Part 3 (2/2)
The natives of this land affirm that in the beginning, and before this world was created, there was a being called Viracocha. He created a dark world without sun, moon or stars. Owing to this creation he was named Viracocha Pachayachachi, which means ”Creator of all things[26].”
[Note 26: Uiracocha (Viracocha) was the Creator. Garcila.s.so de la Vega pointed out the mistake of supposing that the word signified ”foam of the sea” (ii. p. 16). He believed it to be a name, the derivation of which he did not attempt to explain. Blas Valera (i. p. 243) said the meaning was the ”will and power of G.o.d”; not that this is the signification of the word, but by reason of the G.o.dlike qualities attributed to Him who was known by it. Cieza de Leon says that Tici-Uiracocha was G.o.d, Creator of heaven and earth: Acosta that to Tici-Uiracocha they a.s.signed the chief power and command over all things; Montesinos that Illa-tici-Uiracocha was the name of the creator of the world; Molina that Tecsi-Uiracocha was the Creator and incomprehensible G.o.d; the anonymous Jesuit that Uiracocha meant the great G.o.d of ”Pirua”; Betanzos that the Creator was Con-Tici-Uiracocha.
According to Montesinos and the anonymous Jesuit _Uira_ or _Vira_ is a corruption of _Pirua_ meaning a depository. The first meaning of _Cocha_ is a lake, but here it is held to signify profundity, abyss, s.p.a.ce. The ”Dweller in s.p.a.ce.” _Ticci_ or _Tici_ is base or foundation, hence the founder. _Illa_ means light. The anonymous Jesuit gives the meaning ”Eternal Light” to _Illa-Ticci_. The word _Con_, given by Betanzos and Garcia, has no known meaning.
Pachacamac and Pachayachachi are attributes of the deity. _Pacha_ means time or place, also the universe. _Camac_ is the Ruler, _Yachachi_ the Teacher. ”The Ruler and Teacher of the Universe.”
The meaning and significance of the word _Uiracocha_ has been very fully discussed by Senor Don Leonardo Villar of Cuzco in a paper ent.i.tled _Lexicologia Keshua Uiracocha_ (Lima, 1887).]
And when he had created the world he formed a race of giants of disproportioned greatness painted and sculptured, to see whether it would be well to make real men of that size. He then created men in his likeness as they are now; and they lived in darkness.
Viracocha ordered these people that they should live without quarrelling, and that they should know and serve him. He gave them a certain precept which they were to observe on pain of being confounded if they should break it. They kept this precept for some time, but it is not mentioned what it was. But as there arose among them the vices of pride and covetousness, they transgressed the precept of Viracocha Pachayachachi and falling, through this sin, under his indignation, he confounded and cursed them. Then some were turned into stones, others into other things, some were swallowed up by the earth, others by the sea, and over all there came a general flood which they call _unu pachacuti_, which means ”water that overturns the land.” They say that it rained 60 days and nights, that it drowned all created things, and that there alone remained some vestiges of those who were turned into stones, as a memorial of the event, and as an example to posterity, in the edifices of Pucara, which are 60 leagues from Cuzco.
Some of the nations, besides the Cuzcos, also say that a few were saved from this flood to leave descendants for a future age. Each nation has its special fable which is told by its people, of how their first ancestors were saved from the waters of the deluge. That the ideas they had in their blindness may be understood, I will insert only one, told by the nation of the Canaris, a land of Quito and Tumibamba, 400 leagues from Cuzco and more.
They say that in the time of the deluge called _unu pachacuti_ there was a mountain named Guasano in the province of Quito and near a town called Tumipampa. The natives still point it out. Up this mountain went two of the Canaris named Ataorupagui and Cusicayo. As the waters increased the mountain kept rising and keeping above them in such a way that it was never covered by the waters of the flood. In this way the two Canaris escaped. These two, who were brothers, when the waters abated after the flood, began to sow. One day when they had been at work, on returning to their hut, they found in it some small loaves of bread, and a jar of chicha, which is the beverage used in this country in place of wine, made of boiled maize. They did not know who had brought it, but they gave thanks to the Creator, eating and drinking of that provision. Next day the same thing happened. As they marvelled at this mystery, they were anxious to find out who brought the meals. So one day they hid themselves, to spy out the bringers of their food. While they were watching they saw two Canari women preparing the victuals and putting them in the accustomed place. When about to depart the men tried to seize them, but they evaded their would-be captors and escaped. The Canaris, seeing the mistake they had made in molesting those who had done them so much good, became sad and prayed to Viracocha for pardon for their sins, entreating him to let the women come back and give them the accustomed meals. The Creator granted their pet.i.tion. The women came back and said to the Canaris--”The Creator has thought it well that we should return to you, lest you should die of hunger.” They brought them food. Then there was friends.h.i.+p between the women and the Canari brothers, and one of the Canari brothers had connexion with one of the women. Then, as the elder brother was drowned in a lake which was near, the survivor married one of the women, and had the other as a concubine.
By them he had ten sons who formed two lineages of five each, and increasing in numbers they called one Hanansaya which is the same as to say the upper party, and the other Hurinsaya, or the lower party. From these all the Canaris that now exist are descended[27].
[Note 27: The same story of the origin of the Canaris is told by Molina, p. 8. But the mountain is called Huaca-yuan; and instead of women the beings who brought the food were macaws. Molina tells another story received from the people of Ancas-mayu. Both seem to have been obtained by asking leading questions about a deluge.]
