THE SACRED WORLD OF THE INCAS The Andean pre-Hispanic population did not understand the abstract concept of a unique God and did not have a specific word to express it. On the contraire, there were many local, regional and pan-regional divinities. This originated a profound conflict between the native population and the conquistadors' beliefs and made evident two different ways to understand the world. For this reason, the Spaniards tried to modify the Andean concepts, through an adaptation, in order to begin their Christian sermon. Despite this attempt, the natives saw the Christian God and the saints as mere idols that only looked for the interests of the invaders. It also caught their attention the fact that the Christian idols were unable to communicate with their churchgoers, that is to say, they did not have the "gift of the word", while their gods normally in a verbal way answer their requests and inquires (through the priests) when they offered sacrifices. THE ANDEAN PANTHEON The father Sun It was the Inca Pachacutec the one that established the official cult to the Sun in the Tahuantinsuyu. He was considered as the father of the royal lineage, and every time a new sovereign was elected, they must wait for his confirmation through the Priests of the Sun. When Pachacutec rebuild the Koricancha, he filled it with gold and silver objects and ornaments, which motivated to change its name from Inticancha (House of the Sun) to Koricancha (House of Gold). There were few temples bound to the worship of the Sun, and build only on the main administrative centers. This Incan religious reform did not affect the worship to the multiples existing huacas or idols through the Andean territory. Even Pachacutec wanted that the main gods of the annexed tribes to the Tahuantinsuyu to remain in Cusco, giving them servants and lands. Tunupa Is one of the ancient divinities of the south-Andean area. He reached the larger extension before the apogee of the cult to Viracocha. The Christian's religious transformed this idol into Saint Thomas apostle. The history of this god, told by Fray Alonso Ramos Gavilan, says that this character appeared in Brazil and Paraguay, ran through the Andean plateau and reached a small town called Chacha. There, he cast thunderbolts and heavenly fire against the idol worshiped. He was seen in Cusco too, and later he traveled toward the shores of the Titicaca Lake. He was captured by the natives, impaled on a chonta rod, placed on a raft and thrown into the lake. A strong wind took him until Desaguadero where he sank inside the Earth's core. From this story we learn that Tunupa was the god of the thunder (heavenly fire). Until now, the Bolivian aymaras still worship Tunupa as the thunder god, a common divinity along the Andean territory. However, the Tunupa's myth is also connected to the volcanoes (earthly fire) that abound in the south. Viracocha Viracocha was the deity most distinguished between the gods in the Andean ambit. It is possible that his great diffusion was made by the Catholic religious in an attempt to explain to the natives the concept of God. They also add to his name other words trying to emphasize his Supreme Being quality. In the Tahuantinsuyu, the cult to Viracocha was very restricted, since beside the Quisuar Cancha temple, there were few shrines build on his honor and they were all placed in the Cusco zone. His image could be found also in the Koricancha, and according to the chroniclers, there was a certain counterpoint between the cult to Viracocha and the cult to the Sun. It seems that in certain moments of the Incan history prevailed the cult of one of them over the other. The chroniclers say that Tiki Viracocha came from Tiahuanaco and created some beings upon his resemblance. Some versions account that he created the world; that in his pilgrimage he reached Cacha where the inhabitants tried to kill him; he knelt down, raised his hands toward the sky and made the fire come down and burned the whole village. Then, he kept going to another little town where he found his followers and sailed with them to the sea. Pachacámac The chroniclers agree when they say that Pachacamac was the most important god in the central coast. His temple was visited by many wanderers and on its warehouses the gifts were abundant. Part of his prestige was because of the oracles and prophecies that were consulted from remote lands. The legend says that the Inca Tupac Yupanqui cried inside his mother's womb and she had the revelation that the world's maker was in the "yungas" (coast). The conquest of the ceremonial centre had a pilgrimage print and the Inca fasted for forty days before speaking with the divinity. The Calancha priest tells that the myth of the fight between Pachacamac, Vichama and Vegueta. According to him, in the beginning of the world Pachacamac created a human couple, but did not give them any food. The man died of necessity and the woman complaint bitterly with the Sun. Later she was impregnated by the star and had a boy. Pachacamac get angry because of the intervention of his father the sun, took the child and shred him. In order to give her enough food, he sowed the boy tooth, and corn sprouted; from his bones yuccas were born, from his body cucumbers, pacaes and other fruits. That is how the abundance of the plains was originated. However, the mother kept crying for the lost of her son; so the Sun interfered once more, and with the navel of the child he resuscitated him with the name of Vichama, Villama or Vichma. It must be noted that the multiple absences of Vichama and the fact that his mother was left alone made that this god was linked to the Sun and the mother with the Earth, which is left forlorn when the sun is gone. During one of the absences of Vichama, Pachacamac killed the mother and abandoned her body to the gallinazos and vultures. When Vichama came back he returned her to life. The Sun represents the possibility of the earth to renew with new harvests, a myth closely connected with the agrarian cycles. It is probable that the natives believed that the sacrifice of Vichama and his mother was necessary so from their profoundness raise the seeds and tubercles. The World of the Goddesses The feminine deities were associated with the food procurement and the activities where it was produced: the agriculture and the fishing. Furthermore, the feminine deity element represented the fertile mother. That is why some divinities were treated as "mothers": the earth (Pachamama), the sea (Mamacocha), the moon (Mama Quilla), the corn (Mama Sara), the potato (Mama Acxo), the coca (Mama Coca). An example of this feminine cult is the Raiguana myth. It has been told that in remote time, men did not have any food to survive, in order to get some they ask for help to Yucyuc (the fieldfare), the one that in a sly way get the coveted plants that Mama Raiguana had: he asked to the marsh warbler bird a hand of flees and throw them to the eyes of the goddess, and when she scratched herself, originated her son Conopa. An eagle took the child that was returned to his mother only when she offered to share between men the earth's fruits. The Andean got potatoes, root vegetables, ollucos, mashua and quinua; the men from the coast get corn, yucca, sweet potatoes and soybeans.