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ANCIENT INCA POETRY
INTRODUCTION
THE SACRED HYMNS OF PACHACUTI
THE LIFE OF PACHACUTI INCA YUPANQUI
INTRODUCTION
The hymns of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, composed for the Situa ceremony around 1440-1450, are among the world's great sacred poetry.
The eleven hymns, or haillikuna, in Quechua verse were sung to the accompaniment of instruments during the annual Inca ceremony of the Situa Raymi, held at the first new moon after the spring equinox.
Pachacuti, the great Inca emperor, transformed the vision of the first Inca, Manco Capac, into Tawantinsuyu, Land of the Four Directions, the Inca empire.
In appreciation of the sacred Inca hymns, the great Quechua scholar Jesús Lara wrote, "Among the hymns . . . there are fragments of profound beauty, interpreters of a high level of spirituality reached by the Inca people. Many of them seduce by their transparent simplicity, for the elemental gratitude in them for the deity who creates and governs, who grants sustenance, peace, and happiness. Many captivate through their otherworldly, metaphysical status. All by the emotional force that resides in them" (Poesia quechua 74; my translation).
INCA POETS, POETRY, AND Music
Traditions of poetry and song were deeply ingrained in Inca culture, encompassing both sacred and secular forms shared by the common people and the aristocracy. Prayer songs, ceremonial songs, work songs, and love songs were part of the texture of daily life. Poetry, music, and dance were integral to all the great Inca religious festivals. Each region throughout the empire retained its language and culture and cultivated its own fine arts, as well as taking on the superimposed Quechua and Inca culture. On special occasions theatrical dramas were performed with interludes of poetry and music. Only one complete ancient Inca drama has come down to us, the great Apu Ollantay, in which Pachacuti is a major character.
Sacred haillikuna, or hymns, were prayers and philosophical ponderings. Inca priests greeted each sunrise and sunset singing haillikuna, usually accompanied by music, beseeching Tiqsi Wiracocha (the Creator), Inti (the sun), Illapa (thunder-lightning), Pachamama (the Earth Mother), Mamaquilla (the moon), and all the wakakuna (spirits of places) to grant health, prosperity, and happiness to the people, the Inca, and the empire. Sacred hymns were usually composed by poets who were also priests.
While the...