The Blurred Line of Life

The Blurred Line of Life and Death in Andean Culture After reading the first and third chapters of Mosley’s The Incas and Their Ancestors, I was impressed at the completeness of their society, to the point that they collected and displayed copious amounts of jewels, gold, and wealth in their offerings to the Gods. The striking description of Cieza de Leon’s first tour of the temples and palaces shows just how grandiose and sophisticated the Andean society must have been. It amazes me that in 1532 the Incan empire could have potentially been “the largest nation in the world”. However, one specifically interesting topic that stuck out to me while reading was the way that the Andeans treated death and the afterlife. In chapter 3, Mosley states that “past beings interact with present ones because life and death are a continuum and expiration entails no loss of vital essence.” He goes on to say that for pre-Hispanic peoples, the afterlife was a realm in which the deceased required food and clothing. Also, the bodies of the deceased had to be preserved and intact; if the person in question had had met their fate to a wild animal or enemy resulting in physical dismemberment, their soul would suffer “eternal damnation”. This belief in a very physical afterlife can perhaps offer some insight as to why the Andeans offer so many sacrifices to the Gods in the form of food, jewelry, and gold. Furthermore, the deceased also carried on economic and political duties, oftentimes being called on for advice on a broad range of things such as health, marriage, harvest, or when it was the right time to plant. It’s incredible that the Andean people relied so heavily on their deceased ancestors for advice. One would think that with the level of sophistication that the societies had, eventually the mallquipavillac, who gave consultation and replies on behalf of the deceased, would eventually be ousted as frauds. However, the religious and ancestral traditions of the Andeans most