A translation from Quechua of Inca mythistory
THE SONS OF INTI
Intip Churikunan
It was in the days of Yawar Waqaq Inka [r. 1380?—1410?] that the tyrant king Yana Wichiq [“Black Feller”] took power in
Chincha Hatun Llaqta [“Great Northern City”].
“I am the creator god Wiraqucha,” blasphemed this Yana Wichiq, “And I will kill all those who will not accept this truth.”
Most people humored him—"Indeed you are Wiraqucha!"—but one or two out of every ten were true to their hearts. And Yana Wichiq’s face turned red. “Who dares disobey me when I said I would kill them all! Tomorrow I will tear out their hearts and savor the odor of their blood.”
That night, the god Wiraqucha appeared in the dreams of Qarqusqa Yupanki [“Honorable Exile”], an esteemed nobleman of Chincha Hatun Llaqta who had opposed Yana Wichiq. “I am Wiraqucha, the real Wiraqucha. Know that Yana Wichiq is about to kill you, so take a vial of arrow poison and flee! I have set out a place for you in the distant south. Take your countrymen; I give you and your lineage authority over them.” “What lineage could you mean, o god? I have but a daughter.” “You will see.”
Qarqusqa Yupanki took the men who had rejected Yana Wichiq’s divinity. He counted their numbers, organized them into five chiliads, and fled south on great sailing boats.
Yana Wichiq sent his admiral, Yaku Kuntur [“Water Condor”], after Qarqusqa Yupanki.
The fleets of Yaku Kuntur were feared throughout the world. His warships were the largest that any had ever seen, spewing out fire and scalding slingstones, yet themselves untouchable by any fire because of the hides of fantastic animals they were draped in. The people called the ships the pumas of the oceans, so fast and powerful were they.
Yana Wichiq, Yaku Kuntur’s master, was renowned as a sorcerer. He had even created life; his admiral Yaku Kuntur was not in fact a human born of a woman, but Yana Wichiq’s index finger into which he had breathed a soul. As part of Yana Wichiq’s body and figment of Yana Wichiq’s magic, the admiral partook in the tyrant king’s sorcery. In particular, he could turn into a condor and fly above the seas.
Qarqusqa Yupanki’s men despaired. No matter how fast they sailed, the condor would always track them down. They were doomed. Some of them began speaking of killing Qarqusqa Yupanki and returning to Chincha Hatun Llaqta.
“Do not fear,” said Qarqusqa Yupanki. “If we are captured, I will say that I took you all against your will, and only I will be killed.”
So the exiles anchored their boats off a craggy part of the shore and waited, their hearts beating wild.
Then a thick mist set upon the seas.
Yaku Kuntur took his condor-form and soared above the waters, knowing that the fugitives would soon be ferreted out. But the condor saw nothing but a thick mist over the seas. He soared again the next day: still nothing but the mist, growing ever thicker. He soared a third time and still could see nothing amid the mist, now so thick that it merged with the clouds. Yaku Kuntur flew back to Yana Wichiq and reported that Qarqusqa Yupanki was lost.
When the condor flew away, the mist receded at once. The exiles cheered and continued to make their way.
At last, Qarqusqa Yupanki reached Jocay, the city of the Sikis, the greatest city on earth.
Lakekala Siki was then emperor. He had just conquered the Chimú, and he saw that the new people of Qarqusqa Yupanki could be useful in pacifying that land.
“O Northerners!” Said the greatest emperor in the world. “I permit you to dwell near my southern borders, so long as you accept the laws of the land. And I swear by my gods, by Peayán and Yoa’pá, that I will deprive you not of your swords [
chaska chuki in Quechua] nor of your shields [
wallqanqa in Quechua] nor of your
ayllu [“clan / family” in Quechua; “penis” in Aymara, a language spoken near Quechua].”
Qarqusqa Yupanki thanked him effusively, and the five chiliads were settled along the coast.
The next year, Lakekala Siki sent his subordinate, Chiki Tuku, to Qarqusqa Yupanki’s community of Northerners.
“Are you following the laws of the land?” Asked Chiki Tuku. “We are indeed,” replied Qarqusqa Yupanki. Chiki Tuku feigned suspicion and entered all the Northerners’ houses, but there was nothing wrong in sight.
“There is a new law in the land,” Chiki Tuku then said. “You must give up your swords [
chaska chuki “sword”] immediately. The emperor has requisitioned them.”
