In Incan lore, as near as can be known, there existed the great god Viracocha. Before him, there was nothing. He created a dark world devoid of sun, moon, or stars and peopled it with a race of giants. Eventually, he created the race of men in his own likeness and they lived in the darkness. He ordered his creatures to serve him and to follow that which he set forth. At some point, Viracocha decided the people had failed to live up to his expectations. Those in disfavor were turned to stone or perished in great floods. (Check the Sacred Text link below for further reading.) There are many stories and tales of this god, many of which disagree. However, the part of the tale that intrigues me is the part in which he is depicted as Tonapa or Tonapa Viracocha Nipacachan. (Other names are also found for this god such as Thunupa and Taapac.)

Little is really known about Tonapa. In some opinions, these two are one and the same in their godhood. In some, he is creator, culture-hero and transformer all in one. In yet others, Tonapa is considered the human form of the god Viracocha. It is said that in this human form, Tonapa traveled Peru disguised as an old man carrying a staff. He worked miracles, preached virtues and “commandments”, and slept in fields. Villages who displeased him by disparaging him were flooded or the people turned to stone. The short version has it that he failed in his endeavors to bring his message to the people, and so, widely despised by those he sought to teach, he departed across the sea.

The story, as with many myths, varies. “In Peru, the Quechua state that Tonapa left via the Pacific and founded civilizations in Oceana,” state authors Ivar Zapp and George Ericson of Atlantis in America: Navigators of the Ancient World. Other versions say that he “died” and his body was set adrift on Lake Titicaca where it “sailed away with such speed” until it struck land upon the shores of Cochamarca so hard that it created the river Desguardero. It then followed this path on out to sea.

At the Sacred Texts site, you can read History of the Incas by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa as translated by Clements Markham. It is easy to spot the Catholic influences in Pedro’s narrative…or is it the other way round? In Fingerprints of the Gods, Graham Hancock seems to discount the Catholic influence. Yet, in Katherine Reece’s article The Spanish Imposition, it is clear that the early Spanish chroniclers allowed their Christian beliefs to influence how they retold the Incan myths. There is also mention made that our Incan friend was in fact the apostle St. Thomas. Indeed, some Morman works also include mention of Tonapa, likening his travels and deeds to that of Christ, alluding perhaps that Tonapa and Christ were one and the same.

Regardless, Tonapa is a fascinating god and subject, perhaps because so little is known about him. I find the corollaries interesting and I was really surprised to find the Morman connection.