Viracocha and the myths of the origins: creation of the world, anthropogenesis, foundation myths

di Marco Maculotti


We have set our sights on this cycle of essays classified as "Andean Notebooks"Β to focus on the most significant aspects of the tradition of ancient Peru, which was much more extensive than the present, also including parts of Ecuador, northern Chile and Bolivia. Having previously treated the doctrine of the "Five Suns" and pachacuti [cf. Pachacuti: cycles of creation and destruction of the world in the Andean tradition] let us now analyze the main numinous figure of the Andean pantheon: the creator god Viracocha (or Wiracocha or Huiracocha). For the purposes of this investigation, we will mainly use ancient chronicles (Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, Sarmiento de Gamboa, Cristobal de Molina, BernabΓ© Cobo, Guaman Poma, Juan de Betanzos, etc.) and the manuscript of Huaru Chiri, translated only recently, which we will integrate from time to time with the stories of rural folklore (collated by the anthropologist Mario Polia) and with some of the most recent hypotheses, if noteworthy.

It must be said, first of all, that Viracocha was already considered by the preincas peoples as the creator of the world and of the human race: his figure was,Β in all probability, a reworking of the first divinity of the ancient inhabitants of Tiahuanaco, the so-called "God of Wands", or of scepters (in fact he was holding two golden scepters, as can still be seen today in his depiction on the Sun Gate of Tiahuanaco ). S.ulla costa was referred to as Pachacamac ("Creator of the earth and time"); among his epithets we also record those of "Original Splendor" and "Lord (Master) of the World", which place him without a shadow of a doubt in the functional context of the primordial gods [cf. The primordial and triple god: esoteric and iconographic correspondences in ancient traditions]. In this regard, we can add that according to Juan Santa Cruz Pachacuti Viracocha was depicted with an oval golden disk that symbolized the primordial egg, in the same way as the Egyptian Ra, while according to CristΓ³bal de Molina his image was reproduced in a golden statue with the likeness of a ten-year-old boy who held one arm raised in a blessing pose, an image that recalls the Boy divine of the Mysteries of Eleusis, as well as the subsequent baby Jesus also blessing.

It is interesting to remember that the cult of Viracocha often came into conflict with that of Inti, god of the Sun; this caused quite a few disagreements, even violent ones, between the Inca kings (hence the royal power) and the priestly caste. From this we can understand how Viracocha must have been, in the pre-Inca culture of Tiahuanaco, much more than a solar god, probably a god connected to a immutable pole superior even to the heliacal star itself, perhaps the Southern Cross, although some scholars also make it correspond, like QuetzalcΓ³atl in Mexico, to the planet Venus. And on the other hand it is said that it was Viracocha who created the Sun, after having risen from the dark waters that existed at the beginning of time; he also created the entire sky, with the Moon, the stars, the planets and the earth. Later it was always he who shaped, in the various ages of the world, the different humanity, including the current one, his latest creation that followed the annihilation of the giants of the "Fourth Sun".

To conclude this introduction, it is perhaps not without interest to note howβ€”similarly to Garuda who serves as a vehicle to ViΕ›nu in the Indian tradition - Viracocha had a winged companion, the bird Inti, a connoisseur of the present and the future (in this also recalling Huginn and Muninn, the two crows sent by Odin / Wotan around the world in order to tell him any event that happened in every corner of the world). However, it cannot be a coincidence that the name of Viracocha's messenger is the same as that of the sun god: Inti. Evidently, this myth conveys a concept that we have already hypothesized above, namely that Inti (the Sun) was originally considered a sort of messenger of a superior and primeval god, hierarchically superordinate to him in the Andean pantheon: Viracocha, in fact, the " immutable pole "from which the entire creation of the cosmos unravels, and which after human creation withdraws into the invisible world, becoming a Deus otiosus. Over the centuries the cult of him will be replaced everywhere by that of the solar god, especially following the arrival of the first mythical Inca rulers.

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The "Gate of the Sun" of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia.