In the same way the other nations have fables of how some of their people were saved from whom they trace their origin and descent. But the Incas and most of those of Cuzco, those among them who are believed to know most, do not say that anyone escaped from the flood, but that Viracocha began to create men afresh, as will be related further on. One thing is believed among all the nations of these parts, for they all speak generally and as well known of the general flood which they call _unu pachacuti_. From this we may clearly understand that if, in these parts they have a tradition of the great flood, this great ma.s.s of the floating islands which they afterwards called the Atlanticas, and now the Indies of Castille or America must have begun to receive a population immediately after the flood, although, by their account, the details are different from those which the true Scriptures teach us.
This must have been done by divine Providence, through the first people coming over the land of the Atlantic Island, which was joined to this, as has been already said. For as the natives, though barbarous, give reasons for their very ancient settlement, by recording the flood, there is no necessity for setting aside the Scriptures by quoting authorities to establish this origin. We now come to those who relate the events of the second age after the flood, which is the subject of the next chapter.
VII.
FABLE OF THE SECOND AGE, AND CREATION OF THE BARBAROUS INDIANS ACCORDING TO THEIR ACCOUNT.
It is related that everything was destroyed in the flood called _unu pachacuti_[28]. It must now be known that Viracocha Pachayachachi, when he destroyed that land as has been already recounted, preserved three men, one of them named Taguapaca, that they might serve and help him in the creation of new people who had to be made in the second age after the deluge, which was done in this manner. The flood being pa.s.sed and the land dry, Viracocha determined to people it a second time, and, to make it more perfect, he decided upon creating luminaries to give it light. With this object he went, with his servants, to a great lake in the Collao, in which there is an island called t.i.ticaca, the meaning being ”the rock of lead,” of which we shall treat in the first part.
Viracocha went to this island, and presently ordered that the sun, moon, and stars should come forth, and be set in the heavens to give light to the world, and it was so. They say that the moon was created brighter than the sun, which made the sun jealous at the time when they rose into the sky. So the sun threw over the moon's face a handful of ashes, which gave it the shaded colour it now presents. This frontier lake of Chucuito, in the territory of the Collao, is 57 leagues to the south of Cuzco. Viracocha gave various orders to his servants, but Taguapaca disobeyed the commands of Viracocha. So Viracocha was enraged against Taguapaca, and ordered the other two servants to take him, tie him hands and feet, and launch him in a _balsa_ on the lake. This was done.
Taguapaca was blaspheming against Viracocha for the way he was treated, and threatening that he would return and take vengeance, when he was carried by the water down the drain of the same lake, and was not seen again for a long time. This done, Viracocha made a sacred idol in that place, as a place for wors.h.i.+p and as a sign of what he had there created[29].
[Note 28: _Unu pachacuti_ would mean the world (_pacha_) overturned (_cuti_) by water (_unu_). Probably a word coined by the priests, after putting leading questions about a universal deluge.]
[Note 29: This servant of Uiracocha is also mentioned by Cieza de Leon and Yamqui Pachacuti. Cieza appears to consider that Tuapaca was merely the name of Uiracocha in the Collao. Yamqui Pachacuti gives the names Tarapaca and Tonapa and connects them with Uiracocha. But he also uses the word Pachacca, a servant. These names are clearly the same as the Tahuapaca of Sarmiento. _Tahua_ means four, but Sarmiento gives three as the number of these servants of Uiracocha. The meaning of _paca_ is anything secret or mysterious, from _pacani_ to hide. The names represent an ancient myth of some kind, but it is not possible, at this distance of time, to ascertain more than the names. Tonapa looks like a slip of the pen, and is probably Tarapa for Tarapaca. Don Samuel A. Lapone Quevedo published a mythological essay ent.i.tled _El Culto de Tonapa_ with reference to the notice in the work of Yamqui Pachacuti; but he is given to speculations about phallic and solar wors.h.i.+p, and to the arbitrary alteration of letters to fit into his theories.]
Leaving the island, he pa.s.sed by the lake to the main land, taking with him the two servants who survived. He went to a place now called Tiahuanacu in the province of Colla-suyu, and in this place he sculptured and designed on a great piece of stone, all the nations that he intended to create. This done, he ordered his two servants to charge their memories with the names of all tribes that he had depicted, and of the valleys and provinces where they were to come forth, which were those of the whole land. He ordered that each one should go by a different road, naming the tribes, and ordering them all to go forth and people the country. His servants, obeying the command of Viracocha, set out on their journey and work. One went by the mountain range or chain which they call the heights over the plains on the South Sea. The other went by the heights which overlook the wonderful mountain ranges which we call the Andes, situated to the east of the said sea. By these roads they went, saying with a loud voice ”Oh you tribes and nations, hear and obey the order of Ticci Viracocha Pachayachachi, which commands you to go forth, and multiply and settle the land.” Viracocha himself did the same along the road between those taken by his two servants, naming all the tribes and places by which he pa.s.sed. At the sound of his voice every place obeyed, and people came forth, some from lakes, others from fountains, valleys, caves, trees, rocks and hills, spreading over the land and multiplying to form the nations which are to-day in Peru.
Others affirm that this creation of Viracocha was made from the t.i.ticaca site where, having originally formed some shapes of large strong men[30]
which seemed to him out of proportion, he made them again of his stature which was, as they say, the average height of men, and being made he gave them life. Thence they set out to people the land. As they spoke one language previous to starting, they built those edifices, the ruins of which may still be seen, before they set out. This was for the residence of Viracocha, their maker. After departing they varied their languages, noting the cries of wild beasts, insomuch that, coming across each other afterwards, those could not understand who had before been relations and neighbours.
[Note 30: Jayaneo. This was the name given to giants in the books of chivalry. See _Don Quijote_, i. cap. 5, p. 43.]
Whether it was in one way or the other, all agree that Viracocha was the creator of these people. They have the tradition that he was a man of medium height, white and dressed in a white robe like an alb secured round the waist, and that he carried a staff and a book in his hands.
<script>