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Durham E-Theses Some considerations on social classication in the Inca Empire, the concept of Viracocha, and its response to the Spanish invasion Wallis, Christopher N. How to cite: Wallis, Christopher N. (1975) Some considerations on social classication in the Inca Empire, the concept of Viracocha, and its response to the Spanish invasion, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9945/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 "Some Considerations on Social Classification in the Inca Empire, the Concept of VIRACOCHA, and. its response to the Spanish Invasion" by Christopher N. Wallis The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. A thesis submitted to the University of Durham (Faculty of Social Sciences) for the degree of Master of Arts January 1975 ABSTRACT The initial intention of the thesis was to explore an alternative framework for the interpretation of VIRACOCHA, described by the Spanish chroniclers as the Creator God of the Incas. If the different applications of the term lviracocha' (to an Inca ruler, to certain supernatural beings, and to the fleity) are assumed to have some coherence then VIRACOCHA as a concept may be seen in relation to a specific sociological contra• diction that, it is presumed, arose with the expansion of the Inca empire. This contradiction is the point of departure for the thesis as follows. In local sources (ie non-Inca oriented) a dual form of classification can be found that distinguishes betv/een '.Insiders1 and 'Outsiders', the latter being conceptually subordinate. This 'exclusivist1 orientation, it is argued, was upset by the spread of the Inca empire, which posited a more 'inclusive' framework for the classification of its subject groups. The MITIMAS (Inca colonists), by being outsiders to the communities in which they were settled but being also agents, with political power, of the ruling Incas, are taken as a case of the contra-diction of 'exclusivist' values. In the dual organiza• tion of Cuzco, the Inca capital, it is suggested that the superordinate moiety had associations with the 'Outsider' category. In religious organization it may be seen that an 'imperial' framework was being extended over local cults and it may be that VIRACOCHA had a key position in generating this more inclusive framework. But the same framework may be referred back to the afore• mentioned sociological contradiction (Exclusive/inclusive), between which the VIRACOCHA concept may be seen to mediate and to allow for transformation between old and new models. The mediating role of the concept in the above instance is seen to carry over into the relations between the Indians and' Spaniards, between whom new applications of the VTRACOCHA concept could be said to have also mediated, ensuring the compatability of both Spaniards and Indians being included within the same conceptual framework. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PP. i - viii CHAPTER I Page Localism and 'Exclusiveness' in the social organizations of Inca Peru 1 - LLACTA/LLACHUAZ classifications:Inside/Outside 11 _ PACARISCAS: territorial definition of social groups .. 19 - Cuzco: alternative social classifications .. 25 CHAPTER II Reversal of Classificatory values under the Incas, and the shift towards 'Inclusiveness1 .. .. .. .. .. .. 4-0 - Imperial Education .. 41 - MITIMAS: the outsider elevated 44 - HANAN/HURIN: association of the Inca as Outsider with superordinate category 56.' - The Contradiction 62 CHAPTER III Religious organization and the generation of an Imperial framework 64- - Sun Cult 64 - Religious Reform and the involvement of the LLACHUASES 67 - Cuzco: the imperial setting 72 - Reform in the Provinces 75 - Inca myth of Origins .. .. 85 CHAPTER IV The VTRACOCHA concept 94 - Interpretations of the past 97 - Digression: CAMAC and the idea of Creation .. .. .. 104 - Zuidema's analysis of Viracocha .. .. 112 - VIRACOCHA'S ambivalence: its r&lation to the categories LLACTA and LLACHUAZ 118 - VIRACOCHA: a mediating category 134 Page - VIRACOCHA and 1 liminality1 139 - VIRACOCHA: a sociological and religious phenomenon .. .. 14-3 CHAPTER V VIRACOCHA after the Spanish Conquest .. 148 - Identification with the Spaniards 153 - Association with a Christian Apostle; a new mediation .. 158 CONCLUSION .. 