Manco Capac

“ Manco Capac and Mama Ogllo, the creator and the cosmic egg, have become the Sun and Moon, represented by their Inca high-priest and his wife. There is no practice towards which a more wide-spread tendency exists in America than that of conferring the name of a deity on his chief priest. And if Garcilasso fixes the appearance of Manco Capac at about 1000 A.D., it is simply because the historical recollections of his family mounted no higher, and that about that time it began to rise out of its obscurity. ”

“ Should any have Manco Capac’s blood, I doubt if they know it. Some of them are very Shanghai in appearance, while others are taller. They generally walk together, with the old women behind. The men keep to themselves, and are remarkable for their family likeness. All seem serious, well behaved, and are always deeply interested in whatever they may be employed, let the occupation be ever so trifling. They never seem, to be in a hurry. ”

“ Go back, Manco-Capac, son of the race that is doomed, go back and tell them yonder that the Divine Ones are wrath with their children, and that in their anger they have unchained the demon powers which dwell beneath the mountains. Tell it in street and square, in palace and temple, that all may be ready, from the Inca on his couch of gold to the slave shivering in his hovel. Nay, have no fear for me, Prince, the Llapa9 will not strike me, for I have work to do to-morrow. I must stay here and watch and listen and learn the things thou canst not understand. ”

“ Squier's work and reading the tradition concerning the rock.
THE SACRED ROCK OF MANCO CAPAC.
It was here that Manco Capac is said to have descended to earth, and down to this day the natives approach the place with great reverence. It was formerly believed that no bird would alight upon it, and no animal would dare to set his foot there. The presence of mortal man was forbidden. It was here that the sun rose to dispel the mists around the mountains and over the land, and for many years none but the priests could even come within sight of the rock. ”

“ He must have been a man of great power, from the influence he exerted over the natives, who styled him the ‘blooming stranger.’ His hair was of a golden colour, and this gave rise to the story that he was a child of the sun, who had been sent to rule over the Indians and found an empire. Another tradition says that Manco Capac was accompanied by a wife named Mama Oello Huaco, who taught the Indian women the mysteries of spinning and weaving, while her husband taught the arts of civilisation to the men. ”

“ A very perceptible pause followed this appeal, and then Huanacocha rose to his feet.
“Before replying to your question, my Lord Tiahuana,” said he, “I should like the young man to tell us what he can remember of his former existence. The history of Manco Capac, our first Inca and the founder of our nation, is well known to all of us, and if your claim be indeed justified there must be many incidents in his career, well known to us but quite unknown to the outer world, which the claimant can recall. ”

“ Under the instruction of Manco Capac the men became skilled in agriculture; Mama Ocollo taught the women domestic arts, and the migratory clans of the western slope of the cordillera thus became cemented under the beneficent rule of the heavenly teachers. Originally the dominion of Manco Capac extended no more than eight leagues from Cuzco, but in the twelve succeeding reigns, which formed the epoch prior to the advent of the Spaniards, the empire 17 of the incas, or lords of Peru, was greatly extended. ”

“ Djama. Not a word was spoken save his startled, angry exclamation, which was soon stifled, and then they brought him along after me, I going first and Tupac following close behind me. Like a string of shadows we moved across the plain past the great carved rock which is still called the Inca's Seat, and over the ridge of the Sliding Stones and down into the valley beyond, which is thickly strewn with great rock-masses carved into seats, and altars, and baths, and chambers, of which no man knows the origin, and which were ancient when Manco-Capac and Mama-Occlu first came into the land. ”

“ Then Manco-Capac, endowed with supernatural powers, appeared among them—he built a temple to the sun, and consecrated virgins to his service, instituting at the same time the vow of chastity, because vice reigned so triumphantly throughout the kingdom, and reason was so much in its infancy, that without such a precaution, the temple on the solemn days of festival had become a theatre of debauchery. ”

