The Incas of Peru/Chapter 4

by Clements Robert Markham

CHAPTER IV

THE PACCARI-TAMPU MYTH

There is a myth which was told to all the Spanish authors by their native informants, and is retailed by them with some variations, the most authentic version being that officially received from the Incas by Sarmiento. While the Titicaca myth was obviously invented to account for the ancient ruins and statues, and has no historical value, the Paccari-tampu myth is as certainly the outcome of a real tradition, and is the fabulous version of a distant historical event.

We are taken to the country of refuge at Tampu-tocco, where one side is protected from invasion by the deep gorge of the Apurimac. The fugitives of long ages back had multiplied. The descendants were more civilised, therefore more powerful than their neighbours, and the time had come for the acquisition of better and more extensive territory. The idea of windows in the following myth was perhaps suggested by the word Tocco, the meaning of which is a window in Quichua. The district is called Paccari-tampu, or the 'Tavern of the Dawn,' in the legend, and Tampu-tocco is the hill with the three openings or windows, called Maras,^[1] Sutic, and Ccapac.

The legend relates how, out of the Maras window came a tribe with the same name, from the Sutic window came a tribe named Tampu. Out of the central Ccapac window came four august personages, all bearing the title of Ayar, a designation of several of the ancient kings. There were Manco, the princely; Ayar Auca,^[2] the fighting or joyful Ayar; Cachi, the salt Ayar; and Uchu, the pepper Ayar. With them were their four wives, Occlo, the august princess; Huaco, the warlike princess; Ipacura,^[3] the elder aunt; and Raua.

The four children of the sun, with their four wives, consulted together and came to a momentous decision: 'We are born strong and wise, and with the people who will follow us we are powerful. We will go forth to seek more fertile lands, and when we find them we will subdue the people, making war upon all who do not receive us as their Lords.' There was a considerable force at their command besides the two tribes who are said to have issued from the windows on the hill of Tampu-Tocco, named Maras and Tampu. Eight other ayllus or lineages were mustered under the banner of the Ayars, whose names were preserved. The Chavin tribe served under the salt Ayar. With it were the Arayraca tribe, the Cuycusa, the Masca,^[4] the Uru,^[5] and the Sañoc. The Tarpuntay was probably the priestly and sacrificial caste, while the Huacay Taqui ayllu was also a religious body conducting ceremonials and musical festivals. The gathering of these ten tribes together seems to have been a veritable exodus under the leadership of the Ayars. For they not only took with them their arms, but also their movable property, wives and children.

Their way was north-east for not more than twenty-five miles, for no doubt Cuzco was their goal from the beginning, well known to them as a desirable central position where megalithic buildings gave evidence of former occupation by the ancient civilisers. Starting from their homes at Tampu-Tocco their movements were slow and deliberate, even stopping to sow and reap. The Ayar Manco was the leader. He took with him a golden staff. When the soil was so fertile that its whole length sank into the rich mould, there was to be the final resting-place. He also had with him a bird like a falcon, carried in a hamper, which all the people looked upon as sacred. It does not appear whether it was alive or artificial, but it was the Ayar's familiar spirit called Huauqui, or brother.

Their first march took this army of empire builders to a place called Huanacancha, where there was a long halt, and the next sojourn was at Tampu-quiru and Pallata, contiguous villages. Here they remained for several years sowing and reaping crops. But they were not satisfied with it, and moved on to another valley, called Hais Quisru.

The story proceeds to relate the way in which Manco got rid of his three brothers, so as to rule alone. The salt Ayar is described as so cruel and oppressive that the brothers feared that their followers would desert and leave them alone. He was so dexterous with the sling, and so strong that with each shot he pulled down a mountain and filled up a ravine. The existing ravines on the line of march were made by the salt Ayar in hurling rocks. The Inca Garcilasso tells us that the meaning of salt (Cachi), as applied to this Ayar, signifies instruction in rational life. His teaching must have been rather vigorous. We are told that his brothers feared him, and conspired to take his life.

They made a plot alike cunning and cruel. They called the salt Ayar to them and told him that some precious insignia had been forgotten, and left in the cave whence they came, called Ccapac-tocco. These were the golden vases called Tupac Cusi, and the Napa, a sacred figure of a llama. They said that it would be for the good of all if he would go back and fetch them. At first he refused, but the strong-minded Mama Huaco rebuked him with stinging words: 'How is it that there should be such cowardice in so strong a youth as you are?' she exclaimed. 'Get ready for the journey, and do not fail to return to Tampu-tocco, and do as you are desired.' He was shamed by these words, and set out with a companion named Tampu-chacay, who was an accomplice of the fratricides. When they arrived the salt Ayar entered the cave to fetch the treasures, which were not really there. His treacherous companion, with great celerity, rolled a rock against the opening and sat upon it, so that the salt Ayar might remain inside and die there. The outraged prince exerted all his mighty strength to move the rock. His cries made the mountains tremble. But all was of no avail. With his last breath he denounced the traitor, declaring that he should be turned into a stone and never return to report the success of his crime. To this day the traitor stone may be seen by the side of the Ccapac-tocco. The salt Ayar was thus disposed of. Next came the turn of the pepper Ayar.