“The emperor swore by his gods, by Peayán and Yoa’pá, that this would never come to pass.”
“You misheard him. He never said that he would not deprive of your swords. What he said is this: ‘I will never deprive you from misfortune [
chaska chiki “star foretelling misfortune”].’”
“If only he would deprive us of misfortune, and not our swords!” Cried Qarqusqa Yupanki. But he was so grateful to Lakekala that he accepted the demand.
The next year, Lakekala Siki sent Chiki Tuku, once more, to Qarqusqa Yupanki’s community of Northerners.
“Are you following the laws of the land?” Asked Chiki Tuku. “We are indeed,” replied Qarqusqa Yupanki. Chiki Tuku feigned suspicion and entered all the Northerners’ houses, but there was nothing wrong in sight.
“There is a new law in the land,” Chiki Tuku then said. “You must give up your shields [
wallqanqa “shield”] immediately. The emperor has requisitioned them.”
“The emperor swore by his gods, by Peayán and Yoa’pá, that this would never come to pass.”
“You misheard him. He never said that he would not deprive of your shields. What he said is this: ‘I will never prevent the Northerner from crying out in grief, for surely he will weep [
waqanqa “he will cry”].’”
Qarqusqa Yupanki cried out in grief and said, “If only he would not give me cause to weep here, instead of depriving us of our shields!” But he was still grateful to Lakekala and accepted the demand.
The next year, Lakekala Siki sent Chiki Tuku, a final time, to Qarqusqa Yupanki’s community of Northerners.
“Are you following the laws of the land?” Asked Chiki Tuku. “We are indeed,” replied Qarqusqa Yupanki. Chiki Tuku feigned suspicion and entered all the Northerners’ houses, but there was nothing wrong in sight.
“There is a new law in the land,” Chiki Tuku then said. “We must split up your families [
ayllu “family” in Quechua] and scatter them. The emperor has decreed it.”
“The emperor swore by his gods, by Peayán and Yoa’pá, that this would never come to pass.”
“You misheard him. That sentence was in Aymara, and you still have not been castrated [
ayllu “penis” in Aymara].”
“You are mad,” said Qarqusqa Yupanki. He bound Chiki Tuku, castrated him, beat him until he wept, and finally strangled him under an ill-fortuned star. Then the Northerners fled before the Sikis could enter in pursuit.
On a litter born by burly men, Lakekala Siki came personally to chase Qarqusqa Yupanki. The Siki armies were swift on the mountains; the Northerners, inexperienced and clumsy. Lakekala soon tracked them down and gave battle.
Qarqusqa Yupanki was the first to die, when a sling stone fell upon his head.
“The enemy chief is dead,” said Lakekala, “The day is won. The fugitives will return now—only a matter of waiting.”
So the Sikis withdrew. The Northerners could not weep; their despair was so deep that their tears all ran out.
Qarqusqa Yupanki had only one child, a daughter called Mama Qispirumi (“Obsidian Mother”).
Mama Qispirumi huddled in her cotton blankets. Her father was still in her eyes: the cry of anguish, the bloodied face, the skull broken in, the empty eyes—she found she could not cry—and her father came to her again, and with him the realization that there was nothing she could do, and she would die far away amid these strange and foreboding mountains—she remembered the sunlit streets of Chincha Hatun Llaqta, and missed them bitterly. It was winter here, in the Andean deserts, and the world was white and bleak.
That night, the sun god Inti came to her in a dream.
“Cross the mountains still! There is a husband and a place for you there.”
Mama Qispirumi doubted, but still she obeyed.
The next day, Mama Qispirumi announced her dream of Inti to the Northerners. Few of them believed her. Half of them wanted to return to Siki territory; another two-fifths were led by a certain Lluchkaq [“One who Slips”], who sought to bolster his own authority by marrying Mama Qispirumi.
The former began their trek back to the coast as Lluchkaq approached Mama Qispirumi, attempting to court her. “No,” she said. “Inti tells me that a husband awaits me beyond those mountains.”
“Your dreams sound like dog-dreams. Maybe you were sun-sick and hallucinated? It would be right to have a man in your life.”
As he was saying this, Mama Qispirumi ran. She entered the depths of the mountains and found a grotto to hide in, but she was only a woman and not strong enough, and within hours Lluchkaq was in front of the grotto. It was a sunny day—the frozen-solid snow before the grotto was beginning to thaw—and Mama Qispirumi thought it bitterly ironic that the Sun was seeing this all.