“ The negro shut his eyes, expanded his mouth to its utmost in a silent laugh, and nodded his head acquiescently.
“Well, then, you must know,” said Pedro, “that in days of old—about the time that William the Conqueror invaded England—a certain Manco Capac founded the dynasty of the Incas. According to an old legend this Manco was the son of a white man who was shipwrecked on the coast of Peru. He married the daughter of an Indian chief, and taught the people agriculture, architecture, and other arts. ”

“ The Sambo shall not complain of their boldness on the day appointed. Let the Indian leave the city, he shall not go far without seeing throng around him zambos burning for vengeance! In the gorges of San Cristoval and the Amancaës, more than one is couched on his poncho, with his poignard at his girdle, waiting until a long carbine shall be confided to his skillful hand. They also have not forgotten that they have to revenge on the vain Spaniards the defeat of Manco-Capac. ”

“ Roca Inca and the daughter Ocllo. The names of the others are not recorded, nor is more said than that the eldest was married to his sister, and that he taught them how to make themselves beloved by the people and not hated, with other important matters. In those days the descendants of Zapana had made themselves powerful in Hatuncollao, and sought to occupy all that region by tyranny. But Manco Capac, as the founder of Cuzco, had married his sons, and brought into his service, by love and good words, some people who enlarged the house of Curicancha. ”

“ Once more we meet the story of the four brothers, the first of men. They appeared on the earth after it had been rescued from the primeval waters, and the face of the land was divided between them. Manco Capac took the North, Colla the South, Pinahua the West, and the East, the region whence come the sun and the light, was given to Tokay or Tocapa, to Viracocha, under his name of the Finisher, he who completes and perfects. ”

“ The return of the adventurers to Huancane with the news that the secret hiding-place of the treasure had been discovered caused the utmost rejoicing among the inhabitants, for somehow the idea that the elder of the two strangers was the reincarnated Manco Capac had got abroad, and what is more, had found general acceptance; and now every native in the place, and for miles round, was in a perfect fever of impatience that operations for the recovery of the country from the Spaniards should be pressed forward with all possible speed. ”

“ Meanwhile, one day, saddened by his gloomy preoccupations, the Spaniard said to him:
"Why, my friend, do you lower the nobility of your nature by a sentiment so much beneath you? Was not that bold Manco-Capac, whom his patriotism placed in the rank of heroes, your ancestor? There is a noble part left for a valiant man, who will not suffer himself to be overcome by an unworthy passion. Have you no heart to regain your independence?"
"We are laboring for this, señor," said the Indian ”

“ With the removal to Cuzco, Tampu-Tocco became no more than a monumental shrine where priests and vestals preserved the rites of the old religion and watched over the caves made sacred by the bones of former monarchs. The native writer Salcamayhua, who, like Garcilasso, makes Manco Capac the [Pg 218] founder of the Incas (Montesinos regards Manco Capac I as the first native-born king of the Pirua dynasty) , tells how "at the place of his birth he ordered works to be executed, consisting of a masonry wall with three windows, which were emblems of the house of his fathers, whence he descended" ”

“ Skirting the prodigious Hatun Rumioc, or wall-which-is-of-one-rock, they passed Calcaurpata, which tradition makes the palace of Manco Capac himself, first King of the Incas and founder of Cuzco; then they turned toward the Plaza Principale, called Huàcaypata by the Quichuas of to-day as by the Incas of yore. To reach it, Orellana took Dick through the ruined palace of the Virgins of the Sun, detailing, as he went, the uses and names of the various rooms. The young man’s impatient interruptions left him quite unmoved.
“We have plenty of time. ”

“ After the lapse of ages, time marking no improvement, there appeared one day on the bank of Lake Titicaca two personages, male and female, Manco Capac and Mama Ocollo, of majestic mien and clad in glistening whiteness. They declared themselves children of the sun, sent by the parent of light to enlighten the human race. From Lake Titicaca they went northward a few leagues and founded the city of Cuzco, whither the chiefs throughout that region assembled and acknowledged the sovereignty of the celestial visitants. ”

