Waka

Incas endowed with supernatural powers a wide variety of objects, natural phenomena, places and even mountains, which are still revered by some Peruvian peasants. They call such peculiar shrines one common word - “uaka” (holy place).

According to the Report to the King of Spain, compiled by the governor of Francisco de Borja on April 8, 1615 , the Indians of Peru had 10,422 idols , including 1,365 mummies, and some were the founders of their clans, tribes and villages. ^[1] It is also known that in some provinces there were more than 300 vac, for example, in the province of Guamachuco ^[2] .

The Spanish priest and chronicler Father Bernabe Cobo noted that the Incas did not distinguish between earthly and heavenly. The term “uaca," he said, they "applied to all holy places intended for prayers and sacrifices, as well as to all gods and idols worshiped in such places." He made a list of 350 waka, it featured everything - from mountains, rocks, springs to ancient tombs and battlefields, on which emperors covered themselves with unfading glory. And this is only in one area of Cuzco . Kobo’s father also described what they were: they were located along a series of lines called “sekés” that came from one specific place, Korikanchi, located in the heart of Cuzco. Each of these sekes, together with all of its wakas, became the subject of concern and exclusive responsibility of a particular clan, who took care of this place and sacrificed on solemn occasions.

Archaeologists have noticed that the location of some wakas is associated with sunrise and sunset on certain days and therefore they could serve as a kind of ritual calendar . But such a conclusion, like other conclusions about a culture that did not leave behind any written monuments, remains only a hunch.

All chroniclers who reported Andean beliefs also speak of minor gods: firstly, they are regional or tribal, secondly, district or clan, and finally family. The first historian Cristobal de Albornos calls Pakariski . Pakariski could be mythical ancestors and ancestors of large ethnic groups, speaking in various guises. Among them can be mentioned such gods as: Pariakaka, Karua, Vanka, Isaavilka, Chinchakocha or Yanaraman (Pariacaca, Carhua Huanca, Aisawilka, Chinchacocha, Yanaraman). These deities, according to Ana M. Mariscotti, "are neither creators nor created or principium sine principio, but descendants of other gods." Such is Pariakaka, in the tradition of the Cheka tribe, where he is considered the son of Viracochi; likewise, if we look at the traditions of the Jungs collected by the Augustinians in 1551 , we find that Apo Katekil is the son of Ataguhu. Something similar is found in local mythical stories.

Augustinians mention such idols and wakas in the Guamachuko region (see map) ^[3] :

• Laigen (Llaygen)
• Kauri
• Guallio
• Coaquilca
• Kasipoma (Casiapoma)
• Guamansiri
• Topa Llimillay
• Muniguindo
• Guachecoal
• Usorpillao (Uzorpillao)
• Akuchuacque
• Yanaguanca and Shulka Waka (Yanaguanca y Xulca Huaca)
• Maylla
• Llaga (Llaga)
• Guacancocha

• Kenko is one of the largest uaca in the Cuzco region. A semicircular wall of stacked smooth large stones only emphasizes the natural monolithic calcareous rock, this is the main center for religious worship in Kenko. In the cave adjacent to the wall there is an altar carved into the rock.
• Temple of the moon .

• Varkin A., Zdanovich L. Secrets of disappeared civilizations. - M., 2000.
• Kuprienko S.A. Sources of the XVI-XVII centuries on the history of the Incas: chronicles, documents, letters / Ed. S.A. Kuprienko .. - K .: Vidavets Kuprіnko S.A., 2013 .-- 418 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-03-3 .

• A. Shy. The table of the Lines of Seque, the sanctuaries of Wac, and the main places of worship of the Incas, which were in Cuzco.