Viracocha (alsoWiraqocha,Huiracocha;QuechuaWiraqucha) is the greatcreator deity in the pre-Inca andInca mythology in theAndes region of South America. According to the myth Viracocha had human appearance[1] and was generally considered as bearded.[2] According to the myth he ordered the construction ofTiwanaku.[3] It is also said that he was accompanied by men also referred to as Viracochas.
It is often referred to with severalepithets. Such compound names includeTicsi Viracocha (T'iqsi Wiraqocha),Contiti Viracocha,[4][5] and, occasionally,Kon-Tiki Viracocha[citation needed] (the source of the name ofThor Heyerdahl's raft). Other designations are "the creator",Viracochan Pachayachicachan,[6]Viracocha Pachayachachi[7] orPachayachachic ("teacher of the world").[8]
For theInca the Viracocha cult was more important than the sun cult.[9] Viracocha was the most important deity in the Inca pantheon[10] and seen as the creator of all things, or the substance from which all things are created, and intimately associated with the sea.[11] Viracocha was immediately followed byInti, the Sun.[12]
Viracocha created the universe, sun, moon, and stars, time (by commanding the sun to move over the sky)[13] and civilization itself. Viracocha was worshipped as god of thesun and of storms.
So-calledStaff Gods do not all necessarily fit well with the Viracocha interpretation.[14]
According to a myth recorded byJuan de Betanzos,[15] Viracocha rose from LakeTiticaca (or sometimes the cave ofPaqariq Tampu) during the time of darkness to bring forth light.[16] He made the sun, moon, and the stars. He made mankind by breathing into stones, but his first creation were brainless giants that displeased him. So, he destroyed them with a flood and made humans, beings who were better than the giants, from smaller stones. After creating them, they were scattered all over the world.[17]
Viracocha eventually disappeared across the Pacific Ocean (by walking on the water), and never returned. He wandered the earth disguised as a beggar, teaching his new creations the basics of civilization, as well as working numerous miracles. Many, however, refused to follow his teachings, devolving into warfare and delinquency; Viracocha wept when he saw the plight of the creatures he had created.[17] It was thought that Viracocha would re-appear in times of trouble.Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa wrote that Viracocha was described as "a man of medium height, white and dressed in a white robe like analb secured round the waist and that he carried a staff and a book in his hands."[18]
In one legend he had one son,Inti, and two daughters,Mama Killa andPachamama. In this legend, he destroyed the people around Lake Titicaca with aGreat Flood calledUnu Pachakuti, lasting 60 days and 60 nights, saving two to bring civilization to the rest of the world. These two beings areManco Cápac, the son of Inti (sometimes taken as the son of Viracocha), which name means "splendid foundation", andMama Uqllu, which means "mother fertility". These two founded the Inca civilization carrying a golden staff, called 'tapac-yauri'. In another legend, he fathered the first eight civilized human beings. In some stories, he has a wife calledMama Qucha.[citation needed]
In another legend,[19] Viracocha had two sons, Imahmana Viracocha and Tocapo Viracocha. After the Great Flood and the Creation, Viracocha sent his sons to visit the tribes to the northeast and northwest to determine if they still obeyed his commandments. Viracocha traveled North. During their journey, Imaymana and Tocapo gave names to all the trees, flowers, fruits, and herbs. They also taught the tribes which of these were edible, which had medicinal properties, and which were poisonous. Eventually, Viracocha, Tocapo and Imahmana arrived at Cusco (in modern-day Peru) and the Pacific seacoast, where they walked away across the water until they disappeared. The word "Viracocha" literally means "Sea Foam."[19]
Tiqsi Huiracocha (Spanish:Ticsi Viracocha) may have several meanings. In theQuechuan languages,tiqsi means "origin" or "beginning",wira means fat, andqucha means lake, sea, or reservoir.[20]Viracocha's many epithets includegreat,all knowing,powerful, etc.Some people state thatWiraqucha could mean"Fat (or foam) of the sea",[11][21] etymology that has been discarded for grammatical considerations (constituent order inQuechua) at least sinceInca Garcilaso. According to German archeologistMax Uhle, "foam lake" is an incomprehensible name. He points out thatVira (Huira) can also be derived from the Quechua wordhuyra ("the end of all things"), and thatTicsi Viracocha therefore could have the meaning "lake of origin and of the end of all things".[22]
