For these reasons, the report, based on the inquiry at that meeting, that was made by Licentiate Polo has always been considered authoritative; in the provincial councils that have been held in this kingdom, everything in it was adopted. It was used for the instruction that is given to the priests assigned to Indians concerning their ancient rites and superstitions so that the utmost diligence and care could be taken in eradicating these practices, as well as for resolving the doubts and difficulties that often came up in the beginning concerning the marriages of those who were converted over to our Holy Faith. I have this report in my possession; it is the same one that, with his own signature, Licentiate Polo sent to Archbishop Jerónimo de Loaysa. (Cobo 1979: 99–100 [1653: Bk. 12, Ch. 2])6
Cobo quotes a great deal from the 1559 report, although he does not always credit it as the source of his information.
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1906 [1572]), who was in Cuzco during Polo de Ondegardo’s second term as corregidor (1571–1572), is another important source of information on the 1559 inquiry. Like Polo de Ondegardo, Sarmiento de Gamboa ordered the leaders of Cuzco to assemble and to tell their histories. In Sarmiento de Gamboa’s record of the meeting, there are various references to Polo de Ondegardo’s earlier inquiry, especially within the discussions of the royal mummies.
Additional information on Polo de Ondegardo’s now lost 1559 report is provided in the works of José de Acosta. In 1585 Acosta published a summary of Polo de Ondegardo’s report as part of the proceedings of the Third Provincial Council of Lima under the title of Tratado sobre los errores y supersticiones de los indios (Treaties on the errors and superstitions of the Indians). Five years later, Acosta also relied heavily on the report while writing his own overview of the history of the Americas, titled Historia natural y moral de las Indias (The natural and moral history of the Indies; 1590).
When Polo de Ondegardo began his investigation of the history and ritual practices of the Inca, the royal mummies were still being kept and worshiped by their respective Cuzco-based lineages. In an effort to end these idolatrous practices, he began to hunt down the royal mummies. Within a relatively short time, Polo de Ondegardo found the mummies of all the Inca kings who had ruled Cuzco. Along with each royal mummy, Polo de Ondegardo also recovered specific ritual and historic items associated with their reign. Most importantly, he discovered their huauques (brothers): statues that stood as proxy for a ruler when he was unable to attend a meeting or function. Polo de Ondegardo also found the mummified remains of several of the Inca qoyas (queens). The discovery of these highly revered individuals and objects dealt a crippling blow to the already weakened nobility of the imperial city. Before I summarize where each of the royal mummies was found and what became of them, it is important to place the role of the deceased kings within the broader context of Andean ancestor worship.
Ancestor Worship in the Andes
Elaborate preservation of the dead and associated ancestor worship is a tradition that extends back millennia in the Andes. On the coast, hunting-and-gathering bands were mummifying their dead as early as 6000 BC (Moseley 2001). At a much later date, in the first centuries of the first millennium AD, burial towers began to be built in the northern Andes of Peru (Isbell 1997). It is argued that these early towers were used for ancestor worship because they accommodated the leaving of offerings and the visitation of the dead. By Inca times, a great variety of burial-tower traditions had developed across the highlands (Figure 12.1).
Early Spanish writers provide numerous descriptions of native Andeans visiting the burial chambers of the dead and of natives bringing the mummified remains of important leaders into the center of their villages during annual festivals. These visits to and by the dead were widespread practices in the Andes at the time of the European invasion. In an effort to stop the adoration of the dead, the Catholic authorities soon required that all natives be buried in church cemeteries. This, however, did little to stop the practice, as many bodies were later exhumed at night and placed in traditional burial chambers where they could be visited (Polo de Ondegardo 1916 [1567]; Acosta 1986: 325 [1590: Bk. 5, Ch. 7]). Pablo Joseph de Arriaga, a relentless agent in the anti-idolatry movement, describes the situation in 1621:
In many places, in fact wherever they have managed to do so, they have removed the bodies of their dead from the church and taken them out to the fields to their machays [caves], or burial places of their ancestors. The reason they give for this is expressed by the word cuyaspa, or the love they bear them. In conclusion, to demonstrate their wretched condition, their extreme need for a remedy, and the ease with which they receive it, no proof is needed beside that of seeing them on one of their exhibition days, when they bring out all the accessories of their idolatry. They are grouped about the plaza by clans and factions and bring out the mummified bodies of their ancestors, called munaos, in the lowlands and malquis in the sierra, together with the bodies taken from the church, and it looks like the living and the dead come to judgment. (Arriaga 1968: 18–19 [1621])7
FIGURE 12.1. Guaman Poma de Ayala (1980: 264 [1615: 289]) shows the remains of an important individual being carried to a burial tower. To the right, his widow and a child grieve. To the left is the burial tower of his ancestors. The caption reads “Entiero de Chincaisuios” [Burial in Chinchaysuyu].
