Urpay Huachac- Inca GodDeity
Also known as: Urpi Wachaq
Description
Goddess of doves and fish, daughter of Pachacamac. She kept the world's only fish in a sacred pond until the trickster Coniraya overturned it, releasing them into the Pacific and filling the seas with life for coastal peoples.
Mythology & Lore
Daughter of the Oracle
Urpay Huachac, whose name means "she who gives birth to doves," was a daughter of Pachacamac, the great oracle deity of the central Peruvian coast. Her story is preserved in the Huarochirí Manuscript, where she appears caught up in the chaos caused by Coniraya Viracocha's pursuit of Cavillaca.
The Fish Pond
Urpay Huachac possessed a magical pond in which she kept the only fish in the world. These fish were her personal treasures, carefully tended, and through them she controlled all marine life.
When Coniraya came to Pachacamac's sanctuary in pursuit of the fleeing Cavillaca, he found Urpay Huachac away from home. In his anger, Coniraya overturned her fish pond, spilling the precious fish into the ocean. They spread throughout the Pacific, populating all the coastal waters.
Urpay Huachac returned to find her pond empty and the ocean teeming with what had been hers alone. She pursued Coniraya in fury. Her loss became the world's gain, but she never consented to the gift.