Pariacaca (god)

Mythology

Multiple versions of the myths surrounding Pariacaca exist. In one account, five eggs appeared on the summit of the sacred mountain Kuntur Quta, from which Pariacaca and his brothers hatched. His first act was to call down a great flood to punish a rich man who had declared himself a god. Before the floods arrived, Pariacaca, disguised as a beggar, went to a fiesta at a pueblo near Huarochirí.

He was ignored by everyone except one compassionate woman. In return for her kindness, he told her that the floods would destroy everyone in five days and allowed her, her children, and her immediate family to flee to higher ground, provided she did not warn anyone else. In another version, Pariacaca is the father of a person also dressed in beggar's rags named Huathiacuri. Huathiacuri cured a rich man of an illness and was rewarded with the younger of the rich man's two daughters.

Challenged by his brother-in-law to a battle of wits, Huathiacuri was advised by his father Pariacaca—who was one of five sacred eggs on Kuntur Quta and an oracle—to accept the challenge. According to a legend about the god's generosity, Pariacaca saw a humble man crying on the shore and stopped his divine life to ask the reason. The man said that the god Wallallu Qarhwinchu had threatened to burn the town if they did not give him human sacrifices, since previously they had offered dogs.

Pariacaca confronted Wallallu, the god of fire, and won the battle by extinguishing his fireballs with rain, banishing him and condemning him to eat carrion. After this victory, Pariacaca became greatly adored in the town for freeing them from Wallallu, who was sentenced to eat dogs for having been a devourer of men.