
on the walls of Pajatén—which figures are shown in crouch-
ing positions with spread legs—are in fact female procreators
(Kauffmann Doig, 1983, p. 531). Except for the cases of sex-
ual representations from Vicus and, especially, in Moche art
(both from the northern coast of Peru), images of women
found throughout the Andean culture region seem to under-
score that female sexuality was marked by modesty.
Pachamama continues to play an important role in the
deeply rooted peasant magic of today’s Andean people. She
is even venerated in Christian churches. In the Peruvian vil-
lage of Huaylas, for example, Saramama (a version of Pacha-
mama) is venerated in the form of two female saints who are
joined in a single sculpture—like Siamese twins—to give vi-
sual representation to a pathetic fallacy: the symbolization of
abundance that is identified in the double or multiple ears
of grain that maize plants often generously produce.
Illapa. The deity Illapa (generally translated as “thun-
der,” “lightning,” or “weather”) occupies a preferential place
in the Andean pantheon. Much of the mythological litera-
ture makes reference to Illapa, who takes on regional names
and is expressed in varying forms: Yaro, Ñamoc, Libiac,
Catequil, Pariacaca, Thunapa (possibly), and so on. To refer
to these beings as if they were separate would be artificially
to crowd the Andean pantheon by creating too great a num-
ber of distinct deities—a trap into which many interpreters,
both early and recent, have fallen. Illapa may be seen as the
incarnation of Inti, the sun, in Illapa’s primary mythic form
of a hawk or eagle (indi means “bird” in Quechua), a form
to which were added human and feline attributes; thus Inti-
Illapa may be said to be a true binomial in the Andean
pantheon.
Associated with meteorological phenomena such as
thunder, lightning, clouds, and rainbows, Illapa personifies
rain, the element that fecundates the earth. As the direct
source of sustenance—giving rains to the highlands and riv-
ers and rich alluvial soils to the coastal valleys—Illapa is re-
vered in a special and universal way. Yet he is also feared: for
the crash of his thunder, for lightning that kills, for cata-
strophic hailstorms, severe floods, and even perhaps earth-
quakes. The worst of his scourges is drought. Proof of Illapa’s
prestige is the major temple to him (individualized as the
ruler of atmospheric phenomena) that stood in Cuzco, the
Inca capital; according to the plan of Cuzco drawn by Gua-
man Poma and the description written by Molina, Illapa’s
temple was rivalled only by the Coricancha, the temple of
the sun.
After the Conquest, Andeans fused Illapa with images
of James the Apostle, a syncretism perhaps suggested by earli-
er Spanish traditions. In the realm of folklore, Illapa’s cult
may be said still to flourish in the veneration of hills and high
mountains, which are the nesting places of the huamani (fal-
cons) sacred to this deity. Also associated with Illapa are theSOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE ANDES IN THE PRE-INCA PERIOD 8601