The army of the Ayars continued their very deliberate advance, and came to a place called Quirirmanta, only a few miles from the valley of Cuzco. Here there was a hill which, according to Sarmiento, was afterwards called Huanacauri. According to the legend, the brothers saw a sacred Huaca or idol on the hill, and proposed to take it away with them. The pepper Ayar was induced to approach it, and when he came in contact with the idol he was himself converted into stone. He just had time to say: 'Go, happy brothers. When you celebrate the Huarachicu, I shall be adored as the father of the young knights, for I must remain here for ever.' Garcilasso explains that the name of pepper (Uchu) was applied to this Ayar as symbolically meaning the delight experienced from leading a rational life. Huanacauri^[6] or Huayna-captiy^[7] became one of the most sacred Huacas of the Peruvians. The word seems to have reference to the great festival when the youths received a sort of knighthood, the ceremony being performed near the Huaca. Huayna means a youth. Cauri is corrupt and has no meaning, but Captiy is the present subjunctive of the auxiliary verb. Here the unfortunate pepper Ayar was kept in memory, and received adoration at the great annual festival of arming the youths, for many generations.

Ayar Manco had now disposed of two of his brothers. The turn of the joyful or fighting Ayar was to come next. Meanwhile the march continued festina lente; and two years were passed in sowing and reaping at a place called Matahua, just within the Cuzco valley. Then it is related that Ayar Manco hurled his golden staff as far as Huanay-pata, where it sank into the earth. By this they knew that the land was fertile and suited for settlement. But first the joyful Ayar must be disposed of. A pile of stones was in sight, where the temple of the sun afterwards stood. Manco told his last remaining brother, who was winged, that he must fly thither and take possession of the territory. The joyful Ayar did so, and when he sat on the mount, lo and behold! he was turned into a stone. This cairn or mound was called Cuzco, whence the name of the future city. The word means literally a clod of earth, or hard, unirrigated land. Cuzquini is to level or break clods of earth.

Whether the three Ayars were disposed of in this miraculous way, or whether their lives were taken without a disturbance of the laws of nature, Manco now had no rival. He occupied a strong position with his army, near the joyous Ayar's fatal Cuzco, and forcibly subdued the Alcavisas and other former settlers in the valley.

This Paccari-tampu myth is, I believe, founded on an important historical event. It records the march of those descendants of the ancient civilisers who took refuge at Tampu-tocco. They were empire builders marching to Cuzco, with their religious beliefs and ceremonies, their insignia of royalty, their traditions of laws and customs, and their household gods.

The fertile vale of Cuzco, several miles in length, and surrounded by mountains, is in latitude 13° 30′ S. and 11,380 ft. above the level of the sea. Over its site rises the imposing hill of Sacsahuaman, with the ancient cyclopean fortress on the eastern side. This famous mount is separated from the hills on either side by deep ravines, down which two torrents flow, called the Huatanay and Tulumayu. Beaching the level ground which forms the site of Cuzco, they often overflowed their banks, causing swamps and injuring the land. Eventually they form a junction, and the united stream flows down the valley to join the Vilcamayu. It was at the junction of the torrents, about a mile from the foot of the Sacsahuaman, that Manco established his settlement. Here he erected the House of the Sun, called Inti-cancha, but for a long time it was more a fortress than a temple. He and his successors subdued the former inhabitants of the valley, and the ten tribes from Tampu-tocco occupied their lands. These ayllus, or tribes, formed the fighting strength of the restored rule. Some of them, as the dominion extended, went further afield. The Maras tribe gave its name to the village of Maras, on the plateau overlooking the lovely vale of Vilcamayu. The Uru tribe was established at Urupampa, in the vale itself; and the Tampu tribe further down the same valley.

The date of the event recorded in the Paccari-tampu myth may be placed at about four centuries before the Spanish conquest, in 1100 A.D. or thereabouts. Sarmiento places it at 565 A.D., by making each generation cover a century.

There is practical unanimity among all authorities with regard to the names of the four first successors of Manco. They were Sinchi Rocca, Lloque Yupanqui, Mayta Ccapac, and Ccapac Yupanqui. Most of these names are merely titles. The actual names are Rocca, Lloque, and Mayta. For the fourth only titles are given, and no personal name. The kings continued to live within the fortified Inti-cancha, dividing the land between the torrents into four quarters, to be occupied by their followers: namely Quinti-cancha, or the angular place, where the torrents join; Chumpi-cancha, or the place of stone heaps, perhaps buildings; Sayri-cancha, or the place where the Sayri plant was cultivated; and Yarampuy-cancha, another place for cultivation. These four kings undertook no great enterprise. Mayta Ccapac alone showed any energy, by finally subjugating the tribes in the Cuzco valley. The kings at the Inti-cancha were respected by the surrounding chiefs as children of the sun, and for their superior knowledge and civilisation. Envoys were sent to them, some with submission, and they wisely cemented alliances by marriages with daughters of their more powerful neighbours. The marriages with sisters was a much later custom of their prouder and more imperially minded successors.

Apparently these early successors of Manco, owing to a certain superiority, occupied a position of priority, scarcely of suzerainty, over a very loose confederacy of surrounding tribes speaking the same language. But this was not what was contemplated by the Ayar Manco, who had filled the minds of his tribes with ambitious ideas. There was a feeling of unrest and discontent, the very opportunity to be seized by a highly gifted adventurer, if time should produce one.

1. Name of a former king, Maras(to)co. The meaning of Sutic would be 'named'; Ccapac, a regal title.
2. Garcilasso and Montesinos have Sauca, Betanzos and Balboa with Sarmiento have Auca. Sauca means pleasure, joy.
3. Or Cura, as others say. Ipa is the word for an aunt.
4. Mascani, to search.
5. Uru, a spider.
6. Cieza de Leon tells much the same story. Garcilasso mentions Huanacauri four times as a place of great sanctity. It is frequently mentioned by Molina.
7. Salcamayhua has Huayna-captiy.