While Inca music and dance have been preserved, the culture’s literary heritage has nearly faded into oblivion. Plays, legends, and poems were passed down by oral tradition. When the Spanish arrived, they disapproved of Inca legends that claimed human rulers were gods, and would not allow myths or plays with Inca religious symbols or topics to be performed at public functions. Longer plays and myths were lost because they were never performed and could not be remembered. Thus, the few remaining bits of Inca literature are poetry and short legends-material that was easy to recite in homes.
Even the greatest chroniclers of Inca history found only a few samples of Inca literature. Garcilaso de la Vega recorded several short poems, translating them into Spanish for his reading audience.
Amautas (wise men) devised clever comedies and tragedies that were performed for the sapa inca and his courtiers. Garcilaso de la Vega claimed, “The actors were not yokels, but Incas or nobles, curacas, captains, and even camp commanders: each one, in fact, being obliged to possess in real life the quality, or occupy the function, of the role he interpreted. The themes of the tragedies were always taken from history, and usually related the triumphs and valorous acts of one of the early kings, or some other hero of the empire.”
Sadly, the great majority of these historical dramas vanished from the Inca literary heritage once the Spanish clergy became powerful in Peru. They deemed such entertainment as pagan or heretical, since many mentioned Inca gods or referred to sapa incas as gods. Under strict Catholic doctrine, there was no place for these beliefs, and performing the plays at festivals were forbidden. Without written manuscripts, the plays quickly became vague memories.
World History
