How did the world see the Indian who lived in Peru? On the question of religious representations and psychology of the Incas

The Inca Empire in its heyday was the largest state of all South and North America pre-Columbian period. It covered the territory from modern Colombia to Chile. Her heart was the land belonging today to the states of Peru and Bolivia. This ancient civilization has achieved significant successes in military affairs, social organization, scientific natural sciences, and also managed to leave behind a significant cultural heritage.

Inca worldview

An Indian who lived in Peru lived in a world of an omnipotent, spiritualized and deified nature. Representatives of this civilization literally considered everything spiritualized. In this aspect, the ancient Indians of Peru went far beyond the European pagan peoples, deifying only the forces of nature. For the Incas, even the smallest object possessed its own soul and will: the fruits of potatoes, animals and even stones. The invisible spirit could manifest itself in many forms. Even the universe itself had a certain reasonable principle - the egg, which was depicted on a golden plate in the temple of the Sun, in the capital of the Incas of Cuzco. The Indian, who lived in Peru, believed, of course, and in the immortality of the soul. Representatives of this civilization generally had a peculiar form of totemism. The names of deified animals were communal lands. It was believed that this would contribute to their fertility. There was also a cult of ancestors. An Indian who lived in Peru, after his death, remained in the memory of his relatives. In their opinion, his spirit contributed to the fertility of animals, the ripening of the harvest, the well-being of the genus. A deceased aristocrat, no matter how he lived his life on earth and how he behaved, came directly to the abode of the Sun. There was always abundance there. But for the commoner after death, there were options. In a warm abode of the Sun fell only virtuous people in life. Sinners threatened to go to a kind of hell, called oko-paka. But the hell of the ancient Americans was not a hot spot, but an ice cave. Thus, the Indian, who lived in Peru, possessed a mystical character transmitted from generation to generation, being largely a fatalist. It is interesting that social psychologists today often attribute to the representatives of these nationalities the character of an extreme melancholic, ready to accept the vagaries of nature. At the same time, the religious ideas and outlook of the ancient inhabitants of the Peruvian mountains were very practical.

An Indian who lived in Peru considered agriculture to be sacred. Actually, the population of the Inca state consisted mainly of landowners. Therefore, the entire daily life of the aborigines was subject to a cycle of sowing and harvesting. In society there were especially revered priests, who relied on knowledge of astronomy, lunar cycles and plant properties. The Inca managed to create a state that became one of the most important centers of plant cultivation in history. Even in the modern world, more than half of all products consumed on the whole planet originally originate from South America.