According to Inca mythology, the Incas are direct descendants of a mythical first Inca named Manco Capac, who emerged from one of three openings in the Tambotoco mountain near Pacaritambo (or Pacariqtambo) (tavern of the dawn), located about six leagues (approximately 33 km) south-southwest of Cuzco, Peru.
Although he remains a semi-mythical figure whose actual time period cannot be clearly identified, he is considered an Inca hero, and many ancient legends connect Manco Capac with the founding of Cuzco. There are several versions of the origin of the Inca, which were described in various Spanish chronicles.
Manco Capac (“the royal founder”), also known as Manco Inca and Ayar Manco, was, according to some historians, the first governor and founder of the Inca civilization in Cusco, possibly in the early 13th century, and is also a major figure in Inca mythology, starring in the two best-known legends about the origin of the Inca, which connect him with the founding of Cusco.
His main wife was Mama Uqllu, also the mother of his son and successor Sinchi Ruq’a. Although he is mentioned in several chronicles, his actual existence remains uncertain.
1. History
One version of this belief, prevalent among the Andean peoples in the places of origin of their mythical ancestors, is that of Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532-1592), a Spanish explorer, historian, writer, astronomer, and scientist.
He meticulously collected first-hand oral accounts from Inca informants and produced a history (commonly titled “The History of the Incas”) that chronicles their violent conquest of the region. Written in Cuzco, barely forty years after the arrival of the first Spaniards in the city, Sarmiento’s History of the Incas contains extremely detailed descriptions of Inca history and mythology.
In his version of the legendary tale of Manco Capac, four men and four women, the first Incas, emerged from the central cave of Capac-toco. Two other openings in the cave were called Sutic-toco and Maras-toco, from which other non-Inca groups emerged.
These two cave openings were connected by a golden and silver tree representing the maternal and paternal ancestors of Manco Capac, respectively.
2. Origin
Manco Capac was born in Tamputoco, which according to some is located in the present-day province of Pumaurco, in Peru. The city used to serve as a refuge for many people fleeing the Aymara invasions of the Altiplano. His father’s name was Apu Tambo. Manco Capac and his family lived a nomadic life.
The Inca ancestors were men named Manco Capac, Ayar Auca, Ayar Cache, and Ayar Ucho, and four women named Mama Ocllo, Mama Guaco, Mama Ipacura, and Mama Raua. Sarmiento de Gamboa. These eight Incas left Tambotoco and walked to Guanacancha (or Waynakancha) where Manco Capac and his sister and wife Mama Oqllu conceived a son.
They then walked to several other villages; in Tambo Oir (Tamboquiro), their son Sinchi Roca was born and grew up to succeed his father Manco Capac as the second king of the Inca Empire.
In Haysquisrro, seven of the Incas decided to kill their brother Ayar Cache, a great trickster who was very cruel and skilled with a slingshot. To achieve this, Manco Capac sent Ayar Cache, with an assistant named Tambochacay, back to Tambotoco to retrieve several items that were said to have been left in the cave.
When Ayar Cache entered the cave, he was immediately sealed inside with a large rock. Tambochacay, however, was transformed into a stone by the buried Ayar Cache. After Ayar Cache’s death, the seven remaining Incas abandoned Haysquisrro and walked toward the mountain of Guanacauri (or Huanacauri), where a second brother of Manco Capac was transformed into stone. It is said that Manco Capac descended from the mountain of Huanacauri to the valley of Cuzco.
After a considerable struggle, Manco Capac and his sister/wife Mama Ocllo defeated the indigenous inhabitants of the Cuzco Valley and established a new dynastic order in Cuzco. The ruling elite of Cuzco at the time of the Spanish conquest were thought to be the direct descendants of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo and were therefore considered the legitimate rulers of the Inca state.
3. Foundation of Cusco
Walls of Colcapata, which served as the palace of Manqu Qhapaq. After his father’s death, Manco Capac had to succeed him as head of the ayllu, to which several dozen families belonged. The members of the ayllu were nomads, and the route of their travels through the Altiplano resembles the journey described in the legend of the Ayar brothers.
Upon reaching the Cusco Valley, they defeated three small tribes living there: the Sahuares, Huallas, and Alcahuisas, and then settled in a marshy area between two small streams, which today corresponds to the main square of the city of Cusco. The newly founded city was divided into four districts: Chumbicancha, Quinticancha, Sairecancha, and Yarambuycancha.
