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vaulted tombs, chambers of cubic structure, special constructions such as temples, collcas and other variations, and it was combined with natural or cultural mummification of the bodies, of which we have evidence in both Peru and Chile dating from at least 4,000 BC. All the bodies were buried wrapped in cloth: the poorest in a rough cotton material, accompanied by simple clay vessels. The bodies of higher-caste members of the community were laid in foetal position inside a basket and were wrapped in numerous layers of fine materials. This funeral bundle was often decorated with a layer of coloured feathers, a leather cloth and a funeral mask, and was accompanied by offerings of feathers, shells, pottery, animal skins and other status symbols. In Tawantinsuyo, sovereigns, nobles and patriarchs of the ayllu, after being mummified, assumed the role of huaca, a sacred idol, and were periodically borne in procession to Cusco during religious festivals, fully dressed and wearing their masks, as if they were living beings. The communication between the dead and the living was permanent. In fact, the entire Inca period was shared by both forces.
RELIGION AND THE IMPERIAL PROCESS IN THE ANDES
The cultural experience of the Andean peoples reached its culmination, at least in terms of political organization, in the 15th and 16th Centuries, when the Incas built an empire. It would be erroneous to conclude that State religion was simply a consequence of this imperial process; in fact, it was already well established beforehand in Huari and Chimu. However, it is obvious that the information available to us refers to a fully formalized religion in the Inca period, especially in view of the fact that the information compiled by Spanish chroniclers conditions our thinking somewhat in this respect. From their reports we discover that the Andean gods were not considered to be abstract beings whose origin dated from the time of Creation, being associated with a distinct metaphysical realm, but that they shared certain aspects of the cyclical development of human beings: they were born at a specific time, needed to sustain themselves and could even die; their behaviour was cyclical, as was that of the heavenly bodies, the natural world and human beings. Using this ideology, which brought the gods closer to Man, the rulers progressively combined human characteristics throughout history with others more typical of supernatural beings, distinguishing their essence from that shared by the human community. This strategy culminated in the association of the Inca with the Sun God, Inti.
This State religion and these State cults coexisted, however, alongside the animistic element of Andean religion, with which shamanistic rituals were associated, as well as with ancestor worship. Thus, we find the presence of huacas, a Quechua word for “sacred”, in many different contexts, unconnected sometimes to temples and sacred sites, but marking some kind of supernatural presence: water, a mountain, a milestone on a path, the spirits of the forest ..., although also associated with objects, tombs, temples, etc. The Andean concept of divinity was flexible and lacked the idea of a pantheon in the Greco-Roman style. On the contrary, we could state that they constructed a divine whole, a god of the heavens featuring multiple facets who was manifested in an infinite series of aspects, one capable of being perceived as a whole or of expanding into varied permutations, depending on the ritual contexts in which he emerged. Andean divinities depended on the physical medium in which they appeared: the sea, fish, marine mammals and the spirits of the springs that irrigated their lands along the coast; the mountains, the sky, thunder, earthquakes, caves and the lakes of the mountains. And, above all, the Sun, the Moon, Venus, the Pleiades and Orion. All of these forces were organized according to a ritual astronomic and astrological calendar. A considerable part of this ideology made reference to the Inca ruling universe, which represented the culmination of a long cultural process manifested through the development of the most important ideological precepts shared by Andean society for thousands of years. This is how we must understand the legend of the origins of the Inca people in Pacariqtambo with the hero-fathers: as has occurred with an infinite number of groups, these legends refer to a place of origin that marks the beginning and the end of existence, a fixed point where geographical space and human time were brought together. Their function was to sanction the historical role played by the Inca people and justify their preeminent status in the Andes. The same function could be attributed to the myths relating to the creation
of the world, very often established in the same place in which Mankind and the Inca people were created; an example of this is the myth of creation at Lake Titicaca, connected as it was to the myth of Viracocha.
Viracocha was the Creator God and the lord of all living beings, of the world and of men. As such, this god originated from an ancient deity known as Tunupa, who can be traced back to Lake Titicaca in Tiwanako times. This god possessed power over thunder and lightning and earthquakes. The Inca leaders manipulated this cult until these powers were assumed first by Viracocha, and then by Inti, the Sun God. Inti played an essential role in the State religion, as did Coricancha, his official temple in the capital of the empire, Cusco, the centre of a long-distance network of sun temples located throughout the regional capitals. Alongside each sun temple there was a vast infrastructure of sacred buildings, storerooms and other dwellings occupied by religious specialists, servants, craftsmen and chosen women. The most important centres afforded shelter to tens of thousands of individuals and served to impose the sun cult over local forms of devotion. The model for all these regional centres was Coricancha, that had originally been built by Manco Capac, the mythical founder of the Inca dynasty, and was turned into the “House of the Sun” by the Ninth Inca, Yupanqui. The rulers manipulated the idea of this divinity and emerged through the legend of his origin as the children of the sun, thus acquiring a different character with regard to the rest of the community. However, in pre-Inca times the Sun did not appear as the most important divinity, and neither did it play a leading role during the initial stages of Inca history. It must have been in the times of the ninth ruler that its importance culminated in its being chosen as the State-sponsored cult, and through the development of the empire it was imposed on all corners of Tawantinsuyo.
Inca cosmology was linked to topographical aspects that defined their sacred geography. The higher spirits operated on three vertical planes that were harmoniously linked to the four directions of the horizontal plane, on which the balance of the universe was based. The heavenly world was the highest plane, Hanan Pacha; the earthly world was known as Kai Pacha, Pachamama, the land inhabited by men; the inner world, inhabited by the dead, was known as Ujka Pacha. Spirits or deities known as huacas operated on these planes, organized within a hierarchy depending on the plane they inhabited. Legendary ancestors of each people also served as protecting forces, in the same way as caves, springs... Cusco was regarded as being the “navel of the world” and the entire Inca world was defined by concepts of quadripartite organization and duality, in which the political capital exercised the role of axis mundi, located at the centre and guaranteeing order within time and space. These realms were split into two halves, Hanan and Hurin, whose significance, although antagonistic, was nevertheless complementary, thus ensuring a harmonious functioning relationship.
This sacred realm was sanctioned by a series of imaginary lines known as ceques, along which the huacas were located, and these constituted the basis of popular religious feeling, spatially and ritually defining rural communities and cities. The huacas served as essential points of reference for ethnic worship and the ayllus. Cieza mentions the existence of 42 ceques, along which some 328 huacas were distributed around Cusco. Other important ceques revolved around Vilcanota, Anta, Huanuco Pampa and Inkawasi. A complex calendar-based and ritual universe was organized by the huacacamayocs (huaca specialists) and the vilcacamayocs (specialists in sacred objects) around these ceques and their sacred places, which included caves, rocks, springs, fountains, canals, mountains, buildings—some of which were attached to certain social groups or kinships (panacas and ayllus)—, mummified ancestors and sacred objects. Some huacas were of little importance, but others needed to be attended by thousands of individuals and encompassed architectural structures, flocks of the genus Camelidae and considerable quantities of agricultural resources. The offerings presented to them also varied, ranging from human sacrifices to coca leaves. Both huacas and ceques were cared for by kinship groups, whilst the system of ceques quite faithfully reflected the hierarchical Inca social system. Some sacred places in the ceques served as spatial boundaries, others indicated mythological sites and sites of historical importance and, still others, calendar dates.
The political dimension of Inca religion was made extremely clear when renowned huacas throughout the empire (Guanacaure, Vilcanota, Ancocagua, Coropona, Apurimac,
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