Rational Responders # 19 - Premise 3

In installment 18 we noted that Incan leader Pachacuti (in approximately 1450 A.D.) abandoned the worship of a sun god to worship Viracocha. The University of Oklahoma's Dr. B.C. Brundage summarizes Pachacuti's description of the omnipotent God Viracocha as follows ....
"He is ancient, remote, supreme, and uncreated. Nor does he need the gross satisfaction of a consort. He manifests himself as a trinity when he wishes,...otherwise only heavenly warriors and archangels surround his loneliness. He created all peoples by his 'word', as well as all huacas [spirits]. He is man's Fortunus, ordaining his years and nourishing him. He is indeed the very principle of life, for he warms the folk through his created son, Punchao. He is a bringer of peace and an orderer. He is in his own being blesssed and has pity on men's wretchedness. He alone judges and absolves them and enables them to combat their evil tendencies."
Pachacuti found the one true God and abandoned the false gods of his own culture. He was able to do so because the testimony of the true God could be found in his culture's ancient hymns and oral traditions.

(Pictured are Machu Picchu, the last great Incan fortress and a map of South American indicating the extent of the Incan Empire at the height of its power.)

[Much of the material under premise 3 comes from the excellent book Eternity In Their Hearts written by Don Richardson, Regal Books, Venture, California, 1984.]

Rational Responders # 18 - Premise 3

The great Inca civilization of South America was ruled from 1438 to 1471 A.D. by Pachacuti (or Pachacutec). The drawing to the left is a 1615 portrayal of Pachacuti. The Incas had no writing system but their oral traditions and hymns were passed down through the centuries and later recorded by chroniclers and missionaries.

In 1575 Cristobel de Molia recorded Incan hymns and their associated traditions in the Inca language. These traditions trace back to the reign of Pachacuti. A 17th century Indian chronicler by the name of Yamqui Salcamayga Pachacuti also preserved a hymn from this time period.
These hymns reveal that Pachacuti abandoned Incan worship of the sun god Inti in order to worship an omnipotent God by the name of Viracocha. There is a shrine to Viracocha in the upper Vilcanota Valley and the hymns reveal that Pachacuti's father claimed to receive counsel from Viracocha. Viracocha told Pachacuti's father that he was the Creator of all things.
What are the qualities and attributes of Virocacha as revealed by these Incan hymns and traditions? That will be the topic of my next posting.