Tahuantinsuyo-The Navel of the World
by Sarah Majc
Brigham Young University
Sarah Majc (soon to be Sarah Bartolini Majc) is an international student from Slovenia. She is studying Media Arts at Brigham Young University, with a minor in Creative Writing and Spanish. She is planning on graduating after the Winter of 2025 semester after which she and her then husband will visit his family in Peru for a month or two, then move to Europe.
Ñuka ka-ni Mama Qucha.
I am Mama Qucha.
I am the goddess of the sea and the fishes, the guardian of the sailors and fishermen.
I am the wife of Huiracocha Pachayachachi, the creator of Hanan Pacha, the heavens, Uku Pacha, the underworld, and Kay Pacha, the world of you, the living. He is the creator of all things.
Hamuy, I will tell you the story of the birth of our people, the Inca. They are the last of our pure – a people sent directly from the gods before the strangers came into our lands and corrupted the Inca bloodline with that of savages. They came with sickness and strange tools that beat our children into extinction. I cry often when I remember our lost daughters and sons of the magnificent Inca empire, but I smile upon the beautiful and untouched lands that have remained, and the string that has only by our hand, managed to remain intact, connecting the modern world to the magic and mystery of our Incan children, now perished.
Only a few remain, the scattered descendants living after the manner of their fathers, tending to the earth and breeding animals to make their living. Even though their blood is not pure, their souls remain after the manner of our Inca children, and their hearts beat to our taqui.
Our Inca were a beautiful people. They lived as one with Pacha Mama, Mother Earth. They bred alpacas, guinea pigs, ducks, and dogs. They tended to the earth with love and care, of which Pacha Mama approved, and therefore blessed their harvests to be extremely fruitful. The earth brought forth many a kind of potatoes, squash, corn, tomatoes, chilli peppers, coca, cotton, and yuca. They prospered and remembered who they needed to thank for that.
My brothers and sisters and I delight in the smell of the sacrifices, burned in their gratitude for us – for our providing for them, watching over them, and protecting them. Every now and then, our children forgot of who made them, and whose hands brought forth their posterity. At times like those, we were responsible to, us a loving, but firm parent, remind them of their origin, and their reason for their prosperity. We are not jealous gods, but we will not stand by as our hard work is claimed by someone else and is not properly thanked for through sacrifice and prayer.
As our people grew large in number, so were they able to wax strong in the many crafts we taught them. The Inca became a hard-working people, using the nature Mama Pacha and Mama Sara bless them with, to make a living. They became incredible with the use of alpaca wool, acquiring the skills to produce colourful and elaborate textile. They mastered agriculture, learning how to use the rain that Apu Illapu sent them to water their crops, of which Mama Sara was very proud. They learned how to build great and spacious buildings, some very close to us, so that we could constantly and closely observe them and protect them.
Machu Pichu was our joy and pride, and the people who lived there knew the significance of living so close to Hanan Pacha and us, their guardians. They obtained knowledge of architecture, engineering, and metallurgy that made them soar like a condor. With our wisdom, powers, and guiding hand, the Inca soon became a wonderfully advanced people, multiplying and filling these sacred lands we choose for them. At the height of our pride for our children, we counted 10 million souls, and observed our kingdom to be the largest to be found anywhere on Pacha. Our precious Tawantinsuyu, the Land of the Four Quarters.
But their beginnings were rather modest, although the story nonetheless extraordinary.
It all began with my brother and husband, Huiracocha.
In the beginning there was nothing.
Or perhaps there was something if you take darkness to be something. But that is all there was – darkness and nothing. Huiracocha is your creator. He rose from the great Lake Titicaca in a time of darkness to bring light and life into nothing. He created it all, the sun, the moon, and the stars. He created Hanan Pacha, Kay Pacha, and Uku Pacha. And he was the one that created men, by breathing a breath of life into stones. After a long period of labour, he returned to Lago Titicaca for a period of rest.
But there was a certain order to these things. As my brother arose from Lago Titicaca, the whole world was wrapped in darkness. He created a civilization of giants, by breathing life into rocks and mountains. They lived in darkness, and he observed to see if the size would be fitting to the world he created. He also created the first people, creating them by breathing into smaller stones. They too lived in this world of darkness, along with the nation of giants.