“Undress now,” said Lluchkaq, “Let us consummate our union.” And he laughed at the thought that the woman before him was his.
“There is nothing I can do now,” admitted Mama Qispirumi. “But leave me some scrap of dignity. Approach me as I undress, but looking up, not at me. When I am undressed, I will give you the word.”
Lluchkaq chuckled and looked up. The Sun peeked out of the clouds and blinded him, but still he looked up as he walked forward, not wanting to show weakness before his soon-to-be wife.
Then, the light of Inti in his eyes, Lluchkaq slipped on the thawing snow. He let out a single guttural cry as his head cracked open on an oddly shaped rock and his body spilled, lifeless, down the mountainside.
Mama Qispirumi returned, took control of Lluchkaq’s men, and crossed the Andes east.
Many died in the journey, and those who lived were battered by the cold and tired by the wind, but they took heart. They had heard that Lakekala had deported the half who had chosen to return to exile in Sogamoso and Bogotá, and they knew there was no place to go but east.
Finally they reached the highland valley of the Taramas. The Tarama king asked Mama Qispirumi’s hand in marriage. Inti told her to rebuff him, and so she did. “Let us see then, woman,” the king said, “How you fare in these mountains with no llamas.”
The Taramas thus hid all their llamas. But the Northerners ran into a herd of albino guanacos (wild llamas) who willingly carried all their packs for them.
Thus bidding the Taramas farewell, the Northerners reached the valley of the Wankas. The Wanka king, too, asked Mama Qispirumi’s hand in marriage. Inti told her to rebuff him, and so she did once more. “Let us see then, woman,” the king said, “How you fare in these mountains with no potatoes and no water.”
The Wankas thus concealed all their potatoes and blocked all their wells. But the Northerners found that whatever plant they dug out of the earth, even the feeblest weeds, had potatoes for roots. And rain fell so thick that there was no need for wells to drink, but the roads they walked upon were left miraculously dry.
Thus bidding the Wankas farewell, the Northerners reached the country of the Chankas.
The Chankas were a people who would take their neighbors as prisoners and hang them upside-down. Then they would skin them alive, starting from the front of the toes, so that the victims would see their own blood stream down their body and pool beneath their suspended heads. Once the victims bled to death, they would drink their blood in cups made of their skulls.
It was the king of such a people who asked Mama Qispirumi’s hand in marriage. She was terrified, but she knew such a barbaric man could never please her. In any case, Inti told her to rebuff him as well, and so she did.
The Chanka king announced that if he could not have Mama Qispirumi as a wife, he would have her as his cup and drink instead.
The Chankas were many and the Northerners few, and Mama Qispirumi knew that she could not defeat them in war. She made a suggestion. “Let you and I face off in single combat, club-to-club. I am a woman, and you are a man. You will surely win.” “Surely! And I will let you use any weapon you wish, to show that I can defeat you no matter what you will. If you kill me in any way at all, I vow by my gods that the Chankas will let you go.”
Mama Qispirumi took out her bow and her quiver of obsidian-headed arrows, and applied the poison which her father had taken from Chincha Hatun Llaqta to the tips of the arrowheads. The day of the fight, the Chanka king charged like a maniac, shield and pike in hand. The woman fired a single arrow. Her arms were not strong, and the arrow only grazed the king’s hand. He laughed at the poor aim. Then his laughter turned to screams—he fell to the earth—then the screams were over and the king was dead.
The Chankas muttered of cowardice. But a vow was a vow, and the Northerners were left unscathed.
Thus bidding the Chankas farewell, the Northerners reached Qusqu, the city of the Inkas.
When the Northerners had fled Chincha Hatun Llaqta, Yawar Waqaq Inka had been
Sapa Inka, or ruler, but he had died before the exodus of Mama Qispirumi. The new Sapa Inka was named Hatun Tupaq Inka, and he was engaged to a woman from the Anta kingdom to the west.
As Mama Qispirumi made her way across the peaks, the creator god Wiraqucha came to Hatun Tupaq Inka in a vision. He said:
“The woman who comes to Qusqu is your wife to be. She will bear your children, and your lineage will surpass all the kings of the earth.”
Hatun Tupaq Inka recounted his dream to his tutor, Walpa Rimachi, who called out to him, astonished: “O Wiraqucha Inka! Break off this engagement with the Anta woman.” Henceforth Hatun Tupaq Inka was called Wiraqucha Inka, after the god he had seen.
