Draft:Ch'aska Quyllur

Ch'aska Quyllur, Ch'aska Qoyllur, Chasca Coillur, or Chasca Coyllur or simply Chasca (contemporary Quechua spelling: Ch'aska Quyllur [3V], Ch'aska Qoyllur [5V]) is the goddess of beauty, author of flowers and protector of Ñustas in Inca mythology. Likewise, Chaska was the personification of the planet Venus, so the Incas called the star with the name of the goddess.

Etymology

The name Ch'aska Quyllur comes from Quechua and is composed of the words: Ch'aska (star or one with curly or frizzy hair) and Quyllur (star). This name refers to the shining light produced by the celestial body, which resembles golden curls.

This coincides with some descriptions given by chroniclers, which establish Chaska as a beautiful goddess with long curly hair.

Nowadays, the term Chaska could be taken as a synonym of the word Quyllur. However, the difference between them lies mainly in the type of stars to which one refers. Ch'aska is used to determine the dawn star (Venus), while the term Quyllur is used to refer to fixed and/or static stars in general, which are present in the night firmament. Whether these stars are bright or faint.

The cult consecrated to the star preceded the Incas and the figure of the star was venerated by many Andean peoples. These people knew it by different names, some of them were: Aranyak Huarachazca, Huarac, Exquioc, Auquilla, Illariq, etc.

The Incas likened the light of Venus to the curly hair of Chaska..

The two states of Venus according to the Santacruz Pachacuti diagram.

For the various Andean peoples, the figure of the planet Venus was indispensable for determining agricultural cycles and the dates for numerous important events. Likewise, the figure of the star was important to include in their respective mythologies.

In some towns of Ancash, the star is known by the name of Huarac (from Quechua: dawn). According to several sources, at the time of putting on the huaras (shorts) to the boys who passed to adulthood, the star was invoked and sacrifices were dedicated to her name.

In certain parts of northern Peru, it was known by the name of Exquioc (from culle: shining). The star was incarnated in two stars: one that rose at dawn and the other at dusk. The peoples and ethnic groups worshipped it under both forms and this was done so that the star would grant them life.

As far as the Incas are concerned, the sources are variable; since some state that the planet Venus was worshipped in the form of a single female goddess, others mention the existence of two individual gods and/or entities to embody its two states.

Venus as unique goddess

According to some sources, the Incas likened the star to a beautiful celestial woman with long wavy hair.

In relation to the above, the famous chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega describes it in his work Comentarios Reales de los Incas (Royal Commentaries of the Incas). In this work, he states that:

«The star Venus was called Chasca, which means long and frizzy-haired; they honored her because they said she was a page of the Sun, that she walked closer to him, sometimes in front and sometimes in pursuit of him.».

— Comentarios Reales de los Incas, Capítulo XXI

The chronicler also highlights the knowledge that the Incas had in identifying Venus in its two states: as a morning and evening star. About this, Garcilaso writes:

«About the star Venus, that sometimes they saw it at dusk and sometimes at dawn, they said that the Sun, as lord of all the stars, commanded that one, being more beautiful than all the others, to walk near him, sometimes in front and sometimes behind. When the sun set, when they saw him cross the sea (because all of Peru has the sea to the west), they said that he entered it, and that with his fire and heat he dried up a great part of the waters of the sea, and that, like a great swimmer, he dived under the earth to come out another day to the east, implying that the earth is above the water.».

— Comentarios Reales de los Incas, Capítulo XXIII

Venus as a couple of gods

Despite the above sources, the chronicler Santacruz Pachacuti details that both states of Venus have had similar names but that they would be different entities. In his diagram, the planet Venus can be seen in its two states: the first Chasca Quyllur or Achachi Ururi (morning star) and the second Choquechinchay or Apachi Ururi (evening star).

The chronicler Guamán Poma de Ayala pointed out in his work Nueva corónica y buen gobierno the existence of two gods that personify two different planets or celestial bodies and that are frequently mentioned together; however, both divinities are separated by a punctuation mark, which reaffirms the independence of both. According to the same chronicler, these gods were: Chasca Coyllur and Chuqui Ylla. The first was the personification of Venus; while the second possibly personified the planet Mars. or the star Antares.

Representation

The figure of the goddess Chaska is complex, since the chroniclers' descriptions differ from one another.

One of the most frequent descriptions is that of the chronicler Blas Valera. In his work Relación de las costumbres antiguas de los naturales del Pirú, Valera describes the goddess as follows:

«The Sun they said that he was the son of the great Illa Tecce, and that the bodily light that he had, was the part of the divinity that Illa Tecce had communicated to him, so that he would rule and govern the days, the times, the years and summers, and the kings and kingdoms and lords and other things. The Moon, who was sister and wife of the Sun, and that Illa Tecce had given her part of her divinity, and made her mistress of the sea and of the winds, of the queens and princesses, and of the birth of women and queen of heaven. The Moon was called Coya, which is queen. The Aurora, who was goddess of the maidens and princesses and author of the flowers of the field, and mistress of the dawn and the twilight and the sky; and that she threw the dew to the Earth when she shook her hair, and so they called her Chasca.».