But the civilization of giants that he created with such love and care, grew to become rotten. The giants became dumb and lazy, and Huiracocha became greatly displeased with them. In an act of anger and disappointment, we sent forth such a force that would strike all the giants of the face of the earth. We rid of his embarrassment and regret and looked down with hope upon the people that remained. After that, Huiracocha returned to Lago Titicaca for a period of rest after such a strenuous creation and destruction.
But his rest would not remain undisturbed for long. Much like the giants, the people we left and hoped for became a bad people. Huiracocha was furious and in his immense anger, we called upon Uñu pachacuti, the water that overturns the land. This was a dark time in the history of the Inca, but necessary. As the rain washes away the muck and the sick, so did the flood we sent down cleanse the Pacha. We let the water pour down for 60 days and all the creatures of the earth perished. The few that found refuge in the mountains were struck by the furious Huiracocha and turned into stone. There they remained, as a reminder of us, of our love and mercy, as well as our fury when our children betrayed us.
After some time, Huiracocha softened again his bitter heart, and decided to give humans another chance at life, again breathing life into smaller stones. He created the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Huiracocha was satisfied with what came to be and after a period of time, Huiracuoha again disappeared, this time into the Pacific Ocean. His work with our children was not over and disguised as a beggar, he wandered from one corner to the other, teaching his children different trades, performing miracles, and sharing his teachings with them. As the Inca were obedient, they were able to grow and prosper. However, if they choose to disobey him, they fell into disputes, wars, and all manners of sin. This made us incredibly displeased, and seeing their turmoil, and struggles made us weep for them.
After the great flood, Huiracocha took pity on the destruction he let loose on his children. He called upon 4 of brothers, the Ayar brothers, and tasked them to leave with their wives, their sisters, and their Ayllus, and to become lords of this land. They were summoned by their father, Huiracocha, and emerged from Paqariq Tampu – the mouth of the mountain called Tampu Tocco. They were called to bring light unto our people and to bring unity to the people of the Cuzco Valley.
Ayar Cachi and Mama Cora, Ayar Uchu and Mama Rahua, Ayar Aucca and Mama Huaco, and Ayar Mancho and Mama Uqllu. The latter was given a golden rod by Huiracocha. This rod was to determine the chosen land where they were to settle – if the golden rod upon sticking it into the land, sinks in, it means, that their promised land had been discovered. If, however, the rod does not go into the soil, it means that their assignment is yet to be completed.
Ayar Cachi was the strongest of the brothers, and because of this, severely feared by his brothers and their families. And feared he was rightly – with a single swing of his slingshot, he was able to knock down the mountains and cause cracks in the earth. His brothers envied him his strength and his cunning. They also looked down on his cruelty; on their journeys he would exercise his strength and pleasure in great cruelty towards the people met on their search for the chosen land.
Although the most cunning of the four brothers, the other three brothers and their wives plotted how to rid of him and Mama Cora, their sister, who was a warrior woman befitting of her husband. She carried an aybinto whose blow was equally as powerful as her husband’s. Terrified of their power and scared of their people retaliating against such cruel leaders, the other brothers and sisters tasked Ayar Cachi and Mama Cora with retrieving a golden cup, topacusi, and some other personal items, they had supposedly left at Tampu Tocco.
Manco Capac gave the order and as Ayar Cachi and Mama Cora climbed through Capac Tocco, the window in the mountain from which they emerged, Tampu-Chacay, one of the Inca who was a companion to the company in search for the lands of their posterity, sealed the opening by rolling a rock in front of it. Ayar Cachi yelled in vain, and in his despair, he made the earth shake and the skies shiver. His cries of anger turned Tampu-Chacay into stone, and yet, he was unable to escape the punishment and fate set for him by his jealous and terrified brothers.
Now only three remained.
Ayar Uchu, Ayar Aucca and Ayar Mancho continued their quest for the coveted land, escorted by their wives and their Ayllus.
