Viracocha

This article is about the Andean deity. For other uses, see Wiraqucha (disambiguation).

Viracocha (also Wiraqocha, Huiracocha; Quechua Wiraqucha) is the great creator deity in the pre-Inca and Inca mythology in the Andes region of South America. According to the myth Viracocha had human appearance[1] and was generally considered as bearded.[2] According to the myth he ordered the construction of Tiwanaku.[3] It is also said that he was accompanied by men also referred to as Viracochas.

It is often referred to with several epithets. Such compound names include Ticsi Viracocha (T'iqsi Wiraqocha), Contiti Viracocha,[4][5] and, occasionally, Kon-Tiki Viracocha[citation needed] (the source of the name of Thor Heyerdahl's raft). Other designations are "the creator", Viracochan Pachayachicachan,[6] Viracocha Pachayachachi[7] or Pachayachachic ("teacher of the world").[8]

For the Inca the Viracocha cult was more important than the sun cult.[9] Viracocha was the most important deity in the Inca pantheon[10] and seen as the creator of all things, or the substance from which all things are created, and intimately associated with the sea.[11] Viracocha was immediately followed by Inti, the Sun.[12]

Viracocha created the universe, sun, moon, and stars, time (by commanding the sun to move over the sky)[13] and civilization itself. Viracocha was worshipped as god of the sun and of storms.

So-called Staff Gods do not all necessarily fit well with the Viracocha interpretation.[14]

  1. ^ Mathieu Viau-Courville: Spatial configuration in Tiwanaku art. A review of stone carved imagery and staff gods Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2014), p. 15–16
  2. ^ Alphons Stübel, Max Uhle: Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Perú: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Studie auf Grund selbständiger Aufnahmen. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1892, Zweiter Teil, p. 58 (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de).
  3. ^ Alphons Stübel, Max Uhle: Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Perú: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Studie auf Grund selbständiger Aufnahmen. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1892, Zweiter Teil, p. 57 (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de).
  4. ^ Itier, César (2013). Viracocha o el océano: naturaleza y funciones de una divinidad inca. Colección Mínima (Primera edición ed.). Lima, Perú: IFEA Institutos Francés de Estudios Andinos, UMIFRE 17, CNRS/MAE : IEP Instituto de Estudios Peruanos. ISBN 978-9972-623-78-3. OCLC 837631534.. 'Bajo este nombre [i.e. ⟨Tecsi Viracochan⟩] o el de ⟨ticci viracocha⟩ lo conocen también Polo [Ondegardo](1990, pp. 265, 266), Huaman Poma (1936, p. 911) y [Bernabé] Cobo (1956, p. 155, L. XIII, cap. IV). En un trabajo que está por salir, Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino ha mostrado que el epíteto ⟨ticci⟩ no fue el mismo elemento que aparece dentro del compuesto ⟨Contiti⟩ (Betanzos), ⟨Conditi⟩ o ⟨Condici⟩ (Las Casas, 1967, pt. I, p. 659), también epíteto de Viracocha.' (p. 49) Translation: 'It is known by the same name [of ⟨Tecsi Viracochan⟩] or the one of ⟨ticci viracocha⟩ by Polo [Ondegardo] (1990, pp. 265, 266), by Guaman Poma (1936, p. 911), and by [Bernabé] Cobo (1956, p. 155, book XIII, chap. IV). In a piece that is about to be published, Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino has proven that the ⟨ticci⟩ epithet is not the same formative that appears within the compound ⟨Contiti⟩ (Betanzos), ⟨Conditi⟩, or ⟨Condici⟩ (Las Casas, 1967, part. I, p. 659), which is also an epithet for Viracocha'.
  5. ^ Cerrón Palomino, Rodolfo (2013). "Contiti: divinidad suprema de origen lacustre". Las lenguas de los incas: el puquina, el aimara y el quechua. Peter Lang D. pp. 133–155. doi:10.3726/978-3-653-02485-2. ISBN 978-3-653-02485-2.
  6. ^ Alphons Stübel, Max Uhle: Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Perú: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Studie auf Grund selbständiger Aufnahmen. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1892, Zweiter Teil, p. 55 (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de).
  7. ^ Mathieu Viau-Courville: Spatial configuration in Tiwanaku art. A review of stone carved imagery and staff gods Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2014), p. 16
  8. ^ Alphons Stübel, Max Uhle: Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Perú: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Studie auf Grund selbständiger Aufnahmen. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1892, Zweiter Teil, p. 55 (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de).
  9. ^ Alphons Stübel, Max Uhle: Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Perú: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Studie auf Grund selbständiger Aufnahmen. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1892, Zweiter Teil, p. 56 (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de).
  10. ^ Jean-Pierre Protzen: Inca Architecture and Construction at Ollantaytambo. Oxford University Press, New York 1993, p. 8.
  11. ^ Dover, Robert V. H.; Katharine E. Seibold; John Holmes McDowell (1992). Andean cosmologies through time: persistence and emergence. Caribbean and Latin American studies. Indiana University Press. p. 274. ISBN 0-253-31815-7. Retrieved 22 November 2009.:56
  12. ^ Jean-Pierre Protzen: Inca Architecture and Construction at Ollantaytambo. Oxford University Press, New York 1993, p. 8.
  13. ^ Young-Sánchez, Margaret (2009). Tiwanaku: Papers from the 2005 Mayer Center Symposium at the Denver Art Museum. Denver Art Museum. ISBN 978-0-8061-9972-6.
  14. ^ Mathieu Viau-Courville: Spatial configuration in Tiwanaku art. A review of stone carved imagery and staff gods Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2014), p. 18