— Relación de las costumbres antiguas de los naturales del Pirú

Likewise, this chronicler wrote a fragment of an ancient poem that is part of Inca poetry. In this poem, the figure of Chaska is alluded to, in a not very explicit way. The poem reads as follows:

Poem in quechua:

Súmac ñusta

toralláyquim

puiñuyquita

paquircayan

Hinaman

cunuñunun

Illapántac

camri ñusta

unuyquita

para munqui

Mai ñimpiri

chichi munqui

riti munqui

Pacharúrac

Pachakámaq

Wiraqucha

cai hinápac

churasunqui

camasunqui.

Poem translated in latín: Pulchra Nimpha

frater tuus

urnam tuam

nunc infringit

cuius ictus

tonat fulget

Fulminatque

sed tu ninpha

tuam limphan

fundens pluis

Interdumque

grandinem seu

nivem mittis

Mundi factor

Pachacámac

Huiracocha

ad hoc munus

te sufficit

ac praefecit.

Poem translated in Spanish: Hermosa doncella,

aquese tu hermano

Él tu cantarillo

lo está quebrantando,

y de aquesta causa

truena y relampaguea,

también caen rayos.

Tú, real doncella,

tus muy lindas aguas

nos darás lloviendo;

también a las veces

granizar nos has,

nevarás asimismo

el hacedor del Mundo,

el Dios que le anima,

el gran Viracocha,

para aqueste oficio

ya te colocaron

y te dieron alma.

Poem in English:

Beautiful maiden,

here is your brother

He your little song

is breaking it,

and from this cause

it thunders and flashes,

lightning also falls.

Thou royal maiden

Thy most beautiful waters

will give us rain;

and also at times

hail thou hast made us,

Thou wilt also snow

the Maker of the world,

the God who animates it,

the great Wiraqucha,

for this office

they have already placed you

and gave you a soul.

Like the previous description by Valera, Chaska is associated to the celestial water; however, the existence of a brother who intervenes next to her is also mentioned. This brother is possibly the god Illapa (the lightning). Some scholars maintain that the poem alludes to the goddess Mama Quilla (the Moon), but not to Chaska and that the chantarelle was called Paccha..

In relation to this description, Garcilaso de la Vega wrote the following:

«They say that the Maker placed in heaven a maiden, the daughter of a King, who has a pitcher full of water, to pour it out when the Earth needs it, and that a brother of hers breaks it at his own time, and that thunder, lightning and lightning are caused by the blow. They say that man causes them, because they are made of fierce men and not of tender women. They say that hail, rain and snow are caused by the maiden, because they are made of more softness and gentleness and of so much profit. They say that an Inca poet and astrologer made and said the verses, praising the excellencies and virtues of the lady, and that God had given them to her so that with them she would do good to the creatures of the Earth. The fable and the verses, Father Blas Valera says that he found in the knots and accounts of some ancient annals, which were in threads of different colors, and that the tradition of the verses and the fable was told to him by the Indian accountants, who were in charge of the knots and historical accounts, and that, admired that the amawtas had achieved so much, he wrote the verses and took them from memory to give an account of them.».

— Comentarios Reales de los Incas, Capítulo XXVII

The figure of Chaska in myths

As far as mythology is concerned, the figure of Venus appears implicitly in some Andean myths. Although these myths do not depict the figure of the star in the same way as the goddess Chaska, some characteristics are comparable to those of the goddess.

According to the Huarochirí Manuscript

For some scholars, the goddess Chaska appears in the manuscript of Huarochirí under the figure of a beautiful woman and that she manifested herself when a camasca (shaman), in a foolish act of curiosity, opened the box given to him by the god Cuniraya to be delivered to the Inca Huayna Cápac. In this myth, there are notable changes with respect to the god Cuniraya. The most notable change is the fact that Cuniraya is the son of a god superior to him (the same manuscript alludes that Pachacámac would be his father) and that the daughters of the latter are his sisters (the woman inside the box is one of Cuniraya's sisters).

In previous texts from the same source, there are two sisters: an older and a younger one. The older one managed to be reached and, therefore, profaned by Cuniraya; in this way, Cuniraya consummated his revenge against Pachacámac. It is possible that these sisters were also personifications of the star.

This is possible due to the different interpretation perceived by each ayllu.

It is said that, shortly before the appearance of the Huiracochas (Spaniards), Cuniraya made his way to Cusco. Once there, the god spoke to the Inca Huayna Capac: "Let's go, son, to Titicaca. There I am going to tell you about my existence".

Cuniraya also told him: "Inga, give instructions to your men so that we send the sorcerers, all the wise men, to the lands below". The Inga did so immediately.

Some men claimed to be animated by the condor; others claimed to be animated by the hawk; and there was one who claimed to be able to fly through the air in the form of a swallow.

Then, Cuniraya gave them the following instructions: "Go to the lands below; there you will tell my father that his son sent you to give you one of his sisters".