Mama Qispirumi had a vision too. She met the sun god Inti again, who told her:
“The man who is in Qusqu is your husband to be. He will sire your children, and your lineage will surpass all the kings of the earth.”
The Antas attacked Qusqu in retaliation for the broken engagement. The war was hard-fought, and no woman seemed to come.
The two armies met at last at the Valley of Amankay, both sides arranging their forces into a center and two flanks and charging. Then the right flank of the Incas gave way and the Inca center came under attack from both front and right. Wiraqucha Inka ordered a counteroffensive, seeking to cleave the Anta army in half and relieve the pressure on the right. He ran to the head of his armies, swinging his sling and hurling stone after stone, but the Incas gained only a little ground. The Anta king roared and his troops rushed forth again, pushing back the Incas and retaking in a matter of minutes all they had lost. The Incas began to retreat in disorder, their shields thrown aside, stumbling on their fallen comrades’ limbs.
“Perhaps it was a mistake,” muttered Wiraqucha Inka as he saw the broken corpse of Walpa Rimachi, “Perhaps it was some minor spirit, not Wiraqucha. Perhaps I saw wrong.”
Then the Antas relieved their pressure, and the Incas began to advance again. “The king is dead! Attack from the rear”—Wiraqucha was not sure whose soldiers were saying this, but he did not feel that he was dead, and there seemed to be no enemy when he looked behind his head, so the dead king and the rear must both be the enemy’s—and soon the Antas were in open flight, escaping the battlefield that had been theirs just moments ago. It was a miracle from Inti. Mounted on his litter, Wiraqucha Inka was the first to see the leader of this new army that had attacked the Anta from the rear and broken their ranks, and he knew that his vision had indeed been that of his namesake god.
Wiraqucha Inka and Mama Qispirumi married shortly after. The night of their marriage, Wiraqucha and Inti came to them again. “You will have a son,” said the gods, “a child of South and North, and he will be one who shakes the earth [
pachakutiq]. Your clan and descendants will be mighty kings, sovereign lords and universal rulers, worshippers of the gods and benefactors of the poor, from sea to sea.
"They will be the sons of Inti, and the sons of Inti do not perish [
Intipmi Churikunan chinkankuchu].”
* * *
By 1400, the Inca state of Cuzco/Qusqu was already the strongest state in the southern Andean highlands IOTL. TTL’s Siki expansion along the coast hasn’t significantly affected the highlands yet, so Qusqu’s position as a major power—and its potential to create the Americas’ greatest empire—remains largely untouched. See Terence N. D’Altroy’s
The Incas: Second Edition, “Chapter Three: The Incas before the Empire.”
The Taramas, the Wankas, and the Chankas were all historical peoples. The Taramas and the Wankas were organized into “moderately complex chiefdoms” in this period, and there’s a short section on them in “Chapter 38: Between Horizons” in
The Handbook of South American Archaeology. The Chankas were an early enemy of the Incas, renowned for their cruelty and supposedly vanquished by Pachacuti as the first step in the Inca unification of the Andes. Many historians think it unlikely that the Chankas could have been a serious rival to the Incas; even the largest Chanka town is less than a fourth the size of even pre-imperial Qusqu, and the description of Chanka barbarism might be just a bit
too clichéd. Still, this entry itself is Inca mythistory and not a narration of what really happened. So insulting the Chankas goes well with the nature of the text.
Most of the Quechua names and terminology are taken from a trilingual dictionary
here.
Hatun Tupaq Inka, the eighth Inca ruler, really did rename himself Wiraqucha Inka, after the Inca creator god Wiraqucha, following a vision he had of the deity at the god’s shrine center in Urcos. The Spaniard Sarmiento’s 1572
Historica Indica, usually considered a fairly reliable testimony of how the Incas viewed their own history, says (from MacCormack,
Religion in the Andes, p. 353):
[At Urcos], where there is the magnificent huaca [wak’a “cult object”] of Ticci Viracocha [Tiqsi Wiraqucha, the Inca creator god], one night Viracocha appeared to him [Hatun Tupaq Inka]. In the morning, he called together his nobles, one of whom was Gualpa Rimache [Walpa Rimachi], his tutor, and told him how that night Viracocha had appeared to him and promised him and his descendants great good fortune. Gualpa Rimache congratulated and saluted him with the name “O Viracocha Inca!”… And this name he kept for the rest of his life.
Shoutout to @
King of the Uzbeks.