Their slow pilgrimage by foot was hard and exhausting. As they continued southeast, they passed through wonderful places such as Guanacancha, where they remained for a period of planting seeds Mama Rahua carried and sowing them. But alas, since the golden staff did not sink into the ground, they were displeased, and desired to achieve their important task.
They resumed their search and found themselves in Tamboquiro, where they remained for some years. Huiracocha and I were slowly growing restless and impatient with our children and their constant need for rest. We reminded them of their mission by sending various tribes their way, that would rise up against them in battles.
After a long journey of search, they arrived to Huanacaure Montaña. Upon this mountain, they stumbled across a stone idol in the huaca, our temple. Although Ayar Uchu was given the gift of communicating to his father through the wind, the earth, the fire, and the water, Ayar Uchu, upon seeing the idol became consumed by pride. He felt to mock it. He desired to destroy it, but before he did so, he mocked it and showed an immense amount of disrespect by jumping on it.
We would not suffer to be scorned like that.
He was stricken and his fate was to be one with the thing which he chose to mock. He became a part of the idol in our sacred huaca.
Ayar Uchu was turned into stone.
With time running short, and with the us watching over them impatiently, the remaining brother felt the pressure to fulfil their god-given task. Their desire to impress us and make us proud grew immense, even so, that Ayar Auca manifested a miracle. He grew a pair of wings, and he soared above his wife, above his one remaining brother, and their families. He mustered the remainder of the strength left in his body, weary from years of wandering and searching for the promised land. He flapped his winds, soaring above the clouds, desperately trying to find the place to finally start the majestic Inca Empire. He found himself flying above a land called La Pampa del Sol.
He felt the urge to explore – could perhaps this be the land of their heritage? The land where the Inca people will rise under Inti, the God of Sun?
With immense hope, he landed on the hallowed ground and the moment he did, he turned into stone.
Now, with only one brother remaining. He journeyed with his sister and wife, and the wives of his two brothers and the rest of the travelling company. Finally, they reached the blessed land ye now call Cuzco. They came to the where Rio Tullamayo y Rio Huantanay kiss and Ayar Manco called to have the golden staff. He gripped it tight and thought of his lost brothers and the long journey they survived. He took a deep breath and pushed it as hard as he could into the ground.
The golden staff sank all the way in – this was to be the navel of the world and so it was named Cuzco. A sacred place, the doorway to what would later become one of the greatest achievements of our people – Machu Pichu.
The valley however was far from empty. As it was a fruitful area, it had already been populated by certain tribes. But Ayar Manco knew his task, and so did the wives. Ayar Manco was a born leader, but not only that, the women who accompanied him were astonishingly magnificent. Mama Huaca was a powerful and great fighter. When the people resisted and fought back, she threw her bolas, striking down and killing one of the greatest warriors of the people in the valley. They recognised her strength and felt immense fear by our children and left.
After the people of the valley left the land, Ayar Manco took on a different name. Our son became Manco Capac, and he became the first leader of the Inca, an Empire which grew to more than what Huiracocha and I and all the other gods could hope for. Ayar Manco and his sisters begun building the first Inca homes, in the manner which was imitated by their people for years to come, and which even now fascinates some mortals who look with awe upon my children and the amazing buildings and temples they made with nothing but their bare hands, and a burning desire in their hearts to please us, their gods.
Mama Rahua, the sister, and wife of Ayar Uchu, was tasked with carrying many seeds and had a talent for the use of medicinal plants, the Huiracocha entrusted her with before their departure. One of the many seeds was that of the corn, bestowed upon the Inca by Mama Sara. These good corn seeds were a blessing upon the land, which made our children grow strong and wise. They became a people like no other under the sun.
Huiracocha, pleased with our children and their fulfilment of the sacred mission he tasked them with, returned and came to look upon and give his blessing upon the city of Cuzco. He called forth the lords who would rule this great empire, and after his work was done, Huiracocha walked to the shore of the great ocean of mine and walked off across the waters.
Although, Huiracocha did not do so without leaving his beloved children with one final commandment – beware of the false prophets who would come and claim to be the returned Huiracocha.