Andean cosmogony: the creation of the world

At the beginning of time everything was immersed in darkness, planets and stars had not yet come into existence: from this primordial darkness, undifferentiated ocean, emerged the creator god Viracocha (whose name can also be translated as "sea foam", perhaps to indicate the dynamism of the wave on the calm surface of the sea as a symbol of original motion, of primordial motion that puts creation into action).Β In chap. 15 of the manuscript of Huaru Chiri, available in Italian thanks to a recent edition edited by Liliana Rosati (The true story of Huaru Chiri), it is read:

β€œThey say that Cuniraya Huiracocha existed from very ancient times. Before him there was nothing else in this world. It was he who first animated the mountains, trees, rivers, all sorts of animals and even the fields to be cultivated so that man could live ".

We know that men worshiped him saying, "You who animate man and the earth, all things are yours, yours are the fields, yours are men"[Chap.1].

The chronicler Juan de Betanzos spoke of this primordial Viracocha, who described it as:

"The creator god who, emerging from Lake Titicaca at the beginning of time, created the first human race, identified by the chronicles as a race of giants who, after living for a time in darkness, provoked the wrath of their creator that put an end to their civilization with a flood and transformed the survivors into rock statues ",

such as those that can still be seen today in the sacred site of Tiahuanaco, on Lake Titicaca, in the current Bolivian territory [Urton, Op.cit., P. 35].Β In relation to this legendary tradition, various chroniclers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries narrate that the existing monoliths at Pucara and Tiahuanaco were "reported by their informants as the petrified witnesses of the existence of these early epochs"[Salazar,Β Cusco and the Valle Sagrado de los Incas,Β p. 20]. In the famous report by Father Arriaga "The eradication of the idolatry of Peru”(1621) we read:β€œ They also adore peaks, rocks, and some very large stones as well and pray to them, calling them by particular names; and have about these a thousand fables and metamorphoses, because before they turned to stone they were men".

Having eliminated the previous humanity, Viracocha initiated a subsequent creation by calling into existence the celestial luminaries and β€” only after this action β€” created a second human race, modeling the rocks present on the shores of Lake Titicaca.Β Here it is necessary to make a note of a mythical nature which it will be good to take into account when reading the "Andean Notebooks"Β (especially when we will soon talk about the sacred site of Tiahuanaco) [cf. The enigma of Tiahuanaco, cradle of the Incas and "Island of Creation" in Andean mythology]: Lake Titicaca represented in the sacred Andean spatiality the end of the known world, beyond which nothing existed. In chap. 22 of the manuscript of Huaru Chiri It is told:

β€œThe Incas probably believed that the world ended in Titicaca and the lower lagoon, in the places called Pachacamac. Beyond that, there wasn't even a single village anymore and, perhaps, nothing existed ”.

In this manuscript, the figure of the creator god is confused with that of Pariacaca, literally "heated rock" [RosΓ©,Β Op. Cit., p. 59], which seems to be from time to time a 'double', a 'son', a 'messenger' and above all an 'emanation' of the primordial Viracocha / Huiracocha. If at the moment it may seem bizarre, we hope to give more clarifications in the next paragraphs.

READ MOREΒ  Pachacuti: cycles of creation and destruction of the world in the Andean tradition

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Three Viracocha, three functions

We must in fact note that by carefully analyzing the chronicles and legendsΒ ancient, it would seem that by "Viracocha" we mean at least three types of (more or less) mythical figures:

  1. Uno divine, the Viracocha creator god of the Andean cosmogony;
  2. Uno leggendary, the cultural hero Viracocha with Caucasian physical characteristics, of which the natives awaited the return, which some modern scholars (see Pierre HonorΓ©) have called the White God; and finally,
  3. Uno historical, the Inca Viracocha, eighth ruler of Tahuantinsuyu, nicknamed "the white Inca" because he too of very light skin and hair (according to Garcilaso Inca, who was able to see the mummy, "white as snow").

