Huarochirí Manuscript
The Huarochirí manuscript, called Waruchiri in Quechua, is a late 16th century text written in Classical Quechua by people from the Huarochirí area. It records myths, religious ideas, and everyday beliefs of the Quechua people living in the Andean region during and after the arrival of the Spaniards. The stories revolve around mountain gods, or huacas, and include rivalries that shaped local groups like the Huarochirí and the Huanca. Today it stands as an important early example of Andean writing about traditional beliefs, and some people have compared it to a kind of Andean bible.
The book describes a world ruled by powerful huacas who give life to humans and influence the land. The earliest huacas mentioned are Yanañamca and Tutañamca, who are later overthrown by Huallallo Carhuincho, the first to pass life to people. After him, Pariacaca becomes the main figure in many stories. The Incas later add other huacas, including Cuniraya Huiracocha, a blend of a local god and the Inca creator god. This shows how Inca influence joined with local beliefs.
One famous tale follows Cuniraya as a clever wanderer who can do miracles with words. He pretends to be a beggar, helps with farming, and even speaks to animals. He meets Cahuillan, a virgin, and through a miraculous sequence she becomes pregnant with a son who will be Pariacaca. The story moves from Cuniraya’s true form to the coast near the Pachacamac temple, where two islands appear. There Cuniraya tries to claim the two sisters or daughters, leading to dramatic events. The tale also includes violence and deception, such as Cuniraya’s assault on the elder daughter.
The manuscript also contains older human stories. Chapters about ancient times include a Noah-like flood where the animals sense disaster and humans are wiped out, leaving a few survivors. Another part describes a five-day period of complete darkness when the Sun dies and things in the world come to life in strange ways. These sections echo themes found in many mythologies about creation, catastrophe, and renewal.
The Huarochirí manuscript is a product of its time. It was recorded after Europeans had begun to spread Christianity, and the cleric Francisco de Ávila who wrote notes around the text was trying to convert Indigenous people. This has led scholars to wonder whether some parts of the manuscript were shaped to support Christian ideas. The exact way the text was put together remains unknown, and the manuscript even contains many marginal notes and asides.
For a long time the manuscript was kept in Madrid. It was discovered by the German ethnologist Hermann Trimborn, translated into German, and published in 1939, though much of it was destroyed in World War II. An expanded edition appeared in 1967. In 1966, Peruvian writer José María Arguedas translated it into Spanish and published a bilingual Quechua–Spanish edition. Some scholars also see connections between the manuscript and the use of khipu (knotted cords used for keeping accounts and records).
The text also offers details about how the Quechua people honored their dead. They believed that offerings of food and drink helped the deceased travel to Paria Caca, and that the dead would come back to the living after about five days. Two supplements to the main text focus on the San Damián Checa kin group and examine customs related to twin births and unusual hair patterns believed to be connected to lightning worship.
In total, the manuscript has 31 chapters and 2 supplementary sections. It begins with the line of main huacas and their power to pass life to people, moves through the early myths of humans and floods, and ends with stories that set up Pariacaca’s rise as a central divine figure. The work is valued as a rare, detailed record of prehispanic religion in the Andean world, preserved in an Indigenous language and shaped by a complex mix of local and colonial influences.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:10 (CET).