In short, according to one of the Quechua myths, Viracocha was considered the forefather, the forefather of all people and the creator of the world. According to a variant of the cosmogonic myth, Viracocha created the sun, moon and stars in Lake Titicaca.
Then, with the help of two younger viracochas, he made human figures out of stone and in their likeness he created people, assigning each tribe its own region.
Viracocha and his assistants marched across the country, calling people out of the ground, from rivers, lakes, caves. Having populated the land with people, Viracocha sailed to the west.
The topic of the white gods of the American Indians worried scientists ever since they got acquainted with the sacred books of different peoples of the New World, where in different expressions the role of certain carriers of culture and knowledge who came to the New World "from overseas" was clearly formulated.
In the West, the topic was carried away by Graham Hancock. Here are the main conclusions of the scientist and writer from the book "Traces of the Gods":
- By the time the Spanish conquistadors arrived, the Inca empire stretched along the Pacific coast and the Cordillera highlands from the present northern border of Ecuador throughout Peru and reached the Maule River in central Chile in the south.
The remote corners of this empire were connected by an extended and ramified network of roads, for example, two parallel north-south highways, one of which stretched for 3,600 km along the coast, and the other, of the same length, across the Andes. Both of these great thoroughfares were paved and connected by a large number of cross roads.
Promotional video:
A curious feature of their engineering equipment was suspension bridges and tunnels cut into the rocks. They were clearly the product of a developed, disciplined, and ambitious society.
The capital of the empire was the city of Cuzco, whose name in the local Quechua language means "the navel of the earth." According to legend, it was founded by Manko-Kapak and Mama-Oklo, two children of the Sun. Moreover, although the Incas worshiped the sun god Inga, the most revered deity was Viracocha, whose namesake were considered the authors of the Nazca drawings, and his very name means "sea foam".
No historian, however, is able to say how ancient the cult of this deity was when the Spaniards put an end to it. It seems that he has always existed; in any case, long before the Incas included him in their pantheon and built a magnificent temple dedicated to him in Cuzco, there was evidence that the great god Viracocha was worshiped by all civilizations in the long history of Peru.
At the beginning of the 16th century, before the Spaniards took seriously the destruction of Peruvian culture, the image of Viracocha stood in the holiest temple of Coricancha. According to the text of the time, "Anonymous Description of the Ancient Customs of the Natives of Peru," the marble statue of the deity "with its hair, physique, facial features, clothing and sandals most resembled the holy Apostle Bartholomew - as traditionally portrayed by artists."
According to other descriptions, Viracocha outwardly resembled Saint Thomas. Consequently, he could have been anyone but an American Indian, since they have relatively dark skin and sparse facial hair. Viracocha's bushy beard and fair skin are more suggestive of his non-American origin.
Who was the type of Viracocha? Through many legends of the peoples of the Andean region passes the mysterious figure of a light-skinned bearded "old man". And although in different places he was known under different names, everywhere you can recognize one person in him - Tiki Viracocha, Sea Foam, a connoisseur of science and a sorcerer, the owner of a terrible weapon who came in turbulent, antediluvian times to bring order to the world:
“Suddenly, coming from the South, a white man of tall stature and imperious behavior appeared. He possessed such great power that he turned the hills into valleys, and the valleys into high hills, made streams flow from the rocks …"
The Spanish chronicler who recorded this legend explains that he heard it from the Indians with whom he traveled in the Andes:
“They heard it from their fathers, who, in turn, learned about it from songs that came from ancient times … They say that this man followed the mountains to the North, performing miracles along the way, and that they never saw him again …
It is said that in many places he taught people how to live, while talking to them with great love and kindness, encouraging them to be good and not harm or harm each other, but to love each other and show mercy to all. In most places he was called Tiki Viracocha …"
He was also called Kon-Tiki, Tunupa, Taapak, Tupaka, Illa. He was a scientist, consummate architect, sculptor and engineer.
“On the steep slopes of the gorges, he made terraces and fields, and the walls supporting them. He also created irrigation canals … and walked in different directions, doing many different things."
In his "Corpus of Inca Legends", the Spanish chronicler of the 16th century. Juan de Betanzos states, for example, that according to the Indians, "Viracocha was a tall, bearded man, dressed in a long white shirt to the floor, belted at the waist."