164 GLOSSARY, of indigenous terms 172 MAP, of Tahuantinsuyu with the tribes mentioned in the text 173a BIBLIOGRAPHY 174- INTRODUCTION The initial interest that directed my study to Inca Peru and the period that immediately followed after its conquest by the Spaniards in the 16th century lay in the old question of what happens when two unrelated societies meet for the first time. I wished to ask if the concept of 'syncretism' could offer any insights to the process, and if it could then it was hoped that the concept itself might gain more precision and meaning, which at 1 the present it sadly lacks. The area I chose to study was religious, since the division and conflict between the pagan religion of the Indians and Christianity was felt as so pressingly obvious to the early Spanish commentators. It was thus hoped that it would be possible to reconstruct aspects of Incaic religion (especially in the realm of thought) and observe how these responded to the Christian teachings on such central subjects as Christ's Nature, the Crucifixion, the Holy Eucharist, the doctrine of the Saints. This project soon showed itself to be hopelessly misguided since there was not anything like the source material that would make it possible. There was, however, one curious case that offered an opport• unity for a study of syncretism, this was the myth of Tonapa written in the early 17th century by an Indian called Joan de Santacruz 2 Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua. Its subject was an unmistakeable 1 By the word syncretism I wish to imply as loose a meaning as possible, such as a situation where in one society features of a previously alien society are prominent. The question is how are elements incorporated from without, assuming a systematic organization to society, its values, and activities, which will not permit additions or subtractions to occur purely randomly? 2 Salcamayhua (c.1613), 1968, pp. 283-4. The dates in brackets after the name of the author, in the case of historical sources, refer to the date of the work's first publication or estimated date of completion. i ii blend of Christian and native Indian tradition and was linked with the growing legend that in the distant past a Christian Apostle (St Thomas or St Bartholomew) had once visited, and preached in, Peru. On the Indian side Tonapa could be associated with Viracocha, who .was described by the Spanish chroniclers as the Creator God of 1 the Incas. I at once set to trying to understand Viracocha, who displayed several puzzling features in the descriptions of him, including certain identifications with the Spaniards. The material on Viracocha proved to be much more complicated than expected with the consequence that I found it necessary to divert all attention to trying to understand Inca society more generally and the place of Viracocha within it. The available material began to reveal certain contradictions in Indian conceptions of social classification within the Inca empire, and these suggested a possible framework for the interpretation of Viracocha, \-jhova it then became convenient and enlightening to consider more as a concept than as primarily a god. This procedure was aided by the circumstance that the term 'Viracocha|; had a multiple application although the different usages all con- 2 tinued to bear some relation to one another. The enquiry into Inca society indicated the importance of a widespread and fundamental classification in pre-hispanic Peru between 'Insiders' and 'Outsiders', which appears to have operated at a general level of classification and also, more specifically, in the social organization within particular communities. This kind of dual distinction between 'Insiders' and 'Outsiders' has been given emphasis in the more recent Inca studies of Tom Zuidema and Juan Ossio 3 and this encouraged me to trust my own opinion of its importance. 1 Chapter 5 2 Chapter 4 3 Zuidema, 1964 Ossio, 1970, 1973 iii Curiously, hovzever, Zuidema has paid no attention to this classif• ication in its most explicit form (LLACTA/LLACHUAZ), but rather came to his conclusions after research into other examples of social organization, involving both dual and tripartite models of classification. In this omission I found further reason to emphasize the classification of 'Insiders'/'Outsiders' in its most explicit form, between LLACTAS (Insiders) and LLACHUASES (Outsiders), because it suggested certain variations and refinements in the model as handed down by Zuidema. It will be apparent that by this stage the subject of the thesis had shifted considerably from its origins, but possibly this shift indicates some of the peculiar problems that a subject like 'Syncretism' poses; problems that include relating specific elements in a culture to a more total setting, in a more holistic conception of society, and balancing this with a concern for the histories of the elements or whole institutions.

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