Note 66 — Chapter X

In the days before the Incas the Creator-God (under the names of Pachacamac, Viracocha, Irma, etc.) was worshipped without idols. He was conceived as being superior to all other gods and as being invisible. To judge from all accounts, his cult, at this stage, was an advanced type of religion. Later, however, the custom of having idols sprang up. As their attributes were the same, there can be but little doubt that Pachacamac and Viracocha were the same deity. Pachacamac's chief shrine was on the coast, at Pachacamac. Inca Pachacutec conquered Cuismancu, lord of Pachacamac, about 1410, and built a Sun Temple there. The chief temple to Viracocha was at Cacha south of Cuzco, and it was probably erected by the Inca Viracocha to celebrate his defeat of the Chanca confederacy. Both these temples (under Inca influence) had idols. Cf. Blas Valera, 1879, pp. 137-140; Sarmiento, pp. 28-29; Garcilasso, II, pp. 69, 185-193, 428, 460; Cieza, Tr., pp. 161-163, 251-254; Cobo, 1892, III, pp. 320-323; Uhle, 1903; Markham, 1912, pp. 41, 97, 181, 233-234; Joyce, 1912, pp. 150-152; Beuchat, 1912, pp. 615-616.