The Sun, Ancestor of the Inca Kings
Inti stood at the center of the Inca state religion. His most familiar image was a disk of solid gold, a human face cast at its heart and rays flaring outward. He was worshipped as the direct ancestor of the royal line: the reigning Sapa Inca bore the name Intip Churin, Son of the Sun, and governed as the god's living representative. His consort was the moon goddess Mama Killa; sun and moon paired to divide day and night.
His greatest sanctuary was the Coricancha, the Golden Enclosure of Cusco, its walls sheeted in gold and its courtyard set with maize stalks and llamas worked in the same metal. At the June solstice the empire celebrated Inti Raymi in Cusco: nobles fasted beforehand, then assembled at dawn to salute the rising sun and offer it chicha, the maize beer, with the Inca himself presiding. Garcilaso de la Vega describes the festival at length in his Royal Commentaries.
Inti also anchored the dynasty's legend of origin. Pitying humankind in its ignorance, he sent his son Manco Cápac and daughter Mama Ocllo down to earth at Lake Titicaca to teach farming and weaving and to found Cusco. Wherever the empire conquered, it installed sun temples and houses of chosen women, the acllas, spreading the cult across the Andes. Spanish rule demolished the temples and banned Inti Raymi in 1572; since 1944 the festival has been restaged in Cusco and remains one of the largest celebrations in Peru.
