Atawalpa, the last Inca of the Tawantinsuyu was executed by strangling
(garrote) in 1533, as some Spanish chroniclers have attested. But
two watercolors (of Martín Compañón) painted in the later 18th century,
as well as a Quzquenian oil painting and a Waman Poma's drawing
(both in the 17th century) , depict the Inca being decapitated by the
Spaniards. The latent but persistent Andean logic of "regeneration"
represented in decapitation/ head-trophy is discussed further in relation
to iconographic expressions in prehistoric time (especially of Nazca
culture) , to folk dramas of "Tragedy of Atawalpa," to myths of Inkarri's
(Inca/king) rebirth, and to an agricultura) rite of potato planting
Aya urna tarpuy (dead/head/to planü , all of which practices are observed
nowadays in the central Andes.
La Danza de la Degollación del Inca
KH_017_1_005.pdf
(2.71MB)
