Viracocha: The History and Legacy of the Inca’s Creator God

Although the Inca’s oral traditions suggested that the history of the region began with their empire, the various gods and the religious ceremonies of the peoples that inhabited the Inca’s lands before their arrival were assimilated into the Inca Empire and were incorporated into Inca religion. However, under Inca rule, all those gods were to be subordinate to those gods of the Incas themselves, so as to ensure that imperial authority was clear and without dispute among all quarters of the empire.

Viracocha was the primary god in the Inca pantheon as the origin and creator of all things. His son, the god Inti, or the Sun, was married to Mama Quilla, the Moon, who was also created by Viracocha. According to one myth, Inti was the father of Manco Cápac, the founder of the Inca ruling dynasty, but it was believed by some that Viracocha himself fathered Manco Cápac. In practice, the Inca centered their religious worship on Inti, and this god's High Priest was the second most important person in Inca society. The god Inti was honored at an annual celebration held each June, and the Inti Raymi festival included sacrifices, feasts and sexual abstinence. This cosmology was imposed throughout the empire, and temples to the Sun were constructed and staffed by religious officials who were allotted farmland called “lands of the Sun.” Other local cults were provided with produce from these lands as well. 

The main temple of Inca religion was the Coricancha or Sun Temple in Cuzco, in which was kept the great golden disk of the Sun. The disk was appropriated by the Spanish in 1571 and sent off to the Pope. While it has disappeared, perhaps lost somewhere during the tortuous route to Spain, it remains alive in the fabulous world of adventure story writers, New Age mystics and manufacturers of souvenirs. It became a major element in the iconography of the 19th century independence movement in South America.