To them, tradition recognizes their respective functions:

  1. The Viracocha divine, creator god, at the beginning of time it would have given life to the Sun, the Moon, to all the celestial luminaries and to different humanity (one for each "Sun", or for each cycle) among which the last is the current human race;
  2. The Viracocha legendaryΒ would come in ancient times from the East, he would civilize a primitive and savage humanity, teaching it all the arts, sciences and technical knowledge, and finally he would leave with the promise of returning;Β 
  3. The Viracocha historical, the eighth Inca of the empire, was in historical times a very skilled military strategist and an important religious reformer gifted with clairvoyance: his was the prophetic dream about the future arrival of the Spaniards [cf. Secret history of the conquest of Peru: the prophetic dream of the Inca Viracocha and the coming of the Spaniards].

A comparison with QuetzalcΓ³atl

We should note that even in the Mexican tradition [cf. A cosmogonic reading of the pantheon of the Mexica tradition, in a perspective of religious syncretism] (first Toltec and later Aztec) can be found in the myths concerning QuetzalcΓ³atl the above tripartition. In fact, we find:

  1. A QuetzalcΓ³atlΒ divine, the "Feathered Snake”, Creator of theΒ  world;Β 
  2. A QuetzalcΓ³atl legendary,Β a civilizing hero with a white complexion and long beard; and finally,Β 
  3. A QuetzalcΓ³atlΒ historical, the sixth ruler of the Toltec empire, also white-skinned and bearded.

In Yucatan, then, among the Maya, the legendary figure of the "White God" QuetzalcΓ³atl doubles, handing over to the local pantheon on the one hand a mythical religious reformer, teacher of divine things (Itzanna), on the other an equally mythical sovereign and invincible warrior (kukulcan).

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A representation of the "historical" QuetzalcΓ³atl.

Myth of anthropogenesis

The functional tripartition that we have just made between the three 'types' of Viracocha will help us to better understand the myth concerning the creation of the first Andean ancestors and, later, their civilization by mythical figures who appear as 'emanations' of the Viracocha native to. In fact, according to tradition, it is the primordial Viracocha (divine) to mold the prototypes of present humanity into the rock (or clay) and to infuse them with the "breath" (equivalent to pneuma Hellenic, the vital spirit), but will / will be the Viracocha (s) legendary (his messengers/emanations) to call into existence the "seed-members" thus formed, during the mythical voyage of foundation of the Tahuantinsuyu. In our opinion, the figure of Pariacaca (or better of the five Pariacacas) of which we have just mentioned and which we will discuss better below. For the moment, this sentence extracted from chap. 16 of the manuscript:

"Pariacaca, born of five eggs, was the son of CunirayaΒ [other name of Viracocha, Nda]Β and it was actually made up of five brothers".

It was these "five brothers", born from five eggs, the mysterious 'messengers' of the god who indoctrinated and 'initiated' the early human race to the arts, religious and civil institutions and so on. The supreme Viracocha, creator of the world, after having shaped the human form withdraws into the ether, as is usually done by the supreme and primordial god of every ancient cosmogony (think of Uranus for the European context, Varuna for the Indian one, a Wakan-Tanka for Native Americans, etc.): it becomes, with the terminology of the Eliade, a Deus otiosus, letting his subordinate spiritual agents operate from this moment on. The latter, however, operate according to his orders and directives, as well as carry his own name, since their authority (that is, function) derives from the primal source of the "sacred power", the primordial god Viracocha: for this reason they can be classified (more than as messengers or children of the god) as its emanations.

However, it must be emphasized that in almost all versions of the mythΒ of anthropogenesis remains the belief according to which the (current) human race was created near Lake Titicaca and more precisely in Tiahuanaco [cf.Β The enigma of Tiahuanaco, cradle of the Incas and "Island of Creation" in Andean mythology], to then be called on the surface, at a later time, in the four corners of the Tahuantinsuyu: the chronicles of MartΓ­n de MurΓΊa and Guaman Poma, as well as those of Betanzos, report that the "seed-members" of humanity of the "Fifth Sun" they traveled underground from Lake Titicaca, or the place where they were shaped by Viracocha, up to the caves of Pacaritambo, where they finally emerged [Ibidem].

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Left: three o'clock pacarinas in a vintage illustration by Guaman Poma; right: the Pacaritambo.