Manco Capac’s tribe, or ayllu, occupied only a small fraction of the Cusco Valley, and the rest was inhabited by larger and more powerful tribes, which often threatened the city. Located north of the city was a confederated lordship of Ayarmacas and Pinaguas.
All these tribes considered Manco Capac and his ayllu to be invaders, and they often attacked them. Manco Capac, and later his son and successor Sinchi Roca, often had to defend the city against the other tribes.
4. Death
Manco Capac died of natural causes and left his son, Sinchi Roca, as his successor in Cusco. His body was mummified and remained in the city until the reign of Pachacuti, who ordered its transfer to the temple of Tiwanaku on Lake Titicaca.
5. Mythological origin
According to the most commonly told story, the first Inca god, Manco Capac, his sister and wife Mama Ocllo, and six brothers were sent to earth by the sun god Inti to teach people how to improve their way of life. The sun god was very concerned that the people of the earth were not living in a civilized manner.
He gave his children a golden rod, called tapac yauri, and told them to push it into the ground wherever they stopped to rest. When they came to a place where the rod sank completely into the ground with a single push, they were to build a sacred city of the sun, which would be called Cuzco.
He also ordered them to build a Temple of the Sun in honor of his father Inti. Given the lack of a written tradition confirming this account prior to the publication of“The Royal Commentaries of the Incas”by Garcilaso de la Vega in 1609, the authenticity of this story cannot be proven.
Another account says that Manco Capac tricked the people into believing that he was the son of the sun god. He did this by standing on a mountain with silver plates that glistened in the sun and made him look like a god. Both legends claim that he was the founder of the city of Cusco and that his wife was Mama Uqllu.
Legend of the Ayar brothers
In this legend, Manco Capac (Ayar Manco) was the son of Viracocha of Paqariq Tampu (six leagues or 25 km south of Cusco). He and his brothers (Ayar Auca, Ayar Cachi, and Ayar Uchu) and sisters (Mama Ocllo, Mama Huaco, Mama Raua, and Mama Ipacura) lived near Cusco in Paqariq Tampu, and they united their people with other tribes they encountered on their travels.
They sought to conquer the tribes of the Cusco Valley. This legend also incorporates the golden staff, which is believed to have been given to Manco Capac by his father. Accounts vary, but according to some versions of the legend, Manco got rid of his three brothers, either by trapping them or turning them to stone, thus becoming the leader of Cusco. He married Mama Ocllo, and they had a son named Sinchi Roca.
Legend of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo
In this second legend, Manco Capac was a son of the sun god Inti and the moon goddess Mama Killa, and brother of Pacha Kamaq. Manco Capac himself was worshipped as fire and as the sun god. According to the legend of Inti, Manco Capac and his brothers were sent to Earth by the sun god and emerged from the cave of Pacaritambo with a golden staff called tapac-yauri.
Charged with creating a Temple of the Sun in the place where the staff sank into the earth, they traveled to Cusco through caves and there built a temple in honor of their father Inti. However, given the absence of a written tradition recounting this story prior to the publication of Comentarios Reales de los Incas by Garcilaso de la Vega in 1609, the authenticity of this legend as a legitimate Inca legend is questioned.
6. In fiction
- The Scrooge McDuck comic The Son of the Sun, written by Don Rosa, features Manco Capac as the original owner of several lost treasures.
- In the first chapter of Herman Melville’s The Confidence-Man, the sudden appearance at dawn on April 1 of a mysterious fictional character is compared to the appearance of Manco Capac on Lake Titicaca.
- In P.B. Manco Capac, the fifth book in the series The Children of the Lamp, Kerr’s Eye of the Forest,is said to be a powerful Djinn who took his place as a god among the Incas by displaying his power to manipulate matter.
- In British writer Anthony Horowitz’s series of suspense and fantasy books, The Power of Five, Manco Capac is the son of Inti and one of five children destined to keep the universe safe from the forces of evil. Capac is reincarnated in the 21st century as a Peruvian beggar named Pedro.
- Kuzco, the main character in Emperor’s New Groove, was supposed to be called Manco Capac in the first version of the film Kingdom of the Sun .
