Pariacaca (god)

In Incan and pre-Incan mythology, Pariacaca (contemporary Quechua spelling: Parya Qaqa) was a god of storms, as well as a creator god. His life is described in the first chapter of the Huarochirí Manuscript.

Mythology

There are many versions of the myths around Pariacaca.

In one version, five eggs appeared on the summit of the sacred mountain Kuntur Quta, from which hatched Pariacaca and his brothers. Pariacaca's first action was to call down a great flood to punish a rich man who had declared himself a god. Before the floods arrived, Pariacaca, dressed as a beggar, went down to a fiesta at a pueblo near Huarochirí where he was ignored by everyone except for one compassionate woman. In return for her kindness, Pariacaca told the woman that the floods would destroy everyone in five days and allowed her, her children, and her immediate family to flee to higher grounds so long as she did not warn anyone else about the floods.

In another version, Pariacaca is the father of a person, also dressed in beggar's rags, named Huathiacuri. Huathiacuri cured a rich man of an illness and was rewarded with the younger of the rich man's two daughters. Huathiacuri was challenged by his brother-in-law to a battle of wits and his father Pariacaca, who was one of five sacred eggs on the mountain Kuntur Quta and an oracle, advised him to accept the challenge.