The emergence from pacarinas

One of the most complete versions of the myth is the one reported by Cristobal de Molina. His narration of the facts begins in a time when the earth was populated by the first race, that of giants; then came a dreadful deluge, the waters of which covered everything on earth except the peaks of the highest mountains. The only survivors were a man and a woman who, after the waters receded, were placed by Viracocha on Lake Titicaca, near Tiahuanaco.Β Subsequently, the original members of the new humanity came planted as semi underground (in natural ravines such as caves and springs) for a certain period of time, only to be later called to the surface (from potential existence to actual existence) and divided into the four regions of Tahuantinsuyu [Urton, Op. Cit., P. 36]. According to other chroniclers, the members of the new humanity were made of stone (and not of corn like those of Central America); so Betanzos:

"[They say that Huiracocha] made of stone a number of individuals [the seed-members, Nda], and a leader who governed and commanded them [i Pariacacas, ed] and many pregnant women and others who had already given birth (...) all made of stone (...) and so did all the people of Peru and its provinces there in Tiahuanaco (...) and when he had finished forming them, he ordered all those who were with him to go away. "

From here, i lumps in stone built by the god "they travel through the interior of the earth and come out of the springs or springs of the provinces where they were destined" [Rosati, Op. Cit., P. 32]. Either way, everyone agrees that Andean humanity arose from pacarinas (from the verb pacariy, "Rise, appear, emerge"), that is to say from sources of water, mountains, lagoons, thanks to a single creative deity [Ibidem, P. 30], now (mostly south) called Viracocha / Huiracocha / Cuniraya, now (on the Pacific coast) called Pachacamac.Β So writes Mario Polia, an anthropologist who boasts decades of field studies on the Andean territory [Polia, The blood of the condor, P. 149]:

"The primeval lineages of men were born of four [according to other myths three, Nda] abyssal caves, the Caverns of Dawn (paqarina), after the forms of each of the lineages were molded in mud or carved in stone by Wiracocha, the Trainer, who breathed his breath into them. "

The caves from which the ancestors of humanity of the "Fifth Sun" emerged are located about 33 km. south of Cusco, in a place called Pacaritambo ("House of dawn" or "place of origin"), near the mountain Tambo T'oco ("Window house"). Here, as the myth tells (Sarmiento de Gamboa, 1572), there are three ravines: the ancestors of the Incas, eight in number (four brothers and four sisters) came out of the central cave, Capac Toco (β€œrich window”). From the two lateral caverns, called Maras Toco and Sutic Toco, two other humanity were born which then became allies (subordinates) of the Incas. The three bloodlines, as we have already mentioned, were called to the surface by Con Tiki Viracocha.Β In these beliefs we see mythological foundations common to the traditional narratives of the entire American sphere, and in particular to that particular corpus of mythical tales that are cataloged under the name of "myths of emergence" [cf. The "myths of emergence" in the traditions of Native Americans].

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The primordial ancestors: the Dried peaches

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Gold statuette depicting a Orejone, Inca culture.

The names of the eight "seed" brothers and sisters of the Incas, as reported by the chronicles of Sarmiento de Gamboa, are: Ayar Manco (Capac), Ayar Auca, Ayar Cachi, Ayar Uchu; Mama Ocllo, Mama Huaco, Mama Ipacura / Cura, Mamam Raua. AdjustmentΒ is a Quechua term that derives from aya ("Corpse") and which allows us to establish a logical connection between the mythical ancestors of the Inca lineage and the beliefs regarding the sacredness of the mummified remains of royal ancestors, kept and venerated in a special room of the temple of the Sun in Cusco [Urton, Op. Cit., p. 47], a sacred custom that links the Inca culture to other 'solar' civilizations such as those of ancient Egypt and imperial Rome, where the cult of the emperor was very much alive (both natural during and after his departure).

