CHAPTER 12

OF THE TEMPLES THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE INDIES

Let us begin, therefore, with temples: just as the Supreme God decreed that a dwelling be dedicated to him, in which his holy name would be celebrated with special devotion, so the devil for his purposes persuaded the heathen to make him splendid temples and special places of worship and sanctuaries. In each province of Peru there was one chief huaca, or house of worship, and in addition to this there were several universal ones that served for all the realms of the Incas. Two were preeminent among them all. One was called Pachacama, which is four leagues from Lima, and even today the ruins of a very old and immense building can be seen, from which Francisco Pizarro and his men took that vast store of gold and silver vessels and pitchers that were brought them when they held the Inca Atahualpa prisoner. There are reliable accounts that in this temple the devil spoke visibly and gave replies through his oracle and that sometimes a spotted snake was seen; and this speaking and responding by the devil in these false temples, and deceiving the wretched people, is a very common and proven thing in the Indies. However, in places where the Gospel has entered and raised the sign of the holy cross, the father of lies has fallen notably silent, as Plutarch wrote in his era, Curcesscaverit Pythias fundere oracula. And Saint Justin Martyr deals at length with the silence that Christ imposed on the devils who spoke through idols, as was prophesied much earlier in Holy Writ. The method used by the heathen sorcerers and priests to consult the gods was in the manner that the devil had taught them: usually it was at night, and they entered turned away from the idol, walking backward. And, bending low and bowing their heads, they assumed an ugly posture and thus consulted with him. Usually the reply was a sort of horrible whistle, or a scream, which struck them with horror, and everything that they were told and commanded was intended for their deception and perdition. Thanks to God's mercy and the great power of Jesus Christ, little of this is found today. There was another even more important temple and place of worship in Peru, which was in the city of Cuzco, where the monastery of Santo Domingo is now, and from the building's blocks and stones that remain to this day it is easy to see that it was a very important place. This temple was like the Roman Pantheon in that it was the house and dwelling place of all the gods. For the Inca kings placed in it the gods of all the provinces and peoples that they conquered, and each idol was in its special place and the people of its province came to worship and venerate it, with enormous expenditure of things that they brought to minister to it; and thus the Incas believed that the conquered provinces were safe because their gods were being held hostage, as it were. The Punchao was there, which was an idol of the sun, made of very fine gold and with a great abundance of precious stones, set facing the east so cleverly that when the sun came up it struck the idol; and as it was very fine metal, it returned the sun's rays with such brilliance that it seemed another sun. The Incas worshiped this idol as their god, and also as Pachayachachic, who is the maker of the heavens. They say that among the spoils of this rich temple a soldier received that beautiful gold plaque of the sun and that he gambled it away one night in the course of a protracted game; hence the origin of the proverb that circulates in Peru about great gamblers, saying, "he gambles away the sun before it rises:"