Some linguists think that linguistic, historical and archaeological evidence suggest that the name could be a borrowing of AymaraWila Quta (wila "blood";quta "lake"), due to the sacrifices ofcamelids that were celebrated at Lake Titiqaqa by pre-Incan Andean cultures that spoke Aymara.[23]
The first Spanish chroniclers from the 16th century made no mention of any identification with Viracocha. The first to do so wasPedro Cieza de León in 1553.[24] Similar accounts by Spanish chroniclers (e.g.Juan de Betanzos) describe Viracocha as a "white god", often with a beard.[25] The whiteness of Viracocha is however not mentioned in the native authentic legends of the Incas and most modern scholars therefore had considered the "white god" story to be a post-conquest Spanish invention.[26]
Similarly to theIncan god Viracocha, theAztec godQuetzalcoatl and several other deities from Central and South American pantheons, like theMuisca godBochica are described in legends as being bearded.[27] The beard, once believed to be a mark of a prehistoric European influence and quickly fueled and embellished by spirits of the colonial era, had its single significance in the continentally insular culture of Mesoamerica. TheAnales de Cuauhtitlan is a very important early source which is particularly valuable for having been originally written in Nahuatl. TheAnales de Cuauhtitlan describes the attire of Quetzalcoatl at Tula:
Immediately he made him his green mask; he took red color with which he made the lips russet; he took yellow to make the facade; and he made the fangs; continuing, he made his beard of feathers...[28]
In this quote the beard is represented as a dressing of feathers, fitting comfortably with academic impressions of Mesoamerican art. The story, however, does not mention whether Quetzalcoatl had facial hair or not with the point of outfitting him with a mask and symbolic feathered beard being to cover his unsightly appearance because as Quetzalcoatl said "If ever my subjects were to see me, they would run away!"[29]
While descriptions of Viracocha's physical appearance are open to interpretation, men with beards were frequently depicted by the PeruvianMoche culture in its famous pottery, long before the arrival of the Spanish.[30] Modern advocates of theories such as apre-Columbian European migration to Peru cite these bearded ceramics and Viracocha's beard as being evidence for an early presence of non-Amerindians in Peru.[31] Although most Indians do not have heavy beards, there are groups reported to have included bearded individuals, such as theAché people ofParaguay, who also have light skin but who are not known to have any admixture with Europeans and Africans.[32] When theSouthern Paiute were first contacted by Europeans in 1776, the report by fathersSilvestre Vélez de Escalante andFrancisco Atanasio Domínguez noted that "Some of the men had thick beards and were thought to look more in appearance like Spanish men than native Americans".[33]
A rock formation in the small village ofOllantaytambo in southern Peru is said by local legend to be a naturally formed or carved representation of the messenger of Viracocha named Wiracochan or Tunupa. Ollantaytambo, located in theCusco Region, makes up a chain of small villages along the Urubamba Valley. Known as theSacred Valley, it was an important stronghold of theInca Empire. Facing the ancient Inca ruins of Ollantaytambo in the rock face ofCerro Pinkuylluna is the 140-metre-high formation said to be a figure of Wiracochan. Inca ruins built on top of the face are also considered to represent a crown on his head. Artists' impressions of the rock face also include a heavy beard and a large sack upon his shoulders. This legend became fashionable after a 1995 book by Fernando and Edgar Elorrieta Salazar.[34][35]
Wiracochan, the pilgrim preacher of knowledge, the master of time, is described as a person with superhuman power—a bearded, tall man dressed as a priest or astronomer.
Spanish scholars and chroniclers provide many insights regarding the identity of Viracocha.
Spanish interpreters generally attributed the identity of supreme creator to Viracocha during the initial years of colonization.[36]
The decision to use the term "God" in place of "Viracocha" is seen as the first step in the evangelization of the Incas.[36] The reasoning behind this strategy includes the fact that it was likely difficult to explain the Christian idea of "God" to the Incas, who failed to understand the concept. In addition, replacing reference to Viracocha with "God" facilitated the substitution of the local concept of divinity with Christian theology.[36]