These seed-members of the new human race, that they will emerge from the subsoil only following the departure of Viracocha from the terrestrial plane, they would be the so-called Dried peaches ("Big ears"), the first mythical Inca from which all the sovereigns of the Andean empire will descendΒ [Ibidem, P. 39]. This denomination derives from the custom, common to members of the highest caste, of giving themselves a sign of royal dignity by piercing their ears and at the same time stretching them.Β Even the statues of Rapa Nui (that is to say of what is now called Easter Island) have this physical characteristic, the purpose of which would be to indicate the beings represented as powerful, sovereign, perhaps divine figures. Curiously, this custom also seems to be testified on the other side of the world, in the Buddhist iconography of India and China, where the Lojan (saints) also have large elongated ears, probably by a method similar to that of the Incas.

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Qosqo founding myth

According to the mythical narratives, discord soon arose between the four primeval ancestors (and their four sisters): some of them were eliminated by the others. Although infighting occurs according to tradition a few kilometers from Cusco, only Ayar Manco and Ayar Anca will reach the actual Qosqo; among the sisters, only Mama Occlo is destined to become the progenitor of the Inca dynasty, marrying her brother Manco. Ayar Anca, for his part, must succumb as a "rebellious ancestor", exactly in the same way that Remus, after having violated the sacred borders of the city, was killed by his brother Romulus. As in the Roman myth, we find ourselves in a mythical foundation story, based on the competition between two brothers for the achievement of sovereignty. Manco and Anca, in fact, had received from the Sun, their father, a bar (or a scepter) of gold: where it was stuck in the ground, there should have risen Qosqo, theomphalos of the future Inca empire. Several attempts fail, until finally Ayar Manco manages to penetrate the golden stick into the fertile land, in which from that moment it will be possible to grow corn. Ayar Anca, guilty of having mocked his brother during unsuccessful attempts, is punished by Manco who, after having hoisted the scepter into the ground, extracts it to smash his brother's skull.

The scepter and theAxis of the world

Archetypal we can identify in the founding myth of Qosqo a peculiarity typical of this kind of sacred tales: the scepter / bar as a symbol ofAxis of the world, pivot of the cosmos, which is ritually hoisted in the place chosen by the designated head (Ayar Manco). In this regard we must note how, in the Inca myths of the chronicles, Ayar Manco becomes Manco Capac: the new name of him derivesΒ from the Quechua verb capayΒ ("Measure with the palms") and therefore he would be "the one who measures with the palms": in other words, a re-actualization of the function of the primordial god Viracocha, who also with his scepters, representation of the cosmic axis, ordered the World . The point where Manco plants his scepter becomes the center of the empire, and in fact this was exactly the historical role of the Sacred Valley of Cusco, crossing point of the four regions of the Tahuantinsuyu, "Navel of the world" Inca. Ayar Manco, hoisting the golden staff (virile sacred principle, vertical) in the fertile Peruvian land (Pachamama, the chthonic-telluric goddess of Andean mythology, female sacred principle, horizontal), leads the world to a new order: the cross between the sacred masculine and the sacred feminine is complete and the rebellious Anca, symbol of entropy and darkness of undifferentiation like Remus, he succumbs precisely when this new order, through the execution of the ritual gesture prescribed by the father Sun, is fulfilled.

A thorough analysis of other such myths would lead us too far; here it is enough, to get an idea, to give as an example the one concerning King Arthur, who conquers the sovereignty by extracting a sword, the mythical Excalibur (also, like the golden bar / scepter of Manco, vertical symbol of theAxis of the world) stuck in a rockΒ (symbolizing the 'feminine' matter; epperΓ² where the land of the Andean myth was fertile, being a foundation myth, here the telluric principle in the form of rock on the contrary, it is denoted as arid, almost as if to convey the idea that, until the coming of Arthur, the sovereignty lay as "frozen"). On the other hand, right from the name, Arthur himself presents himself as a representation of the "immobile pole", since his name derives from Arctos, a Greek term that can be translated as "bear" and mythically connected to the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, which in ancient times made their revolution around the North Celestial Pole, the primordial polar star, alpha-drakonis. Arthur, therefore, in other words, would be none other than the mythical representation, in the Breton sagas, of the "Lord of the Pole", in the same way as the Chakravarati, the Indo-Tibetan β€œLord of the Wheel”, by Ayar Manco in the Inca foundation story and by Romulus in the equivalent Roman myth.

