Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of PeruBingham, Hiram
History
Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of Peru
Bingham, Hiram
Incas; Peru -- Antiquities; Peru -- Description and travel
It was late on the afternoon of August 9, 1911, when I first saw this
remarkable shrine. Densely wooded hills rose on every side. There was
not a hut to be seen; scarcely a sound to be heard. It was an ideal
place for practicing the mystic ceremonies of an ancient cult. The
remarkable aspect of this great boulder and the dark pool beneath its
shadow had caused this to become a place of worship. Here, without
doubt, was "the principal mochadero of those forested mountains." It is
still venerated by the Indians of the vicinity. At last we had found
the place where, in the days of Titu Cusi, the Inca priests faced the
east, greeted the rising sun, "extended their hands toward it," and
"threw kisses to it," "a ceremony of the most profound resignation and
reverence." We may imagine the sun priests, clad in their resplendent
robes of office, standing on the top of the rock at the edge of
its steepest side, their faces lit up with the rosy light of the
early morning, awaiting the moment when the Great Divinity should
appear above the eastern hills and receive their adoration. As it
rose they saluted it and cried: "O Sun! Thou who art in peace and
safety, shine upon us, keep us from sickness, and keep us in health
and safety. O Sun! Thou who hast said let there be Cuzco and Tampu,
grant that these children may conquer all other people. We beseech
thee that thy children the Incas may be always conquerors, since it
is for this that thou hast created them."
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FIGURE
Plan of the Ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Ñusta Isppana Formerly
Yurak Rumi in Chuquipalpa Near Uiticos
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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