Chancas

“ By him he sent to ask his father to enjoy that triumph and tread on those spoils of the enemy, a custom they have as a sign of victory. When Quillis-cachi Urco Huaranca arrived before Viracocha Inca, he placed those spoils of the Chancas at his feet with great reverence, saying, "Inca Viracocha! thy son Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, to whom the Sun has given such a great victory, vanquishing the powerful Chancas, sends me to salute you, and says that, as a good and humble son he wishes you to triumph over your victory and to tread upon these spoils of your enemies, conquered by your hands." ”

“ Upanqui the Inca has heard rumours that the Chancas prepare for war. Therefore, he who travels on his last journey through certain of his dominions comes to lead you away, to be Urco’s bride, saying to himself, “If those rumours are true, King Huaracha will withhold his only child and heiress, since never will he make war upon Cuzco if she rules there as its queen.” Therefore, if I refuse you to him, he will withdraw and begin the war, rolling down his thousands upon us before we are ready, and bringing the Chancas to destruction and enslavement. ”

“ Attacking on two sides, Inca Rocca, Apu Mayta, and Vicaquirau made great havock among the Chancas. Seeing that their only safety was in flight, they turned their backs, and their quickness in running exceeded their fierceness in advancing. The men of Cuzco continued the pursuit, killing and wounding, for more than two leagues, when they desisted. The Chancas returned to Ichu-pampa, and the orejones to Cuzco, having won a great victory and taken a vast amount of plunder which remained in their hands. ”

“ It became known to a wife of Ccapac Yupanqui, who was a sister of Anco Ayllo, the captain of the Chancas. This woman told her brother, who always longed for his liberty, and now was urgently minded to save his life. He secretly addressed his Chanca soldiers, putting before them the cruel order of the Inca, and the acquisition of their liberty if they would follow him. They all agreed to his proposal. When they came to Huarac-tambo, in the neighbourhood of the city of Huanuco, all the Chancas fled with their captain Anco Ayllo, and besides the Chancas other tribes followed this chief. ”

“ Then the Chancas came bounding down the gorge and found us.
They looked at the dead giant and saw how he had died, killed by strength, not by the sword; they looked and bent the knee and praised me, saying that I was indeed a god, since no man could have done this deed, killing the huge Urco with his naked hands. Then they placed Quilla back in her litter and six of them bore her down that black gorge. The two who remained, for in that fight none of them had been hurt, supported me till my strength came back, for the cut in the face that I had received from Urco’s dagger was but slight. ”

“ The Chancas inhabited the country between Cuzco and Guamanga. They were utterly defeated and conquered by Uira-ccocha, the father of Pachacutec, but not before their formidable insurrection had shaken the Ynca power to its foundations. ”

“ The powerful nation of Chancas, with their chief, Huancavilca, inhabited the great valley of Andahuaylas and were formidable rivals of the Incas. But they were subdued by Pachacuti long before Ollantay can have been born. ”

“ They say that a woman named Chañan-ccuri-coca here fought like a man, and so valiantly opposed the Chancas that they were obliged to retire. This was the cause that all the Chancas who saw it were dismayed. The Inca Yupanqui meanwhile was so quick and dexterous with his weapon, that those who carried the statue of Uscovilca became alarmed, and their fear was increased when they saw great numbers of men coming down from the hills. They say that these were sent by Viracocha, the creator, as succour for the Inca. ”

“ The gods thrust us into high matters. The Yuncas of whose chief this lady is a guest are a great people whom my people have conquered in war, but who wait the opportunity to rebel, if they have not already done so. The Chancas, of those king she is the daughter, are a still greater people who for years have threatened war upon my people. ”

“ Ccapac Yupanqui set out from Cuzco with these orders, and desolated all the provinces which did not submit. On arriving at a fortress called Urco-collac, near Parcos, in the country of Huamanca, he met with valorous resistance from the inhabitants. Finally he conquered them. In the battle the Chancas distinguished themselves so that they gained more honour than the Cuzcos orejones and the other nations. ”

