Pachacamac
Huarochirí · deity · Huarochirí traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Pachacamac, 'the animator of the world,' is the great oracular deity of the central coast, whose famous temple lay in the Lurin valley below the Huarochirí highlands. In the manuscript he is a power of the earth's depths: it was believed that when he stirred the ground trembled, and that were he ever to turn his whole body the world would come to an end, so people took care not to provoke him. He is set in rivalry with the highland creator Cuniraya Huiracocha, who visits his precinct, deceives his household, and frees the fish kept by his consort Urpayhuachac. As lord of earthquakes and of a renowned coastal oracle he marks the meeting of highland and coastal religion within the Huarochirí world.
Domains
- earthquakes
- coastal oracle
Powers
- make the earth tremble by moving
Epithets
- Pacha Camac — animator of the worldFrank Salomon and George L. Urioste, The Huarochirí Manuscript (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991) (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: UrpayhuachacHuarochirí Manuscript, ch. 2 (Salomon-Urioste ed., 1991) (primary)
- rival: Cuniraya HuiracochaHuarochirí Manuscript, ch. 2 (Salomon-Urioste ed., 1991) (primary)
Sources
- Pachacamac is the great coastal earth-shaking deity, husband of Urpayhuachac, whose stirring causes earthquakes and who is set in rivalry with Cuniraya.: Huarochirí Manuscript, chs. 2, 22 (Salomon-Urioste ed., 1991) (primary); María Rostworowski, Pachacamac y el Señor de los Milagros (Lima: IEP, 1992) (secondary)