Editing Inca Empire (section)

==Religion==
{{Main|Religion in the Inca Empire|Inca mythology}}
[[File:Cabeza de Viracocha, Museo de América.jpg|thumb|upright|Diorite [[Viracocha]] Inca sculpture from Amarucancha archeological site, [[Cusco]]]]

Inca myths were [[Oral tradition|transmitted orally]] until early Spanish colonists recorded them; however, some scholars claim that they were recorded on [[quipu]]s, Andean knotted string records.<ref name="Urton2009">{{cite book |first=Gary |last=Urton |title=Signs of the Inka Khipu: Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=koUyPlsu_VIC}} |date=2009 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=978-0-292-77375-2}}</ref>

The Inca believed in [[reincarnation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.netside.net/~manomed/inca.htm |title=The Incas of Peru |access-date=15 October 2007 |archive-date=4 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104162011/http://www.netside.net/~manomed/inca.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2025}} After death, the passage to the next world was fraught with difficulties. The spirit of the dead, ''camaquen,'' would need to follow a long road and during the trip the assistance of a black dog that could see in the dark was required. Most Incas imagined the after world to be like an earthly paradise with flower-covered fields and snow-capped mountains.

It was important to the Inca that they not die as a result of burning or that the body of the deceased not be incinerated. Burning would cause their vital force to disappear and threaten their passage to the after world. The Inca nobility practiced [[cranial deformation]].<ref name="BurgerSalazar2004">{{cite book |first1=Richard L. |last1=Burger |first2=Lucy C. |last2=Salazar |title=Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=bBHrWwtr_pYC|page=4}} |date=2004 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-09763-4}}</ref> They wrapped tight cloth straps around the heads of newborns to shape their soft skulls into a more conical form, thus distinguishing the nobility from other social classes.

The Incas made [[human sacrifice]]s. As many as 4,000 servants, court officials, favorites and concubines were killed upon the death of the Inca [[Huayna Capac]] in 1527.<ref name="Davies1981">{{cite book |first=Nigel |last=Davies |title=Human sacrifice: in history and today |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=vaGAAAAAMAAJ|page=261}} |date=1981 |publisher=Morrow |isbn=978-0-688-03755-0 |author-link=Nigel Davies (historian) |pages=261–262}}</ref> The Incas performed child sacrifices around important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca or during a famine. These sacrifices were known as ''capacocha'' or ''[[qhapaq hucha]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Reinhard |first=Johan |title=A 6,700 metros niños incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo |journal=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic, Spanish version]] |pages=36–55 |date=November 1999}}</ref>

The Incas were [[Polytheism|polytheists]] who worshipped many gods. These included:
* [[Viracocha]] (''Wiraqucha'') (also Pachacamac or ''Pacha Kamaq'') – Created all living things
* [[Apu Illapu]] – Rain god, prayed to when they need rain
* [[Ayar Cachi]] – Hot-tempered god, causes earthquakes
* [[Illapa]] – Goddess of lightning and thunder (also Yakumama, goddess of water)
* [[Inti]] – Sun god and patron deity of the holy city of Cusco (home of the sun)
* Kuychi – Rainbow god, connected with fertility
* [[Mama Killa]] – Means "Mother Moon", wife of Inti
* [[Mama Occlo|Mama Ocllo]] (''Mama Uqllu'') – Created wisdom to civilize the people, taught women to weave cloth and build houses
* [[Manco Cápac|Manco Capac]] (''Manqu Qhapaq'') – Known for his courage and sent to Earth to become first king of the Incas. Taught people how to grow plants, make weapons, work together, share resources and worship the other gods
* [[Pachamama]] – Goddess of earth and wife of Viracocha. People give her offerings of coca leaves and beer and pray to her for major agricultural occasions
* Quchamama – meaning "lake mother", represents the goddess of the sea
* Sachamama – meaning "tree mother", represented as a snake with two heads
* [[Yacumama|Yakumama]] – meaning "water mother", represented as a snake, transformed into a great river (also Illapa) when she came to Earth.

According to [[Inca mythology]], there were three different worlds created by Viracocha:<ref>{{cite journal |last=Heydt-Coca |first=Magda von der |title=When Worlds Collide: The Incorporation Of The Andean World Into The Emerging World-Economy In The Colonial Period |journal=Dialectical Anthropology |date=1999 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–43}}</ref>
* [[Pacha (Inca mythology)|Hanan Pacha]] (upper world, celestial or supraterrestrial): Reserved for the righteous, it was inhabited by gods and accessible only through a bridge of hair. It was symbolized by the [[condor]]
* [[Pacha (Inca mythology)|Kay Pacha]] (world of the present and here): The earthly world where humans live, represented by the [[Puma (genus)|puma]].
* [[Pacha (Inca mythology)|Uku Pacha]] (world below or world of the dead): Involving the dead and everything below the earth's surface, it was ruled by [[Supay]] and symbolized by the [[Serpent symbolism|serpent]].