Incan Mythology

History

By Ricardo Segreda

The gods of the Inca were nothing if not a lively lot.  Take, for example, the fertility goddess, Mama Coca, so named because the coca plant, according to Inca mythology, originated with a section of Mama Coca’s body after it was divided by her many male lovers. Thereafter, Incan ritual and religion decreed that a male inhabitant of the Incan empire could enjoy the pleasures of the coca leaf only he brought a woman to orgasm.  Then there was Coniraya, the moon god, disguised his sperm as fruit, and when the virgin goddess Cavillace consumed it, she became pregnant with his son, which so shamed her due to Cavillace’s low standing as a god that she took off to Peru’s coast where she and her son became rocks.

The accent on sex was, of course, indicative of an agrarian society in which in which the sex lives of the gods were metaphors for the Inca’s preoccupation with preservation through abundant and healthy crops in Peru’s fertile plains. Goddesses in Incan mythology generally embody benevolent and life-giving qualities; Mama Zara, a grain goddess, Mama Allpa, a multi- breasted fertility goddess. There was also a nautical deity, Mama Cocha, who sheltered mariners and fishermen.

As with all myths, the stories and legends surrounding such figures are not consistent, since the Incan religion evolved in accordance with the political and geographical needs of the Incan empire, the largest and most powerful of a succession of competitive kingdoms that had developed during South America’s social evolution from its initial settlement, some archeologists propose, by Asian nomads during around 6500 BC.

When the Incan empire came to being in the 13^th century, and ultimately conquered its rivals by the 15^th, most notably the Chimú, their leaders and priests promoted a supernatural history that transcended its actual history. Hence, for the Incan people, civilization began with the “grandfather” deity Viracocha, and the progenitor of a succession of gods, most notably Inti, a Sun God, who destroyed an earlier civilization with a flood arising from Lake Titicaca, save for the siblings Manco Capac (who was also an actual historical ruler) and Mamá Occlo.

One interesting variation of the Viracocha legend attributes to him Christ-like qualities: he willingly surrenders his supernatural privileges in order to experience the sufferings of his subjects and thus understand compassion. In this incarnation, Viracocha is represented by wearing rags and large tear drops on his face.  However, this aspect of Viracocha was not exploited by the genocidal Catholic conquerors that arrived in the 15^th century, in their campaign of forced conversion. By contrast, the Spanish were able to appropriate the Incan Earth Mother, Pacha Mamá, in their promotion of the new maternal deity, the Holy Virgin.

Nonetheless, the veneration of Incan deities also involved actions that by today’s standards would draw condemnation, especially the selective sacrifice of children and virgins during crop failures, or the death of an emperor. In the former case, specially chosen children were sacrificed to placate the dreaded underworld god, Supay. Nevertheless, most deities were believed to reside in the sky and ceremonies often took place on the highest peaks attainable in the Andes; rulers were buried on mountaintops for their proximity to the divine. The high altitude setting of Machu Picchu is an index of its use for religious services.

Most of what is known about Incan mythology was destroyed by the Spanish, but the former reverence accorded to it survives in some in folk festivals that combine Catholicism with pre-Columbian traditions.