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Know_files/FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS.pdf - D Ank Unlimited

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Chapter 6<br />

He Came in a Time of Chaos<br />

Graham Hancock – <strong>FINGERPRINTS</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>GODS</strong><br />

Through all the ancient legends of the peoples of the Andes stalked a tall,<br />

bearded, pale-skinned figure wrapped in a cloak of secrecy. And though<br />

he was known by many different names in many different places he was<br />

always recognizably the same figure: Viracocha, Foam of the Sea, a<br />

master of science and magic who wielded terrible weapons and who came<br />

in a time of chaos to set the world to rights.<br />

The same basic story was shared in many variants by all the peoples of<br />

the Andean region. It began with a vivid description of a terrifying period<br />

when the earth had been inundated by a great flood and plunged into<br />

darkness by the disappearance of the sun. Society had fallen into<br />

disorder, and the people suffered much hardship. Then<br />

there suddenly appeared, coming from the south, a white man of large stature and<br />

authoritative demeanour. This man had such great power that he changed the hills<br />

into valleys and from the valleys made great hills, causing streams to flow from<br />

the living stone ... 1<br />

The early Spanish chronicler who recorded this tradition explained that it<br />

had been told to him by the Indians he had travelled among on his<br />

journeys in the Andes:<br />

And they heard it from their fathers, who in their turn had it from the old songs<br />

which were handed down from very ancient times ... They say that this man<br />

travelled along the highland route to the north, working marvels as he went and<br />

that they never saw him again. They say that in many places he gave men<br />

instructions how they should live, speaking to them with great love and kindness<br />

and admonishing them to be good and to do no damage or injury one to another,<br />

but to love one another and show charity to all. In most places they name him<br />

Ticci Viracocha ... 2<br />

Other names applied to the same figure included Huaracocha, Con, Con<br />

Ticci or Kon Tiki, Thunupa, Taapac, Tupaca and Illa. 3 He was a scientist,<br />

an architect of surpassing skills, a sculptor and an engineer: ‘He caused<br />

terraces and fields to be formed on the steep sides of ravines, and<br />

sustaining walls to rise up and support them. He also made irrigating<br />

channels to flow ... and he went in various directions, arranging many<br />

things.’ 4<br />

1<br />

South American Mythology, p. 74.<br />

2<br />

Ibid.<br />

3<br />

Arthur Cotterell, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Myths and Legends, Guild Publishing,<br />

London, 1989, p. 174. See also South American Mythology, p. 69-88.<br />

4<br />

Francisco de Avila, 'A Narrative of the Errors, False Gods, and Other Superstitions and<br />

Diabolical Rites in Which the Indians of the Province of Huarochiri Lived in Ancient<br />

Times', in Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Yncas (trans, and ed. Clemens R.<br />

54

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