Inca Religion

The Inca religion was a group of beliefs and rites relating to a mythological system that evolved from the pre-Inca times through the course of the Inca Empire, or Tawantinsuyu. Faith in the Empire was manifested in every aspect of an Inca's life, work, festivitals, and ceremonies, etc. They were polytheists and worshipped a pantheon that included local, regional, and pan-regional divinities. Inca deities occupied the three realms: (1) hanan pacha, the celestial realm in the sky, (2) ukhu pacha, the inner earth realm, and (3) kay pacha, the outer earth realm where humanity dwells. Major deities include Viracocha (typically personified as a human male, the creator of humanity and everything else in the world), Inti (sun god, an important gods for the Inca people typically viewed as a boy from the Inca society and and often depicted as a golden disk with flamelike rays emanating from a face in the middle of the disk), Illapa (thunder god who controls the weather, rain, and lightning), Mamaquilla (Mother Moon. The Coya, or Incan queen, was considered to be the daughter of Mamaquilla and was leader of moon worship. Mamaquilla also had control of the calendar, which was based on lunar cycles. She was the wife of sun god Inti), and Pachamama (Earth Mother and protector of Inca crops and fields), Mama Cocha (Mother of Lakes who strengthens the world and provides sources of water). Also worshiped were the Stellar Deities which formed constellations and other cosmologic features representative of various animals and activities. One example is Urcuchillay, a constellation which is known to western astronomers as Lira, who was believed to be the protector of llamas and alpacas. Another example is stellar deity Qollqa (the Pleiades), mother of all of the other stellar deities. The agricultural year commenced when this constellation reappeared after being invisible for 37 days. Anything, including people, places, and objects that the Inca believed possessed a supernatural spirit were called Huacas. The size of a Huaca determined how much power it had. Mountains were considered among the most powerful of Huacas. In addition to the communally worshiped deities, Incan families often worshiped household gods represented miniature figurines called chancas or conopa. A major theme in Inca mythology is the duality of the cosmos. Asymmetrical dualism is the concept that reality is shaped by forces that are different but need each other to be complete. One of these forces is slightly larger or more powerful than the other, leading to disparity or imbalance that is the foundation of reality and the cause of events. The official religion of the Inca Empire was the cult of the Sun, but the Empire allowed locals to worship their traditional deities. Many families and clans beleived that their founding ancestor arose from an precise spot, a paqarisqa. Local gods were worshipped through pilgrimages, offerings, and other rites that allowed the Inca to maintain thier traditions and also provide mandated sacrifices and offerings to the Sun god. Like the Aztec Empire to the north, the Inca generally tolerated, and even incorporated the local deities and heroes of the peoples they conquered into their own beleif system. The Inca combined their deities with those of the conquered in a manner that gave prominence to the status of the gods of the conquerors.