Progressif and cyclic development towards order

The Inca history of the development of the world was linear, similar to historical narratives, and cyclic, the creation of the world perpetually and symbolically recreating itself.^[3]

The spatio-temporal development of the cosmos was divided into several fundamental stages in the development of the world: the pre-solar era, during which men lived in semi-darkness, which was closed by the event of the arrival of the sun, establishing the alternation between night and day; the solar era, divided into two periods by the advent of the great flood called Unu Pachacuti ("reversal of space-time, or return of time, by water"), a first period where the huacas ruled the Andean states, and a second during which the relations of opposition and complementarity were maintained between the llaqtas, urban spaces, and urqu, uninhabited lands of the mountains, the ancient huaca lords now personifying the natural spaces surrounding and defining the identity of the Andean socio-territorial and political entities; and then the Purum Pacha and the Inka Pacha, the first era being the pre-Incaic age supposedly uncultured and barbaric, and the second being the Incaic era, in which, following the conquests of the Inca Emperor Pachacuti ("world's turning" or "cataclysm") which mark a "sort of "return to square one", after exhaustion of the forces [camaquen] of the era which was ending" and which then became the old era associated with chaos, the Inca empire is charged of the civilizing and ordering mission of the post-diluvian world^[1], notably in order to delay the end and the cyclical restarting of the world.

The chroniclers of the colonial period mentioned various pachas, of different number. According to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, there were only two, while Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa wrote of three eras, and Felipe Guaman Pima de Ayala of five.^[21]

Three realms theory

According to various interpretations of Andean culture, there existed a specific cultural concept vaguely translatable as "realm" or "dimension".^[17][16] This theory interprets Quechua compounds used in colonial sources for Christian concepts as evidence for pre-Hispanic native cosmological concepts. That is the case of hananc pacha or hanan pacha and of ucu pacha or ukhu pacha, which were used for "Christian heaven" and "Christian hell", respectively, since at least the first written Quechua text^[22] and first Quechua dictionaries.^[23][24]

According to proponents of this interpretation, these realms would not have been solely spatial, but simultaneously spatial and temporal.^[25] Although the universe would have been considered a unified system within Inca cosmology,^{[citation needed]} the division between the worlds would be part of the dualism prominent in Inca beliefs, known as yanantin. This dualism considered that everything which existed had both features of any feature (both hot and cold, positive and negative, dark and light, etc.).^[26]

Hanan Pacha

The compund hanan pacha (lit. "upper pacha")^[27], used for "heaven" in colonial sources, is interpreted as the original name of a cosmological realm that would have included the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, and constellations (of particular importance being the milky way). Its Aymara terminological counterpart would have been alax pacha.^[28][29] Hanan pacha would have been inhabited by both Inti, the masculine sun god, and Mama Killa, the feminine moon goddess.^[25] In addition to this, Illapa, the god of thunder and lightning, also would have existed in the hanan pacha realm.^[25] Attested colonial use of the compound would be a reinterpretarion of a preexisting concept.^[30]

Kay Pacha

Kay pacha (Quechua: "this pacha") or aka pacha (Aymara: "this pacha")^[28] would have been the perceptible world which people, animals, and plants all inhabit. Kay pacha may have often been impacted by the struggle between hanan pacha and ukhu pacha.^[25] This realm would have originally not had the subordination and inferior status in relation to the upper realm that it has in Christian conception.^[31]

Ukhu Pacha

In Quechua, ukhu pacha (lit. "inferior pacha")^[32] or rurin pacha^{[citation needed]}, a term used for "hell" in colonial sources, would have originally been the inner world. Ukhu pacha would have been associated with the dead as well as with new life.^[29] The term would have had as its Aymara counterpart manqha pacha or manqhipacha.^[28] As the realm of new life, this dimension is associated with harvesting and Pachamama, the fertility goddess.^[33] As the realm associated with the dead, it may have been inhabited by supay. This latter word was used by missionaries to describe Satan, but is interpreted by many anthropologists as the pre-Hispanic name of demon-like creatures which would have tormented the living.^[33]

Human disruptions of the ukhu pacha may have been considered a sacred matter, and ceremonies and rituals were often associated with disturbances of the surface.^{[citation needed]} In Inca custom, during the time of tilling for potato crops the disturbance of the soil was met with a host of sacred rituals.^[34] Similarly, rituals often brought food, drink (often alcoholic) and other comforts to cave openings for the spirits of ancestors.^[33]

When the Spanish conquered the area, rituals about ukhu pacha became crucial in missionary activity and mining operations. Kendall W. Brown contends that the dualistic nature and rituals surrounding openings to ukhu pacha may have made it easier to initially get indigenous laborers to work in the mines.^[35] However, at the same time, because mining was considered a perturbation of "subterranean life and the spirits that ruled it; they yielded to sacredness that did not belong to the familiar universe, a deeper and riskier sacredness."^[35] In order to insure that the perturbation did not cause evil in the miners or the world, indigenous populations made traditional offering to the supay. However, Catholic missionaries preached that the supay were purely evil and equated them with the devil and hell and thus prohibited offerings.^[35] Ritual surrounding ukhu pacha thus retained importance even after Spanish conquest.

Connections between pachas

Although the different realms would have been distinct, there would have been a variety of connections between them. Caves and springs would have served as connections between ukhu pacha and kay pacha, while rainbows and lightning would have served as connections between hanan pacha and kay pacha.^[29] In addition, human spirits after death could inhabit any of the levels. Some would remain in kay pacha until they had finished business, while others might move to the other two levels.^[30]