The Incas: Panaqas

You're probably saying, “Pa-what, now?” Panaqas (pronounced pah-knack-ah) were royal lineages. The heir to the throne belonged to the panaqa of his father. When the heir took the throne, he established a new panaqa devoted to him. A panaqa was comprised of the Inca, his wives, and his children. Yes you read that right, wives. One of the perqs of being descended from the sun was the right to marry as many women as you wanted. Much like the Targaryen family in A Song of Ice and Fire (more widely known as Game of Thrones), the Incas had no qualms about marrying family. In fact they seemed to encourage it in order to keep bloodlines poor. Retainers and advisers were also part of the panaqa. Basically everyone aligned with the Inca in court was part of his panaqa.

Here's where it gets weird – the Inca was considered immortal. 

The great Inca Pachacutec, who was the first
to declare himself son of the sun, represented in stature
form in Cusco.  If the Spanish hadn't snown up,
he would still be involved in the politics of the Incan Empire.

Being a god, mundane things like heart failure could not fell the emperor. Of course, he could die in the medical sense. In Christian cosmology, we are all considered immortal through our souls, which leave our bodies after death. Not so in Incan cosmology. After the Inca's body failed him, it was his panaqa's duty to mummify him and then treat him as if he was still alive. Being phsyically dead, the Inca couldn't rule anymore, so there was never (as far as I know) an attempt by a dead Inca's panaqa to prevent his heir's succession to the throne. But, like the Egyptian pharaohs, he did get to keep all his possessions forever (this includes clothes, utensils, tribute from land he conquered, palaces, residences, and shrines). This means, as Pedro Pizarro pointed out, that “the greater part of the people, treasure, expenses, and vices were under control of the dead.”

Dead Incas remained involved in politics too. The mummies communicated their will through female mediums. The panaqas all helped to stoke the passions of the civil war that occupied the Incas when the Spanish were landing on the Pacific coast. There were about a dozen immortal emperors all trying to gain position and affect the running of the empire, which meant the political scene was filled with all kinds of intrigue.

Of course, panaqas were present for major political events, such as the coronation of a new Inca. In 1533, Francisco Pizarro named Manco LAST NAME the new Inca. This meant a month long boozefest in Cusco that included the parading around of the mummies of all the previous emperors. Mark Adams puts it better than I ever could: “Imagine a presidential inauguration held during Mardi Gras, at which the taxidermied remains of Thomas Jefferson and Dwight Eisenhower were incorporated into float themes.” Needless to say, the Spanish were horrified by what they saw.

The divisions the panaqa system caused within Incan political society make up one of the factors that led to their downfall at the hands of the Spanish invaders. But we'll take a closer look at the reasons for the Inca defeat in a later post. For now, be grateful that US presidents aren't “immortal.”

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