De esta manera, el hombre animado por la golondrina se fue con los otros camascas o camacsas. Asimismo, se les dio la orden de estar de vuelta en cinco días.

The golondrina's camasca was the first to arrive.

When he communicated the message that had been entrusted to him, Cuniraya's father gave him what he had asked for. What was requested was inside a small box (box). Then, the father told him not to open it before his lord Huayna Capac himself did so.

When he was a short distance from Cusco, the man who had brought the ticket office here, overcome with curiosity, said to himself: "I'll see what it could be. And he opened it.

Inside, an elegantly dressed woman of exuberant beauty appeared to him.

Her hair was like frizzy gold; she was dressed in very fine clothes and her size was minuscule.

As soon as the man saw her, the woman vanished..

The man, dejected by such an event, arrived at Titicaca, in the Cusco region.

One of those present, possibly Huayna Capac himself, said to the man: "If you were not encouraged by the Golondrina, at this very moment I would give orders for you to be killed; go away; go back by yourself". Once this was said, the camasca was sent back to the lowlands.

The camasca returned and obeyed the order. While, on the way back, he brought (the box) and on the way he felt thirsty or deathly hungry, he only needed to talk and a table was laid out for him with everything he asked for. The same thing happened when he needed to sleep. In this way, after exactly five days, the said camasca arrived. And both the Inca and Cuniraya received him with great joy.

Before opening it, Cuniraya said: "Inga, let us draw a line here on the ground; I will enter the earth on this side; on that other side you will enter the earth with my sister; you and I will not see each other again". So saying, he drew a line on the ground.

The place they were in was immersed in light.

Then, the Inca Huayna Capac said: "I am not going to return from here; in this very place, I am going to stay with my ñusta, with my coya". He gave instructions to a man, a member of his aillu, telling him: "You go; return to Cusco and say that you are Huayna Capac in my place".

At that instant, the Inca disappeared with his lady; the god Cuniraya did the same.

And since then, after the one we have called Huayna Capac died, some proclaiming the priority of their rights, (provoked the collapse of his dominion).

According to the people of Ayacucho

In some areas of Ayacucho, there is a legend that associates Huallallo Carhuincho with the Moon. This would not be strange, since some pre-Inca cultures have established the moon as a masculine entity.

The myth mentions a pair of brothers: Chisi Chaska and Qella Maqta Qoyllur. Both brothers together with the Sun would make sure that Huallallo would never return to Earth because of his sinful lust.

The legend tells us the following:

Huallallo (called Qalalu in this legend) was the personification of the Moon. Qalalu was a very young god; his clothing consisted only of a white dog's pelt to avoid being in the buff. Likewise, he was always accompanied by his dog, Karwancho.

In primordial times, mankind was tired of offering to their gods for light and warmth. Heeding the human clamor, Qalalu agreed to give fire to mankind; however, due to his excessive lust and other misdeeds, he is castrated and banished from Earth.

Thus it was that Qalalu, like a lonely moon, was banished. His dog Karwancho accompanied him during his exile.

The Sun and the brothers Chisi Chasca Qoyllur and Quela Maqta Qoyllur (personifications of the star) ensured that Qalalu never returned to Earth.

Unable to return, Qalalu sends his loyal companion to Earth in order to recover his testicles. Karwancho was a dog who, besides being quite cunning, had supernatural abilities.

Once on Earth, as he progressed on his journey, Karwancho was deceiving various natural phenomena and wild animals, as he promised to reward them in exchange for their acceptance to shelter inside his ear. It was suspected that his master's belongings were found in the home of a priest of the Pacoras of Huamanga, to be more precise, among his silver jewelry.

Once he arrived at his destination, the priest's guards threatened to kill him. The dog, in every adverse situation, brought out every element or creature that remained inside his ear. The dog then swallowed all the silver jewelry and fled.

Upon reuniting on the Moon with his master, Karwancho expelled from his mouth many of the silver jewels he devoured, with no sign of Qalalu's parts.

Qalalu, disappointed, threw the silver jewelry to the four winds. It is said that this scattered silver can be appreciated in the pleniluni

The celestial dog must, once again, return to Earth to search for his master's belongings, infinitely.

According to the inhabitants of Lake Titicaca

The following myth was consigned by Father Barraza, which was compiled by Father Diego on a special mission to the islands of Titicaca. The myth explains the reason for the name of one of the islands.

The myth takes us back to primordial times and says the following:

«They say that the island was called the island of the Sun because it was born there and from there it rose to the sky and went to fight with another star that was then like the Sun itself and illuminated the whole world and which managed to defeat, leaving the Sun as the only lord of heaven and earth and that the defeated star hid its light and walks at night as intimidating and shameful and that at dawn it hides for fear of the Sun and that at night it is hidden by the sun.».

See also

• Inca agriculture
• Inca Calendar
• Freyja
• Illapa
• Inti
• Ishtar
• Mama Killa
• Inca Mythology
• Religion in the Inca Empire
• Venus
• Venus (mythology)
• Wiraqucha