[American Hero-Myths by Daniel G. Brinton]@TWC D-Link bookAmerican Hero-Myths CHAPTER V 5/49
Molina gives the original Qquichua, the translation of which is obviously incomplete, and I have extended it.] Thus Viracocha was placed above and beyond all other gods, the essential First Cause, infinite, incorporeal, invisible, above the sun, older than the beginning, but omnipresent, accessible, beneficent. Does this seem too abstract, too elevated a notion of God for a race whom we are accustomed to deem gross and barbaric? I cannot help it.
The testimony of the earliest observers, and the living proof of language, are too strong to allow of doubt.
The adjectives which were applied to this divinity by the native priests are still on record, and that they were not a loan from Christian theology is conclusively shown by the fact that the very writers who preserved them often did not know their meaning, and translated them incorrectly. Thus even Garcilasso de la Vega, himself of the blood of the Incas, tells us that neither he nor the natives of that day could translate _Ticci_.[1] Thus, also, Garcia and Acosta inform us that Viracocha was surnamed _Usapu_, which they translate "admirable,"[2] but really it means "he who accomplishes all that he undertakes, he who is successful in all things;" Molina has preserved the term _Ymamana_, which means "he who controls or owns all things;"[3] the title _Pachayachachi_, which the Spanish writers render "Creator," really means the "Teacher of the World;" that of _Caylla_ signifies "the Ever-present one;" _Taripaca_, which has been guessed to be the same as _tarapaca_, an eagle, is really a derivative of _taripani_, to sit in judgment, and was applied to Viracocha as the final arbiter of the actions and destinies of man.
Another of his frequent appellations for which no explanation has been offered, was _Tokay_ or _Tocapo_, properly _Tukupay_.[4] It means "he who finishes," who completes and perfects, and is antithetical to _Ticci_, he who begins.
These two terms express the eternity of divinity; they convey the same idea of mastery over time and the things of time, as do those words heard by the Evangelist in his vision in the isle called Patmos, "I am Alpha and Omega; I am the Beginning and the End." [Footnote 1: "Dan (los Indios), otro nombre a Dios, que es Tici Viracocha, que yo no se que signifique, ni ellos tampoco." Garcilasso de la Vega, _Comentarios Reales_, Lib.
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