Manco Cápac

Manco Cápac was born in Tamputoco, which according to some[3] is located in the present-day province of Pumaurco, in Peru. The city usually served as a refuge for many people escaping the Aymaran invasions [4] of the Altiplano. His father was named Apu Tambo.[1] Manco Cápac and his family lived a nomadic lifestyle.[5]

Walls of Colcapata, which served as Manqu Qhapaq's palace.

After the death of his father, Manqu Qhapakq had to succeed him as the head of the ayllu, to which belonged several dozens of families.[6] The members of the ayllu were nomads, and the trajectory of their journeys through the Altiplano resembles the journey described in the legend of the Ayar brothers. Upon arriving to the Cusco valley, they defeated three small tribes that lived there; the Sahuares, Huallas and Alcahuisas,[5] and then settled in a swampy area between two small streams, that today corresponds with the main plaza of the city of Cusco.[7] The recently founded city was divided into four districts; Chumbicancha, Quinticancha, Sairecancha and Yarambuycancha.[8]

Manco Cápac's tribe, or ayllu, only occupied a small fraction of the Cusco valley, the rest of it being inhabited by larger and more powerful tribes, who often would threaten the city. Located at north of the city there was a confederated lordship of Ayarmacas and Pinaguas. All these tribes regarded Manco Cápac and his ayllu as invaders, and would often attack them. Manco Cápac, and later his son and successor Sinchi Roca would often have to defend the city against the other tribes.[9]

Temple at Tiwanaku where the mummified body of Manco Cápac came to rest.

Manqu Qhapaq died of a natural death 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 move to the Tiwanaku temple in Lake Titicaca. In Cusco there remained only a statue erected in his honor.

In this legend, Manco Cápac (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 at Paqariq Tampu, and they united their people with other tribes encountered in their travels. They sought to conquer the tribes of the Cusco Valley. This legend also incorporates the golden staff, thought to have been given to Manco Cápac by his father. Accounts vary, but according to some versions of the legend, the Manco got rid of his three brothers, trapping them or turning them into stone, thus becoming the leader of Cusco. He married his older sister, Mama Occlo, and they begot a son named Sinchi Roca.[10]

In this second legend, Manco Cápac was a son of the sun god Inti and the moon goddess Mama Killa, and brother of Pacha Kamaq. Manco Cápac himself was worshipped as a fire and a Sun God. According to the Inti legend, Manco Cápac and his siblings were sent up to the earth by the sun god and emerged from the cave of Pacaritambo carrying a golden staff, called tapac-yauri. Instructed to create a Temple of the Sun in the spot where the staff sank into the earth, they traveled to Cusco via caves and there built a temple in honour of their father Inti.

However, given the absence of a written tradition recounting this tale before the publication of Comentarios Reales de los Incas by Garcilaso de la Vega in the year 1609, the authenticity of this legend as a legitimate Incan legend is questioned.