THE INCAS SPIRITUALITY – The Cult of the Death

The Cult of the dead to ensure Life: Among the Incas, the living cared for the dead, and the dead cared for the living, one of the many practices of reciprocity found in their culture. Mummification was widespread in the Andes since ancient times, and it was not something exclusive to the Incas. The difference of Inca mummification compared to mummification in other parts of the world, is that the Incas did not embalm bodies to preserve them for the day of resurrection only, but so that the preserved bodies could continue to fulfill their function in this world. The spirit of the dead was considered the bridge between the natural and the supernatural, and they were consulted on all kinds of matters: marriages, causes of illness, advice for the future. The mummies (mallqui) ensured the fertility of the land and animals, the possession of the territory or the health of the people, but their most important function was to ensure the constant flow of water.

Not everyone was mummified, this practice was generally reserved for ancestors of special importance. The rest of the deceased people were first dried and then taken to a cave, or, if the rune was special, to a small round stone construction with an entrance, a chullpa, which allowed visits from their living relatives or friends.

The belief in the active role of the spirits of the dead and of mummies played a determining and little-known role in the development of the Inca civilization. Thus, each mummy of each Sapa Inca, was still legally the owner of all the lands and buildings that they obtained in life.

The usufruct of all these assets belonged then to all his descendants, known as panaca, which made up, adding the panacas of the other deceased Incas, the Inca nobility, the privileged class. What is decisive is that the new Inca emperors did not inherit the lands of their predecessors. They inherited the title of Inca and the powers that it entails: the state with its warriors and its priests, but not the land! The consequence is that each new Inca emperor set out to conquer more lands, and this caused the Inca empire to enlarge. What on the other hand, in the long run caused the problem that the new Inca wasting time and resources in managing increasingly distant lands, since the lands around Cusco had been owned for a long time.