Try as they might, it proved extremely difficult for the Spaniards to stop these practices from occurring. For example, in just one anti-idolatry campaign, which lasted from February of 1617 to July of 1618, Arriaga (1968: 20 [1621: Ch. 1]) reports that some 477 bodies were returned to the church for reburial.
The worship of mummified leaders was particularly confrontational to the Spaniards and was interpreted as both a religious and political threat to their tenuous control of the Andes. In the end, the Spaniards found that burning the mummified bodies of past leaders was the best way to discourage the practice. This is illustrated in the case of Hernando de Avendaño’s anti-idolatry work in the Province of Chancay. There he discovered the mummified remains of an important lord and a lower-level official. These remains were so respected in former times that a gold diadem and many finely woven textiles (cumbi) had been sent to them by the Inca. The remains were transported by Avendaño to Lima for the viceroy and archbishop to see, and then they were publicly burned:
He [Hernando de Avendaño] visited still other towns and discovered in them much idolatry and many huacas [shrines], among them one famous among the Indians and venerated even in remote villages. This was the mummy of a very ancient curaca [lord], named Libiacancharco, located about a league and a half from the town of San Cristóbal de Rapaz in a shelter below a cave in a very steep mountain. It had its huama, or diadem of gold, on its head and was dressed in seven fine shirts of cumbi (fine cloth). These, the Indians said, had been sent to them as a present by the ancient Inca kings. This mummy, and that of a majordomo of his called Chuchu Michuy, located in a different place and much venerated by the Indians, were brought to Lima just as they were for the Lord Viceroy and the Lord Archbishop to see. They were paraded publicly and then a solemn auto-da-fé was held to which all the inhabitants of the province were invited, and the mummies were burned together with a great many huacas, to the great consternation and fear of the Indians. (Arriaga 1968: 15–16 [1621: Ch. 1])8
Hundreds, if not thousands, of similar burnings took place across the Andes as the Spaniards sought to destroy the roots of the autochthonous religions within their newly won territories.
Yet even the burning of the corpses did not always end the indigenous practice of ancestor worship. The enduring nature of this religious practice is perhaps best illustrated in the cases of Viracocha Inca’s (the eighth Inca) and Topa Inca Yupanqui’s (the tenth Inca) mummies. The body of Topa Inca Yupanqui was burned in 1533 by Atahualpa’s forces when they captured Cuzco, because his descent group had allied themselves with Huascar. However, the ashes of Topa Inca Yupanqui were placed in a small jar and continued to be worshiped by surviving famil
y members (Sarmiento de Gamboa 1906: 102, 122–123 [1572: Ch. 54, Ch. 66]; Cobo 1979: 151 [1653: Bk. 12, Ch. 15]). Likewise, Viracocha Inca’s mummy was hunted down and burned by Gonzalo Pizarro as he searched the Cuzco region for treasure. The ashes of Viracocha Inca were also placed in a small jar and worshiped until Polo de Ondegardo discovered them (Sarmiento de Gamboa 1906: 59 [1572: Ch. 25]; Cobo 1979: 132 [1653: Bk. 12, Ch. 11]; Acosta 1986: 421, 429–430 [1590: Bk. 6, Ch. 20]).
