Meaning

Inca ideological power drew meaning from local subsistence practices and sacred landscapes, and while in some cases the imperial elite could assign itself patronage of cults venerating supernatural entities, it could not easily co-opt or eradicate local shrines and oracles.

As Cuzco developed into a destination for political and ritual pilgrimages, the Incas managed to export their state religion throughout the south-central high­lands and to some parts of the Pacific Coast. Pedro de Cieza de Leon describes sev­eral sun temples at imperial administrative centers and key coastal sites, where they frequently co-occur with aqllawasi complexes.^[1801] Sun worship was strongly tied to maize agriculture and the ritual legitimation of the Inca dynasty.^[1802] The Inca noble emphasis on sun worship dominated imperial ritual performances in the capital and highland provincial centers, but it was less significant beyond these theaters of state. Local farmers venerated the earth (Pachamama), often spilling blood through ritual battles (tinku) fought between communities.^[1803] High elevation herders worshipped the thunder (Illapa) and the personifications of important peaks surrounding their pastures, which were considered to be owners of the flocks that they managed. Fishing populations worshipped the moon (Mama Killa) as an entity that deter­mined the tides and influenced success on the water. The Incas and other Andean peoples constructed sacred landscapes where salient features (caves, lakes, prom­inent outcrops) served as mnemonics to recall the story of how the first ancestors emerged upon a wild landscape and made it their own.^[1804] In the Cuzco Valley, the Inca nobility and other lineages organized several hundred shrines into a regional system that was under the patronage of specific social groups.^[1805]