Ninth Inca emperor, 1438-71.

(15th century).

Spanish chronicles called him Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, although he was named Kusi 'Inka Yupanki by his father Wiraqocha 'Inka, whom he succeeded after capturing the capital throne in a civil war. To overcome his father's forces, Pachakuti 'Inka Yupanki negotiated a tenuous alliance with the Chancas, an ethnic group from Hancavelica which wielded considerable political power in the area west of the Inca domain. After having his brother, Capac Yupanqui, killed for disobeying orders, Pachakuti 'Inka Yupanki and his sons rapidly expanded the Inca empire so that it extended from the Titicaca Basin of Bolivia in the south to Quito, Ecuador, in the north. Pachakuti restructured religious practice and belief in the Inca empire and in Cuzco, the capital. Forced resettlement policies went hand in hand with a highly regulated ritual system into which all conquered peoples were absorbed. The space of the conquered land and its resettled peoples were factored into groups and each group became a carefully calibrated cog in a complicated religious calendar of ritual and economic activities. More than any other Inca ruler, Pachakuti 'Inka Yupanki was responsible for the formation of an imperial religion founded on devotion to Viracocha, a creator deity. While under siege by the Chancas, Pachakuti had a dream sent to him as a divine message from Viracocha. In the dream Viracocha revealed himself to be the divine patron of the emperor. In thanksgiving for his victory over the Chancas, Pachakuti constructed a temple to Viracocha in Cuzco and installed in it a gold figure of the god. The worship of Viracocha ~ was spread throughout the empire as an official cult centred on Cuzco. Its centrifugal force was governed by an official priesthood: who were masters of ceremonies performed at local temples. Apparently, the imperial cult was an overlay of all-absorbing religious importance. Although it left local religious beliefs largely intact, it relativised them by subordinating them to Inca gods of greater stature in the hierarchical pantheon. Local people need not give up their beliefs, but they did have to worship the more powerful Inca gods in addition to their own.