Finally, it should be noted that Ayar Manco basically limits himself to updating an exemplary gesture that in illo tempore it was done by the gods; in other words, in the Andean tradition any mythical character who played an ordering or founding role is represented with a golden scepter in his hand. We remember in fact that the same Viracocha was called "God of the Sticks" and that the same Viracochas of the myth of the foundation of the Tahuantinsuyu they were described as scepter rulers, at the same time a symbol of sovereignty and, as we have seen, of axiality. One of the denominations of Viracocha was We give, which in Quechua means "stick bearer". Considering Viracocha as the axial deity of theAxis of the world that unites the three worlds of Andean cosmology, some propose for the name Viracocha the translation of "inclined plane of the sea" and see in his figure the "Lord of the Celestial Mill" who grinds the ages of the world through cosmic cycles, he alone motionless and imperturbable in his polar axiality, he alone is immune to the movement, change and flow of time governed by him [cf. Santillana / Dechend, Hamlet's mill]. From this point of view, Viracocha also recalls the Hellenic Aion and the Saturn of the Celto-Roman myth, ruler of the "Isola dei Beati" or Ogigia or Avallon, a heavenly oasis out of time and space where divinity does not exist [cf. Apollo / Kronos in exile: Ogygia, the Dragon, the "fall"].

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Map of the Tahuantinsuyu (Urton, Inca Myths).

Foundation trip of the Tahuantinsuyu

This regards the foundation of the city of Cusco. Instead the myth of the foundation of the four water, or rather of subdivision of the Andean territory into four parts (water), at the center of which was the capital Qosqo, recognizes as founders the same Viracochas, emanations of the primordial god who is also credited with having civilized the first ancestors.Β We have already mentioned how, following the creation of the new humanity (whose semi were now lying underground), Viracocha sent his 'messengers' (or emanations from itself itself) in the four corners of the territory. The latter initially embarked on their journey from Lake Titicaca in a north-easterly direction, heading towards Qosqo where they called Ayar Manco and his brothers and sisters into existence, and then continued the journey through which they ritually brought into existence the four regions of the Tahuantinsuyu during some sort of primordial journey of foundation.Β I viracochas, arriving from time to time in the various corners of the territory, they ordered the "seed-members" of the new lineages to emerge from the subsoil, thus populating the territory of the future empire with the primordial ancestors previously molded by the supreme deity [Urton, Op. Cit., P. 37].Β 

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Sometimes the mythical figures of Viracochas and primeval ancestors get confused. In his Commentaries, Garcilaso thus reports the myth of the beginning of our "Sun": after the waters of the deluge withdrew (eqso after the destruction of the world of the age preceding that of the creation of man, i.e. the age of giants), a "man without a name" appeared in Tiahuanaco: he was so powerful that he divided the territory into four parts, assigning a sovereign to each of them: Manco Capac touched the northern region, Colla the southern one, Tocay the east and Pinahua the west. This "creator of Tiahuanaco" then ordered his four subordinates to extend their dominion in the four directions assigned to them, subduing the peoples who lived there [Urton, Op. Cit., P. 40]. In reality, here Garcilaso seems to confuse the myth of the foundation of Tahuantinsuyu with that of Qosqo: it is in fact the north of the capital that belongs to the dominion of Manco Capac, just as his wife Colla (or Mama Occlo) belongs to the south. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to talk about this in the future, dealing more closely with the "dual cosmovision" of the Incas, as defined by prof. Peruvian Aurelio Carmona Cruz (cf.Β The dual cosmovision of the Inkas).

