Tapac Yauri- Inca ArtifactArtifact

The Divine Command

Inti the sun god gave the golden staff to his children Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo. In one tradition they received it as they emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca; in another, from the cave of Pacaritambo. The command was simple: travel northward through the highlands, drive the staff into the ground at each stopping place. Where it sank fully and of its own accord, the soil would be fertile enough to sustain a civilization. That place would become the capital.

The Journey

The founders carried the Tapac Yauri across the highlands, stopping at site after site along the mountain trails. At each place they drove the golden staff into the ground, and at each place it refused to sink. The soil too rocky, too shallow, too poor. They moved on. The journey lasted through many stops and many failures, the staff unyielding, the right place always somewhere ahead. It was finally in the valley of Cusco that the Tapac Yauri plunged into the earth and disappeared, swallowed by soil so deep and fertile that Inti's promise was fulfilled in a single moment.

The Navel of the World

The spot where the staff sank became the center of everything the Inca would build. Cusco, Qosqo, the Navel of the World, rose from this divinely chosen ground. The Coricancha, the great Temple of the Sun, was built near the site. Each subsequent Sapa Inca carried a ceremonial staff recalling the original Tapac Yauri, and in processions through Cusco the golden rod reminded all who saw it that the sun himself had chosen the ground.