The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

210 HISTORY OF INITIATION
They worshipped a Triad of deity, for Acosta says, 77
they
had an idol whom they called Tangatanga, which signifies,
One in Three, and Three in One; and paid divine
honours to the Sun79 80
as the fountain of Light, and the
81
of the Incas.
parent
On their great annual festival, which was held on the
first day of the September moon, their secret mysteries
were celebrated, which they believed would convey a
77 Cerem. of Var. Nat., p. 412.
78 Faber (Pag. Idol, vol. i.. p. 269) says they entertained a belief
"
in two other triads. The first consisted of Chuquilla Catuilla
Intylappa, or the father-thunder, the son-thunder, and the brother-
the father-
thunder the second of ; Apomti Churunti Intiquaoqui,
Sun, the son-Sun, and the brother-Sun."
79 " At Cusco was that wonderful temple of the sun, the beauty and
riches whereof surpassed imagination. I shall transcribe the description
which one of their Incas. called Garcilasso, has given us thereof.
'
His words are as follow : The high altar of this pompous edifice
stood eastward and the ;
roof, which was made of timber, was thatched
over, they having no tile or brick among them. The four walls of the
temple, from the top downwards, were all covered over with plates of
gold, and the ceiling was also of gold. On the high altar was the
figure of the sun, represented on a gold plate, twice as thick as those
which covered the walls. This figure, which was made of one continued
piece, represented a round face, surrounded with rays and
flames, in the same manner as our painters usually draw the sun. It
was of so prodigious a breadth, that it almost covered one side of the
wall, on which there was no other representation of any kind. This
was the only one the Peruvians had, either in that or any other temple.
On each side of the image of the sun, the several bodies of their
deceased incas, or monarchs, were ranged in order, according to the
course of their respective reigns, and 'so embalmed (the manner of
which is not known to us) that they seemed to be alive. They were
seated on thrones of gold, raised on plates of the same metal, with
their faces looking towards the bottom of the temple. This temple
had several gates, which were all covered with plates of gold, the
chief of which looked towards the north, as it still does to this day.
Moreover, round the walls of this temple, on the outside, was a cornice
of gold, in the shape of a crown or garland, more than a yard broad.
On one side of the temple was a cloister, built in a quadrangular form ;
and in its highest enclosure a garland of pure gold, an ell broad, like
the above-mentioned. Round this cloister were five square pavilions,
or houses, covered over in the shape of a pyramid. The first was
built for the habitation of the moon, the sun's wife, and stood the
nearest to the great chapel of the temple. The doors and enclosures
of it were covered with silver plates ; its white colour denoting that
it was the apartment allotted to the moon, whose figure was represented
like that of the sun but with this ; difference, that it stood
upon a silver plate, and was represented with a '
woman's face."
(Univ. Dis., vol.
i., p. 268, 269.)
80
liaynal. Hist. Ind., vol. iii., p. 20.
81 Marm. Incas, vol ii., p 40