Viracocha and the Second Age: Origins of the First Peoples: From “History of the Incas,” Part 2 of 2

“FABLE OF THE SECOND AGE, AND CREATION OF THE INDIANS ACCORDING TO THEIR ACCOUNT”

“IT IS RELATED that everything was destroyed in the flood called uñu pachacuti. It must now be known that Viracocha Pachayachachi, when he destroyed that land as has been already recounted, preserved three men, one of them named Taguapaca, that they might serve and help him in the creation of new people who had to be made in the second age after the deluge, which was done in this manner. The flood being passed and the land dry, Viracocha determined to people it a second time, and, to make it more perfect, he decided upon creating luminaries to give it light. With this object, he went, with his servants, to a great lake in the Collao, in which there is an island called Titicaca, the meaning being ‘the rock of lead,’ of which we shall treat in the first part. Viracocha went to this island and presently ordered that the Sun, Moon, and Stars should come forth and be set in the heavens to give light to the world, and it was so. […]

He went to a place now called Tiahuanacu in the province of Collasuyu, and in this place he sculptured and designed on a great piece of stone, all the nations that he intended to create. This done, he ordered his two servants to charge their memories with the names of all groups that he had depicted, and of the valleys and provinces where they were to come forth, which were those of the whole land. He ordered that each one should go by a different road, naming the groups, and ordering them all to go forth and people the country. His servants, obeying the command of Viracocha, set out on their journey and work. One went by the mountain range or chain, which they call the heights over the plains on the South Sea. The other went by the heights, which overlook the wonderful mountain ranges which we call the Andes, situated to the east of the said sea. By these roads they went, saying with a loud voice, ‘Oh, you groups and nations, hear and obey the order of Ticci Viracocha Pachayachachi, which commands you to go forth, and multiply and settle the land.’ Viracocha himself did the same along the road between those taken by his two servants, naming all the groups and places by which he passed. At the sound of his voice, every place obeyed, and people came forth, some from lakes, others from fountains, valleys, caves, trees, rocks, and hills, spreading over the land and multiplying to form the nations which are today in Peru. […]”