The Royal Panacas of Cuzco
The practice of mummification and ancestor worship in the Andes reached its most complex form within the city of Cuzco. At the time of the European invasion, the royal Inca of Cuzco traced their ancestry back some eleven generations from the last undisputed ruler of the empire, Huayna Capac, to the mythical founder of Cuzco, Manco Capac (Table 1.1). It is widely recognized that the Inca subdivided this dynastic list into two groups: rulers associated with Hurin (lower) Cuzco and those associated with Hanan (upper) Cuzco. The first five Inca kings, Manco Capac through Capac Yupanqui, were affiliated with Hurin Cuzco, and the last five, Inca Roca through Topa Inca Yupanqui, were associated with Hanan Cuzco.
The social elite of Cuzco, or what Garcilaso de la Vega classifies as the Inca of Royal Blood, was composed of the ruling Inca and his sister/wife, as well as the direct descendants of all previous Inca rulers. Generally, at the death of an Inca king, his eldest son inherited the position of Inca, and the other male descendants of the dead Inca formed a royal descent group called a panaca (or panaca ayllu) dedicated to supporting the cult, lands, and prestige of their deceased father. Cobo summarizes the panaca system of Cuzco:9
Furthermore, upon the death of the king, the prince did not inherit his house and treasure, but it was handed over along with the body of the deceased king to the family that he had founded. This entire treasure was used for the cult of his body and the sustenance of his family. After having the body of their father the king embalmed, they kept it with all of his dishes and jewelry; the king’s family and all of his descendants adored the body as a god. The body was handed down to the most prominent members of the family, and they did not make use of the dead king’s dishes, except when the town or place where the body was deposited held an important fiesta. And the successor to the crown set up his house anew, accumulating for it a treasure to leave to those of his ayllo and lineage. (Cobo 1979: 111 [1653: Bk. 12, Ch. 4])10
Thus at the death of an Inca king a cult was established by his descendants that was then maintained through time with the wealth that the king had accumulated during his reign. Each of the dead kings continued to own his central palace in Cuzco as well as various estates, agricultural land, and camelid herds in the Cuzco region. This system grew to such an extreme that Huascar, frustrated by the fact that some of the richest lands of the Cuzco region were held by the royal panacas, once declared that “the dead had the best of everything in his kingdom”11 (Pedro Pizarro 1921: 205–206 [1571]).12
Care for the Mummies
Some of the royal mummies appear to have been maintained in their estates or palaces, and others spent much of their time in the Coricancha. Regardless of where they were generally kept, panaca members carried the Inca mummies to the central plaza of Cuzco for the public to see on the most important ritual days of the year. Those former Inca kings associated with Hurin Cuzco were arranged in order of their rule on the left side of the plaza; those of Hanan Cuzco were placed on the right.
During the important rituals of Cuzco, each of the mummies was accompanied by an entourage of servants who provided food and drink for the deceased kings as well as for the living persons who attended the celebrations. Pedro Pizarro offers an especially detailed description of the mummified Inca kings being fed while sitting near the center of the plaza. Because Pedro Pizarro arrived in Cuzco in 1534, when the mummies were still being openly displayed and worshiped, there is little doubt that he was an actual eyewitness to these extraordinary events:13
. . . they took them all out into the plaza and sat them down in a row, each one according to his antiquity, and there the men and women servitors ate and drank. And for the dead they made fires before them with a piece of very dry wood which they had worked into a very even shape. Having set this piece of wood on fire, they burned here every thing which they had placed before the dead in order that he might eat of the things which they eat, and here in this fire they consumed it. Likewise before these dead people they had certain large pitchers, which they call verquis, made of gold, silver or pottery, each one according to his wish, and into [these vessels] they poured the chicha which they gave to the dead man with much display, and the dead pledged one another as well as the living, and the living pledged the dead. When these verquis were filled, they emptied them into a round stone in the middle of the plaza, which they held to be an idol, and it was made around a small opening by which it [the chicha] drained itself off though some pipes which they had made underground. (Pedro Pizarro 1921: 251–252 [1571])14