“ Balboa says that four brothers and four sisters came out of Pacarec Tampu or Tampu Toco, named Manco Capac, Ayar Cacha, Ayar Auca, and Ayar Uchi; the women being Mama Guaca, Mama Cora, Mama Ocllo, Mama Arahua. Montesinos gives the names as—Ayar Manco Tupac, Ayar Uchu Tupac, Aya Sauca Tupac, and Ayar Cachi Tupac, and the women Mama Cora, Hipa Huacum, Mama Huacum, Pilco Huacum. Garcilasso de la Vega also says that there were four brothers and four sisters, namely, Manco Capac, Ayar Cachi, Ayar Uchu, Ayar Sauca, but he only gives the name of one of the women, Mama Ocllo, wife of Manco Capac. ”

“ There remains but one other person whose fate excites a passing interest, unless it be Bishop Valverde, who was killed, while on a journey, by the Peruvians, some years before; this is the last Inca, Manco Capac. When De Rada and his band started out to assassinate Pizarro, one of the soldiers, named Gomez Perez, made a detour as they crossed the square, to keep from getting his feet wet in a puddle of muddy water which had overflowed from one of the conduits. ”

“ The natural man never forgets an injury, and it seems characteristic of the Indians, as well as of some others, to hate their enemies and to love their friends. These people enjoy the recollection of the example of Manco Cápac to this day. He seems to have shaped his conduct to the disposition of the nation.
The worship of the planetary bodies, “the sun, moon, and stars,” is some evidence of astronomical information, which gave its votaries power over others, ignorant of the natural laws which regulate the movements and periodic changes of these heavenly bodies ”

“ At sunrise on a first of April, there appeared, suddenly as Manco Capac at the lake Titicaca, a man in cream-colors, at the water-side in the city of St. ”

“ Pizarro as monarch of Peru, in the hope that he might thus control the empire as he pleased. But the people of Cuzco and the country in that vicinity chose Manco Capac, a brother of Huascar, as the Inca, and rightful successor to the supreme authority. Civil wars at once followed, and the government was rent in pieces. Usurpers and aspirants sprung up in various parts of the realm, claiming independent power; the general of the late sovereign at Quito, seized the brother and children of his master, put them to death, and claimed the throne for himself. ”

“ Besides the Maras and Tampu peoples, eight other tribes were associated with the Ayars, as vassals, when they began their quest, taking with them their goods and their families. Manco Capac carrying with him, as a palladium, a falcon, called Indi, or Inti—the name of the Sun-god—bore also a golden rod which was to sink into the land at the site where they were to abide; and Salcamayhua says that, in setting out, the hero was wreathed in rain-bows, this being regarded as an omen of success. ”

“ As a consequence, misled by this favorable experience with the northern tribes and his own with the easily conquered natives of Peru, Valdivia took with him, besides his Indian auxiliaries, only about two hundred Spaniards and a number of women belonging to their families. He soon found that, since they had learned of the execution of Huascar and Atahualpa and that the new Inca, Manco Capac, was little more than a mere puppet of Pizarro’s, the disposition even of these northern tribes had changed ”

“ The association of the two Ayars with initiation ceremonies and civic destiny points, in fact, to the character of culture heroes; and their names, Salt and Pepper, again suggest association with economic life, perhaps, in some way, as genii of earth and vegetation, though in the myth of Ayar Cachi the suggestion of a volcanic power is almost irresistible. Ayar Auca is clearly the genius loci of Cuzco, while Manco Capac himself, conceived as an Ayar, is little more than a culture hero. ”

“ Don Gavino Pacheco Zegarra derives Huanacauri from huanaya, to rest oneself, and cayri, here; "c'est ici qu'il faut se reposer." Ollantai, Introd., p. xxv. It was distinctly the huzca, or sacred fetish of the Incas, and they were figuratively said to have descended from it. Its worship was very prominent in ancient Peru. See the Information de las Idolatras de los Incas y Indios, 1671, previously quoted.]
[Footnote 27: The identification of Manco Capac with the planet Jupiter is mentioned in the Relacion Anonima, on the authority of Melchior Hernandez.] ”