The Incas cosmogony

The god Pachacamac, also known as the ‘Maker of the Earth’, was a creator god who was also associated with earthquakes. In coastal mythology, Pachacamac had defeated the rival creator god Con who had stopped all rainfall as punishment for humanity’s wickedness. Pachacamac then changed the existing human race into animals and created a whole new race of men and women. In some versions of the myths the god sent four stars to earth, the two male stars became the kings and nobility while the two female stars became the commoners.

In the beginning, Pachacamac the sun rose slowly from Lake Titicaca.Pachacamac was so bright that nothing else could be seen in the sky but him. But the night sky was empty; so he made the stars, the planets and the moon. The beautiful moon, Pachamama, became his wife and together they ruled the heavens and the earth.Pachacamac fashioned the first humans from the stone of an enormous mountain of rock. The first humans were pitiful creatures; they knew nothing of the world nor how to survive in it.The sun and the moon bore a son and a daughter. Out of pity they sent their children to the earth to help them.The son of Pachacamac taught men how to plow and plant the fields, and how to build houses. The daughter of the moon approached the women and taught them the art of weaving, and how to prepare food.“Teach the humans to be kind and fair. I will provide light and warmth, every day without fail; but make sure they never forget their creators.”Pachacamac’s son became the first Inca; he and his sister-wife ruled the first humans.

After a while, the Inca and his wife took a long journey to find the perfect place to his people to settle. At every stop, they stuck one of their father’s golden rods in the earth. Each golden rod would be a symbol for his people to build a city.When they reached the valley of Huanacauri, the golden rod sank into the ground and disappeared.Inca decided that here should be the site of the first temple of the sun, and that here is where he and his people would settle.Inca and his wife set off to gather his people. He went north and his wife wandered south.

The children of the sun were beautiful and spoke convincingly about Pachacamac and his principles of law. When they met people in small villages, the people were so moved that they left their homes and followed the Inca and his wife to the valley of Huanacauri.Soon, they had followers from the enitre region.The followers of Inca’s wife settled with her followers in the south and her city was Hurin-Cuzco, Southern City.Inca and his followers settled in the northern part of the valley and named their town Hanan-Cuzco, City of the North.From then on, all Inca cities were divided into northern and southern halves, representing the male and female forces.