FIGURE 12.2. The ruling Inca and his wife make liquid offerings to a previous Inca king and queen. The mummified Inca king sits on a low stool, and the mummified queen kneels on the ground to the right of him. In the background is an open burial chamber. The caption reads “Capítulo Primero, Entiero del Inga/inca illapa aia/defunto” [First Chapter, Burial of an Inca, lightening Inca corpse, deceased]. (Guaman Poma de Ayala 1980: 262 [1615: 287])
FIGURE 12.3. A high-ranking leader and his wife make offerings to the well-preserved mummy of an ancestor in Collasuyu. Both the man and woman drink corn beer while the man simultaneously pours a cup of the same liquid into a large vessel on the ground. Behind the mummy is a burial tower in which the remains of older individuals can be seen. The caption reads “Entiero de Colla Suios” [Burial in Collasuyu]. (Guaman Poma de Ayala 1980: 268 [1615: 293])
The indigenous chronicler Guaman Poma de Ayala (1980: 262, 268 [1616: 287, 293]) depicts two scenes similar to the one described by Pedro Pizarro. In the first drawing, he shows the ruling Inca toasting the mummies of the previous king and queen while pouring the contents of a second cup into a large ceramic vessel (Figure 12.2). In the second drawing, he illustrates a nearly identical scene occurring in the area of Collasuyu (Figure 12.3).
Betanzos, who saw several of the royal mummies in Cuzco just before Polo de Ondegardo found them, provides an especially elaborate description of Huayna Capac visiting each of the palaces of the former kings. Betanzos emphasizes the fact that there were special servants of the kings who would sing epic songs about the dead king’s achievements.
[Huayna Capac] ordered that, since he was looking into the things of these lords, the mamaconas and servants of each lord should sing his history and past deeds. Thus as he was inspecting the images and their houses, whenever he noticed anything lacking, he would provide it for them. When he reached the house of Inca Yupanque, hearing the song of his history, the great deeds and livestock of this lord, the Inca stayed for one month holding great feasts and making sacrifices to the image of Inca Yupanque, his grandfather. To this image he gave great gifts, a great number of mamacona maidens, as well as many yanacona youths. He ordered them to settle in the valleys near Cuzco and that from there to bring what they cultivated and raised to the house of Inca Yupanque. Thus they brought fruit, fresh maize, and birds. These were placed before the image of Inca Yupanque as if he were alive and with the same show of reverence as when he was alive. Moreover, he ordered the Soras, the Lucanas, and the Chankas of Andahuaylas put in the service of this image because they were the first provinces that this lord Inca Yupanque conquered and subjugated in his life.
After this the Inca went into the house where the image of his uncle, Yamque Yupanque, was kept. Then he heard his story in his song of praise. Remaining there ten days and with great reverence to him, the Inca made sacrifices, left provisions, and gave him great gifts. He gave him a certain repartimiento in Vilcas. From there he went into the house of his father, and in his story and song of praise he heard and
learned of his great deeds and of the lord who was fond of subjugating lands and provinces. (Betanzos 1996: 166–167 [1557: Pt. 1, Ch. 41])15
In the above, Betanzos indicates that each of the Inca kings continued to control important estates after his death and that the produce from these holdings were used to support the cult of that particular king and his retainers.
Cobo, building on information provided by Polo de Ondegardo and Pedro Pizarro, also stresses that the descent groups of the deceased kings supported themselves on his lands for generations after his death.
The relatives of the deceased would look after these dead bodies, and they kept them adorned and carefully preserved. The bodies were wrapped in a large amount of cotton with the face covered. The bodies were not brought out except for major festivals. No ordinary people saw the bodies except for those responsible for dressing them, watching over them, and caring for their preservation. These attendants sustained themselves on the farmland that the descendants of the deceased had designated for this purpose. The embalmed bodies were greatly venerated, and sacrifices were made to each one according to their resources. . . . The lords and chiefs of their family units always looked after them, and the whole family devoted itself to paying tribute to their deceased. The bodies were brought out with a large retinue for all solemn festivals, and for less solemn occasions, in place of the bodies, their guauques were brought out. (Cobo 1990 39–40 [1653: Bk. 13, Ch. 10])16
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