Source recordAncient text
The Huarochirí Manuscript
Anonymous Andean compiler(s), in the orbit of Francisco de Ávila · c. 1598-1608 · Quechua
Ancient text
The Huarochirí Manuscript
Anonymous Andean compiler(s), in the orbit of Francisco de Ávila
The only extended collection of Andean myth written in an Andean language before or soon after the conquest: 31 chapters on the huacas of Huarochirí province (Pariacaca, Cuniraya, Chaupi Ñamca, Pachacamac) and their people, recorded by Quechua-speaking Christians during the campaigns against 'idolatry'.
About this work
The only extended collection of Andean myth written in an Andean language before or soon after the conquest: 31 chapters on the huacas of Huarochirí province (Pariacaca, Cuniraya, Chaupi Ñamca, Pachacamac) and their people, recorded by Quechua-speaking Christians during the campaigns against 'idolatry'.
Stories drawn from it
Retellings in the atlas that quote or cite this work.
Cuniraya and CavillacatricksterThe ragged trickster Cuniraya fathers a child on the proud huaca Cavillaca through a lúcuma fruit; when the child crawls to him before all the gods, she flees in shame to the sea at Pachacamac and turns to stone, while Cuniraya blesses and curses the animals he meets in pursuit.
The Llama Who Foresaw the FloodmythA llama refuses to graze and tells its astonished owner that the sea will rise in five days; the man follows it up the mountain Villcacoto, where the animals crowd together as the water climbs, and becomes the ancestor of everyone who lives today.
Huatyacuri and the Rich Man Who Called Himself GodlegendPariacaca's poor son Huatyacuri overhears two foxes reveal why a rich lord who claims to be a god is dying; he cures him by exposing a two-headed toad and serpents in his house, wins the lord's daughter, and with his father's help defeats his jealous brother-in-law in every contest.
Pariacaca and Huallallo CarhuinchowarBorn from five eggs, Pariacaca drowns a village that refused a stranger drink, brings irrigation water to the fields of Cupara for the woman Choque Suso, and at last drives the child-eating lord of the old hot world, Huallallo Carhuincho, out of the highlands in a war of water against fire.
About this record
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Dates and authorship follow standard scholarly references; for many ancient works both are approximate or disputed.