“They say that Viracocha marked the beginning of a golden age, which subsequent generations remembered with nostalgia,” continues G. Hancock. - Moreover, all the legends agree that he carried out his civilizing work with great kindness and, whenever possible, avoided the use of force: benevolent teachings and personal example - these are the main methods that he used to equip people with technology and knowledge necessary for cultural and a productive life.
He was especially credited with introducing medicine, metallurgy, agriculture, animal husbandry, writing (later, according to the Incas, forgotten) and understanding of the complex foundations of technology and construction in Peru.
I was immediately impressed by the high quality of the Inca masonry in Cusco. However, as I continued my research in this old city, I was surprised to realize that the so-called Inca masonry was not always done by them. They were indeed stone craftsmen, and many of Cusco's monuments were undoubtedly their work.
However, it seems that some of the remarkable buildings attributed by tradition to the Incas may have been erected by earlier civilizations, there is reason to believe that the Incas often acted as restorers rather than first builders.
As for the highly developed system of roads connecting remote parts of the Inca empire, they are known to be parallel highways running from north to south, one parallel to the coast, the other across the Andes: over 20 thousand km of paved roads in total.
But the fact is that the Incas themselves did not build them, they only repaired the coatings, maintaining them in proper condition. And no one has yet been able to reliably date the age of these amazing roads, let alone authorship …
They say that they were some kind of red-haired people from two families, faithful warriors ("uaminka") and "shining" ("ayhuipanti").
We have no choice but to turn to the traditions preserved by the chronicler José de Acosta in his "Natural and Moral History of the Indians":
“They mention a lot of the flood that happened in their country … The Indians say that all people were drowned in this flood. But a certain Viracocha came out of Lake Titicaca, who first settled in Tiahuanaco, where to this day you can see the ruins of ancient and very strange buildings, and from there he moved to Cuzco, from which the multiplication of the human race began …"
“The great creator god Viracocha decided to create a world where man could live. First he created the earth and the sky. Then he took up the people, for which he cut out the giants from the stone, which he then revived. At first everything went well, but after a while the giants fought and refused to work. Viracocha decided that he had to destroy them. He turned some to stone again … the rest he destroyed in the great flood."
Very similar to the revelations of the Old Testament. So, in the sixth chapter of the Bible (Genesis) it is described how the Jewish God, dissatisfied with his creation, decided to destroy it. And the phrase sounds intriguing here: "In those days giants lived on the earth …" Could there be any connection between the giants, which have yet to be discovered in the biblical sands of the Middle East, and the giants from the legends of the pre-Columbian Indians?
- And here we have before us the work of Garcillaso de la Vega, the son of a Spanish aristocrat and a woman from the family of the ruler of the Incas, “History of the Inca State,” Hancock continues his story. - He was considered one of the most reliable chroniclers and keeper of the traditions of the people to which his mother belonged.
He worked in the 16th century, shortly after the conquest, when these traditions were not yet obscured by alien influences. He also quotes what was believed deeply and with conviction:
"After the flood receded, a man appeared in the land of Tiahuanaco …"
This man was Viracocha. Wrapped in a cloak, strong, of noble appearance, he marched with unapproachable self-confidence through the most dangerous places. He worked miracles of healing and could call fire from heaven. It seemed to the Indians that he appeared out of nowhere.
In the story of Viracocha, there are curious parallels with the myth of the vicissitudes of Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of death and resurrection. This myth is most fully expounded in Plutarch, who says that this mysterious person brought the gifts of civilization to his people, taught him many useful crafts, put an end to cannibalism and human sacrifice, and gave people the first set of laws.
Despite significant differences between the traditions, the Egyptian Osiris and the South American Tunupa-Viracocha have, oddly enough, the following common features: both were great enlighteners; a conspiracy was organized against both; both were slain by the conspirators; both were hidden in some container or vessel; both were thrown into the water; both swam down the river; both eventually reached the sea ("sea foam" …)
Doesn't this say - again! - about a single antediluvian world for which the Atlantic was not an insurmountable obstacle and in which social, economic and ethnocultural ties were carried out much more intensively than we can imagine? And Viracocha was one of the messengers and workers of this world, irrevocably gone, but left mysterious traces.