Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [229]
Inti The sun god from whom the Incas trace their descent, Inti is the divine ancestor who sends his children to earth with the arts of civilization. In an Inca foundation myth, Inti’s children found Cuzco and conquer the people of the Andes. Portrayed as a solar disk with a human face, Inti was the central deity worshipped at the great sun temple at Cuzco, whose walls were lined with gold, which the Incas believed was the sweat of the sun. As Incan myth evolved, Inti was said to have three sons—the gods Viracocha, Pachacamac, and Manco Capac.
Inti’s wife and sister is Mama Kilya, the moon goddess of fertility and a protector of women. Incan rulers married within their families, as the pharaohs of Egypt did, perhaps to consolidate power.
Manco Capac Also known as Ayar Manco, Manco Capac is the legendary founder of the Incan royal house, who marries one of his sisters, Mama Ocllo. All later rulers of the Inca claim to be descended from Manco Capac.
Pachacamac An ancient sun god known as “earth maker,” Pachacamac is a brooding character who appears in an early Peruvian Creation myth that is believed to have originated in the coastal areas rather than in the Andes Mountains. After creating the first man and woman, Pachacamac neglects them, and the man starves to death. When the woman complains about the loss of her companion, Pachacamac impregnates her with the rays of the sun and she gives birth to a baby boy. But after four days, Pachacamac grows jealous of the infant, tears him into pieces, and then turns the dismembered body parts into food. The teeth become corn, the ribs and bones become plants, and the boy’s flesh becomes fruits and vegetables. In a final act of desecration, Pachacamac uses the boy’s penis and navel to create another son, but he kills his first child’s mother. Finally, Pachacamac creates a new human couple, who repopulate the land. His wife, Mama Pacha, was a dragoness who caused earthquakes and ruled over planting and harvesting the crops.
Viracocha The “foam of the lake” (or the “lake of creation”), Viracocha is a pre-Inca Peruvian deity whom the Incas adopted as their own when they conquered the region. Although there are several versions of his story from Spanish colonial sources, Viracocha is always presented as the creator who lives in Lake Titicaca and oversees sun, water, storms, and light. He is also depicted as a sad old man weeping tears of rain over his disappointing first creation—men. When Viracocha destroys his creation by—what else?—a flood, they turn into a race of giant stones. Today the remnants of these stones are believed to stand near Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest lake, which is located on the border between Peru and Bolivia. Some of the many islands in the lake have ruins of civilizations that existed before the Spanish conquest.
In a second creation, Viracocha makes the divine ancestors of the Incan rulers. While those rulers emerge from one cave, ordinary mortals come out of another.
Viracocha’s wife (and sister) is Mama Cocha, the goddess of wind and rain.
As Incan myth and religion evolved, Viracocha is presented as the son of Inti. Because the sun temple in Cuzco contains images of Viracocha and all the other Incan gods, it is believed that these gods are all manifestations of Inti.
THE MYTHS OF NATIVE NORTH AMERICA
Canada, Mexico, Massachusetts, Utah. It is difficult to go anywhere in continental North America without seeing these place names and realizing that this place is Indian country. As Alvin M. Josephy Jr. writes in 500 Nations, “What is little understood even today…is that almost every community in Canada, the United States and Mexico was once an Indian community and those communities before the arrival of the whites were part of unique Indian nations that blanketed the entire continent.” As many as six hundred