Equally 'nebulous' is the version reported by the Jesuit chronicler BernabΓ© Cobo, according to which Viracocha, after having created the first members of the new race in Tiahuanaco, divided them into the four original groups that would later form the Tahuaintinsuyu, assigning to each of them different clothes, their own language, sacred songs and different seeds and vegetables with which to feed themselves [Ibidem, P. 36]. If we have mentioned Garcilaso's error, Cobo probably confused the primordial Viracocha, creator god and cosmocrat, with his "messengers / emanations" sent to Tiahuanaco at the beginning of the present "Sun", since we have seen that he was the first to proceed with the anthropogenesis and delocalization of the "seed-members" in pacarinas, while they were the second to deal with the civilization of the "four original groups" of mythical ancestors. AlsoΒ Cieza de LeΓ³n, for its part, committed Cobo's mistake, in that he described Viracocha as "a white man with a long white beard who appeared on Lake Titicaca long before the appearance of the Inca"; an important civilizing hero, he educated the natives in every field of culture and civilization. He was the creator of all things and ordered men to live in peace [HonorΓ©, I have found the White God, P. 9].

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Pottery depicting Viracocha, culture Moche (pre-Inca).

Two types of primordiality

It can be seen, in all these versions of the myth, how often the boundaries between the Viracocha god the creator and the Viracocha cultural hero become very blurred; indeed, as Liliana Rosati writes well [pp. 32-3] "the name Huiracocha designated a series of beings, divided into fathers and sons, connected to the creator god". In the manuscript of Huaru Chiri [chap.8] you can read phrases such as "when Pariacaca [= Viracocha], all five of them were"And" Pariacaca, which actually consisted of five people"; it would seem, therefore, that in this second phase of creation (that of anthropogenesis and foundation) the divinity Viracocha / Pariacaca is articulated in a series of emanations or, better said, of different aspects of the same numinous power, previously undivided.Β However, it is evident that the foundation and civilization myths concern the viracochas-children, being creation in illo tempore prerogative of the Viracocha-father. In this regard, we can distinguish, according to Eliade's teaching [The nostalgia of the origins, p. 102]:

β€œTwo types of primordiality: 1) a primordiality precosmic e ahistorical, 2) and a primordiality cosmogonic o historical".Β 

When we analyze the foundation myths, in the Andean tradition as in any other, we realize we are no longer in the "pre-cosmic and ahistorical" sphere of primordial creation, but in a situation - although equally mythical and "exemplary" - necessarily subsequent, which does not happen in illo tempore, "At the beginning of time", but at the beginning of this "Sun". Although this temporal indication seems at first sight to refer to the dawn of time, indeed it allows us to frame the myth in a historical time, that is, at the beginning of history (or rather, of the history of current humanity), at the beginning in other words. of our era: we are, precisely, in pachakuti between the fourth and fifth "Sun".Β If, therefore, to the Viracocha that we have defined divine the myths of the "precosmic and ahistorical" origins (such as those of cosmogenesis) are connected to the legendary instead, it is up to the corpus myths that refer to a primordial historical type, such as eg. the myths of the foundation and civilization of humanity at its beginnings of this "Sun".

Viracocha, the cultural hero

From what has been said previously, it follows that the Viracochas / Pariacacas who ritually found the four spaces of the Tahuantinsuyu, then calling on the surface the "seed-members" shaped by the creator god Viracocha, the figure of the second Viracocha seems to be connected, that is what we have defined legendary, the cultural hero of which some authors have spoken as the "White God" of pre-Columbian America, who appears in numerous mythologies of the 'New World' with the most disparate names (Viracocha, Quetzalcoatl, KukulkΓ‘n, Huitziton, Bochica, Votan, Guatan, etc.).Β Making a comparative analysis of the myths of the various Amerindian populations, the French researcher Pierre HonorΓ© came to the conclusion that "Viracocha represents for the Andes, Peru and all of South America, what QuetzalcΓ³atl is for Mexico: the deified hero , who came from the sea or rose from the waters, who created all things and issued wise laws. Hyustus, the Aymara called him, and still today they say that he was blond and with blue eyes "[HonorΓ©, Op. Cit., P. 10].Β Likewise, the cult of Huitziton, which would later become the QuetzalcΓ³atl of the Aztecs: he would be "came from an oriental country and from afar, led by a ray of sunshine from a land called Terra Rossa (…) He is presented by the ancient Toltec traditions as a white man with a long beard and dressed in white (…) He taught agriculture, metal casting and stone working. A serene and peaceful era extended to all fields "[Leonardi, The origins of man, p. 115].


Bibliography:

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