“ After a pause, during which the priests of the Chancas and of the Yuncas behind us sacrificed sheep to the moon and the many other gods they worshipped, and those of the Quichuas, as I could see from my rock, made prayers and offerings to the rising sun, with a mighty shouting the Inca hosts began to advance across the plain towards us. ”

“ Perchance I am doomed to fall in that battle. Does not the rune upon Wave-Flame, the sword of Thorgrimmer my ancestor, say of him that holds it that,
“Conquering, conquered shall he be, And far away shall sleep with me”?
Well, if the Chancas conquer, what care I if I am conquered? ‘Twould be a good death and a clean, to fall by Kari’s spear, if I knew that Kari and his host fell also, as I swear that fall they shall, St. Hubert helping me. Then at least Quilla and her children would live on in peace and greatness since they can have no other foe to fear.
Death, what is death? ”

“ Yahuar means blood. Huaccani to weep. Yahuar-huaccac succeeded to Inca Rocca according to Garcilasso de la Vega, Montesinos, Betanzos, Balboa, Yamqui Pachacuti and Sarmiento. Cieza de Leon and Herrera have Inca Yupanqui. Garcilasso makes this Inca banish his son Viracocha, who returns in consequence of a dream, and defeats the Chancas. This all seems to be a mistake. It was Viracocha who fled, and his son Inca Yupanqui, surnamed Pachacuti, who defeated the Chancas and dethroned his father. ”

“ Thus in the first campaign undertaken by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, after the defeat of the Chancas, he subdued the country as far as the Soras, 40 leagues to the west of Cuzco. The other nations, and some in Cunti-suyu, from fear at seeing the cruelties committed on the conquered, came in to submit, to avoid destruction. ”

“ Now, thinking these things over, I wondered much whether that oracle came out of the golden Rimac or perchance from the heart of Quilla, or of Kari, or of both of them, who desired that I should leave the Yuncas and travel to the Chancas and further. I did not know, nor was I ever to learn, since about matters to do with their gods these people are as secret as the grave. I asked Kari and I asked Quilla, but both of them stared at me with innocent eyes, and replied who were they to inspire the golden tongue of Rimac? ”

“ If yonder false woman is given up to suffer the fate of those who have betrayed the Sun, then there shall be peace between the peoples, but not otherwise, since while I live I will wage war upon her and you, and upon the Chancas who shelter both of you.”
Now rage took hold of me, who remembered that while this woman-hater lived blood must flow in streams, but that if he died there would be peace and Quilla would be safe. So I lifted my sword a little, and as I did so Quilla rose from her stone and stumbled forward, crying:
“O Lord, shed not the Inca’s holy blood for me. Let me be given up! ”

“ In the rich valleys and on the grassy mountain sides of the Central Peruvian Andes, to the westward of the Quichuas, dwelt three nations which were called by their future conquerors—the Chancas, Pocras, and Huancas. [67] They inhabited the districts now known as Abancay, Andahuaylas, Guamanga, and Xauxa. Little or nothing is known of their history anterior to their absorption into the empire of the Yncas, and if they had a distinct language, it must have been either very barbarous or very closely allied to Quichua, for no vestige of it has survived. ”

“ For the men{143} in that country make an exceeding great noise when they fight. They fought with each other for a long time and the night coming on, the Chancas remained in their tents, and those of the city were all round, watching in every direction, that the enemy might not enter. For neither Cuzco, nor the other towns in those parts, are surrounded by walls.
When the surprise was over, Hastu Huaraca encouraged his followers to be valorous in the fight, and the Inca Yupanqui did the same with the Orejones and the people who were in the city. ”

“ Heretofore I have supported Urco because there was no other who could become Inca, although he is a brutal and an evil man. Of late, however, since my return from the City of the Chancas, I have quarrelled with Urco because he has lost that witch, the lady Quilla, whom he desires madly and lays the blame on me, and it has come to my knowledge that when he succeeds to the throne it is his purpose to kill me, which doubtless he will do if he can, or at the least to cast me from my place and power, which is as bad as death. ”

