Qorikancha/Inca Grill/Cusco

We tour the Dominican Monastery built atop the Inca temple of Qorikancha to indicate the dominance of European Catholicism over the animist/naturalist indigenous. This was one of numerous shrines located around the main Inca Plaza. These shrines included other sacred places: rocks, caves, springs, etc. venerated by the population of Cusco. All these places were called wakas. The wakas were connected with each other by imaginary lines that radiated from Qoricancha and were known as seqes. In Quechua, seqe means “line.” Qorikancha was the center from which the seqes spread. Around 16 important wakas were located within its walls or close to it. Among these wakas were buildings, squares, sacred stones and fountains. The most detailed and complete description of the seqes system in contained in the treatise: History of the New World (1653) by the Jesuit Bernabe Cobo. Cobo, in his turn, copied the list of the seqes from another manuscript, now lost, by Juan Polo de Ondegardo. Benabe Cobo lists and describes 328 wakas connected with each other by 41 or 42 seqes. Each seqe line linked from three to fifteen wakas. The seqes were distributed among the four provinces of the Inca Empire. the provinces Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu and Qollasuyu had nine seqes each, while in the Kuntisuyu province fourteen or fifteen seqes were concentrated. The painting made by the Cusco artist Miguel Araoz Cartagena shows us a scheme of the seqes of Cusco. Qorikanch is the center of the radiating lines. The four background colors mark the four provinces of the Tawantinsuyu Empire: the orange color corresponds to Chinchaysuyu, the yellow color to Antisyuyu the green to Qollasuyu and the red one to Kuntisyuy. The lines represent the 41 seqes. The points on the lines symbolize the 328 wakas situated on the seqes. In the 1970s the anthropologist Tom Zuidema developed a hypothesis according to which the seqe system was closely related to the Inca calendar. The hypothesis suggested that each day of the year corresponded to one of the wakas. On that day cult was rendered to it and offerings were made. Besides, Zuidema presumed that the wakas served as places for astronomic observations. A light lunch with lots of sitting for acclimatization was had a restaurant (Inca Grill) built atop a former temple.

THE MILKY WAY IN INCA ASTRONOMY
The deities venerated in Qorikancha were personified celestial bodies and meteorologicl phenomena. In order to understand these beliefs, it is necessary to make reference to Inca astronomy, which is known to us through some brief mentions in colonial chronicles and through the folk astronomy of Quechua communities of today. The painting by the Cusco artist Miguel Araoz Cartagena shows the Milky Way over Cusco, in the months of July and August, when the sky is clear and most of the astronomical phenomena venerated by the Incas can be easily observed. In the Andes, the Milky Way is called “mayu” (celestial river). Unlike the Western constellation composed of groups of starts, the Andean culture distinguishes dark spots against the light background of the Milky Way and identifies them with silhouettes of animals that have come to drink its waters and darken its shining with their shadows. These spots are called “Yama phuyu” (black clouds). On the right hand side of the painting Machaguay, or the big water serpent, appears. In the center, two small figures of Yutu (partridge) and Hamp’atu (toad) can be seen. They are followed by the female llama with two shining eyes corresponding to the stars Alpha and Beta Centuari. Underneath in the upside-down position is her cub, the baby Llama. The llamas are chased by the fox (Atoq) with red eyes e. In some communities, a figure of the shepherd, with his arms extended towards the llamas, is seen in places of the fox. His legs coincide with the rear paws of the fox. The chronicle of Polo de Ondegado dating to 1585, reas: “..They ??? Two other [stars]…called Catuchillay y Unachillay, that pretend to be a sheep [llama] with a lamb…They also adore another star Machacuay, which is in charge of all the Serpents and Snakes, so that they do not do them any evil, and in general, they [the Incas], believed that all the animals and birds had their likeness in the sky, where responsibility was their position and augmentation.” Possibly, when speaking about “stars”, Polo de Ondegado referred to “Yana phuyu”, a concept which is totally strange to Western astronomy and then could not be fully understood by the author of the chronicle.Read more