“ Agricultural people and shepherds, forming ayllus, or tribes of the Chancas and Huancas, occupied the ravines of the maritime cordillera, and extended their settlements into several valleys of the seacoast, between the Rimac and Nasca. These coast people of Inca race, known as Chinchas, held their own against an entirely different nation, of distinct origin and language, who occupied the northern coast valleys from the Rimac to Payta, and also the great valley of Huarca (the modern Cañete) , where they had Chincha enemies both to the north and south of them. ”

“ It was a moment when the rising empire needed the services of her ablest sons. She was about to engage in a death-struggle with a neighbor [230] as powerful and as civilized as herself. The kingdom of the Chancas, commencing on the banks of the Apurimac, extended far to the east and north, including many of the richest valleys of the Andes. Their warlike king, Uscavilca, had already subdued the Quichuas, who dwelt in the upper valleys of the Apurimac tributaries to the southward, and was advancing on Cuzco, when Yupanqui pushed aside the imbecile Urco, and seized the helm. ”

“ The tribes and companies of Uscovilca had multiplied prodigiously in the time of Viracocha. It seemed to them that they were so powerful that no one could equal them, so they resolved to march from Andahuaylas and conquer Cuzco. With this object they elected two Sinchis, one named Asto-huaraca, and the other Tomay-huaraca, one of the tribe of Hanan-chanca, the other of Hurin-chanca. These were to lead them in their enterprise. The Chancas and their Sinchis were proud and insolent. ”

“ Having performed the fast and the other ceremonies, he came forth with the fringe, and there were great festivals at Cuzco, people flocking thither from all parts. The new Inca ordered all those who had fallen in the battle on his side to be buried with the customary funeral rites. For the Chancas he caused a large house to be erected on the battle field, like a tomb, where all the bodies of the dead were put as a memorial, and the skins were filled with cinders or straw, so that the human form was made to appear in many attitudes. ”

“ So unexpected was this onslaught that the very stones on the mountain sides were believed to have been turned into men. It was the armed array of the insurgent Quichuas who had come by forced marches to the help of their old masters. The memory of this great struggle was fresh in men’s minds when the Spaniards arrived, and as the new conquerors passed over the battlefield, on their way to Cuzco, they saw the stuffed skins of the vanquished Chancas set up as memorials by the roadside. ”

“ A great many men have been killed on both sides, thousands and thousands of them, and neither army has the victory. They have drawn back and sit growling at each other like two angry lions which are afraid to fight again. Indeed, I do not want them to fight, and now that Urco cannot interfere, I shall put a stop to all this bloodshed if I am able. Tell me, for you were with him, why does this Huaracha, who I hear is also wounded, want to make war on me with those troublesome Chancas of his?”
“Because your son, the prince Urco, has poisoned, or tried to poison, his only child, Quilla.” ”

“ Among the other special captains in this army was one named Anco Ayllo of the Chanca nation, who had remained a prisoner in Cuzco from the time that the Inca conquered the Chanca's at Cuzco and at Ichu-pampa. He had ever since been sad and brooding, thinking of a way of escape. But he dissimulated so well that the Inca treated him as a brother and trusted him. Hence the Inca nominated him as commander of all the Chancas in the army. For to each nation the Inca gave a captain from among their own people, because he would understand how to rule them and they would obey him better. ”

“ But the Inca Yupanqui, son of Viracocha Inca, increased its riches to the extent in which it was found when the Christians arrived in Peru. Most of the treasure was brought to Caxamarca for the ransom of Atahualpa, as we shall relate in its place. The Orejones say that after the doubtful war between the inhabitants of Cuzco and the Chancas, who are now chiefs of the province of Andahuaylas, the Inca Yupanqui found himself very rich and powerful, and people came to serve him from all parts, bringing presents; and the provinces contributed great service in gold and silver. ”

“ Many men and women, and some lords and principal men, came forth from the neighbouring places, and when they saw the army they were amazed and cried out, “Great Lord, Child of the Sun”, “Monarch of all things”, and many other grand names. At this place, they say that a captain of the Chancas, named Tupac Uasco, was given a Palla of Cuzco as his wife, and he highly prized her.
Advancing by the Apurimac and Cocha-cassa, the Inca found that the inhabitants of those parts were in strong pucaras, and that they did not live together in villages. ”