Atlantis origins in Bolivian Legend,
Desaguadero, Tunapa
Legend of the Desaguadero.
Bolivian legend
in which the gods decide to punish a city on the edge of a lake by submerging it
in a day of earthquakes and floods. The principal god, Tunapa then sinks into
the waters of Lake Poopo (also called Lake Aullagas) at Pampa Aullagas.
In an illustrated booklet "The legend of the Desaguadero" published by the
University of La Paz, Bolivia, the story begins with a picture of a city on the
edge of a lake and the tale is exactly parallel to Plato’s i.e.
because of the greed of the people the Gods decide to
punish the city and bring against it earthquakes, floods and bolts of lightning
until finally the city is submerged by the
rising waters of the sea.
Bolivian Legend and Plato’s story of
Atlantis ….What Plato says in the beginning…In
the centre of the level rectangular plain at a distance of 50 stades from the
sea was a mountain that was low on all sides. Theron dwelt Cleito, and
Poseidon being smitten with desire
for her wedded her, and to make the hill whereon
she dwelt impregnable he broke it off all round about, and he made circular
belts of land and sea enclosing one another alternately, which he carved as it
were out of the midst of the island. The island later disappeared into the sea
in a single day of earthquakes and floods.
Poseidon… Greek name for the god of the sea and of
earthquakes.
Tunapa...Bolivian name for
the god of rivers and lakes.
Pampa Aullagas. Area
surrounding a low mountain
with broken off rings of land and formerly sea,
destroyed and submerged by earthquakes, located at the
southern end of Lake Poopo.
In the Greek legend, it is Poseidon, god of the sea who
marries a woman living on a hill and creates the ringed island
of Atlantis. But Plato says the legend was given
Greek names to
make it agreeable to his readers. In Bolivian legend, it is
Tunapa, god of the sea (lakes and rivers) who created the ringed
formation at Pampa Aullagas.
The following extracts show how the story varied from place to place,
Tunapa sometimes being seen as a male god and at other times as a
female.
From
Britannica.com … summary
"Thunupa appears in different guises -- godlike and man-like. I explore what
it might mean to have the same name applied to
a female mountain peak in the south who is wedded to a man/god/
mountain who is the highest peak in Condo's territory.
…In several chronicles the god Thunupa is a god who leaves the region of Lake
Titicaca. He sails down the Desaguadero River (opening up the route as he goes),
ending up in exile in Lake Poopo, where he sinks
In the legend of Azanaques and Thunapa, gender, marriage, and the violence of
husband against wife frame the story of their relationship and point to a
link between the behavior of gods and
humans.
Bouysse-Cassagne, indicating that Thunupa was a god venerated in the
sixteenth century by Aymara speakers, notes that Thunupa may have well existed
in earlier times (1988: 77). Wachtel (1990) claims even greater antiquity for
Thunupa than for Viracocha, arguing that Thunupa may be a pre-Aymara god,
perhaps of Puquina origin. Thunupa, thought to be especially important to the
area round Lake Titicaca, is particularly associated with water (Molina R.
n.d.). Wachtel describes him as the maker of terrestrial water.
this
altiplano water course system. The
travels of Thunupa also mark what Wachtel calls the "aquatic axis" of the
altiplano from Lake Titicaca to the great salt pans of southern Bolivia
On this watercourse Thunupa went sailing until "the Aullagas" [another name
for Lake Poopo] where "the waters vanish into the bowels of the
earth
" …..
Thunupa was deposited on the shores of Lake Poopo to take up residence
alongside Azanaques
From "La Ruta Tarapaca"
…summary. "According to these legends the old Asanaques married a
woman called Tunapa."
"Tunapa
decided to rest in the region of
Quillacas, where she built an oven in order to cook, thus forming the peaks of
Santa Barbara and San Juan Mallku, where later the actual village of Quillacas
was founded.
The following day, she headed to the west, to cross the River Marquez, Tunapa
left one of her sandals in a place today recognised by a small mound known as
Sato. On the other side of the river she decided to rest
leaving traces of her resting place in the
formations of the peak Pedro Santos Willka, site of the people and village of
Pampa Aullagas."
Inca Creation Myth from "The Incas" pub Blackwell 2002
"In ancient times before there was light the creator Wiraqocha Pachayachachic (creator of all things) fashioned a race of giants to see if it would be good to make humans on that scale. He saw that they were too large, and so he made humans his own size. But they were filled with hubris and greed, so the Creator turned some to stone, and others to diverse forms, and some were swallowed up by the earth or sea. And he caused a great flood to cover the land, destroying all that was upon it, save for three men, whom he saved to help create humans anew.
From
Britannica.com …..abridged version
Magazine: Anthropological Quarterly, October 1999
LANDSCAPE, GENDER, AND COMMUNITY: ANDEAN MOUNTAIN STORIES
By Sikkink, Lynn ; Choque M., Braulio
-----------------------
On the southern Bolivian altiplano the fight between a male and a female
mountain peak marked the region in distinctive ways, defining physical space and
humans' relationship to it. Considering landscape from the perspective of one
community, we learn about the reworking of history and gender, and individuals'
ability to use the story creatively. [storytelling, Andes, landscape, gender,
mountains]
"Azanaques got married to a woman from the south named Thunapa
... "(Braulio Choque).
Introduction
Arriving as an outsider to take up residence on the Bolivian altiplano, I did
not realize that even the landscape was beyond my reach. What I initially saw
was flat expanses of sandy pampa bounded by hills, some of them standing alone,
the watery vision of Lake Poopo with its salty outline to one side of my new
home, subtle changes in color from salt to desert sand to rusty browns. This
initial impression of desolate beauty had little to do with how Condenos viewed
this scene. Little by little, learning the "stories" or "legends" about the gods
who animated this terrain, I was taught to identify the personages here and
there and the marks of their relationships and disputes: that rock catapulted
from a sling during a fight, this hill as a hat knocked off during a fight, this
salt and sand a trail of breast milk and barley flour, this hill an abandoned
child, those red rocks the blood of a wounded mountain/ god. But surprisingly
this learning process did not result in the exchange of one vision of the
landscape for another. Rather in the listening and looking I learned to
apprehend always-unfolding possibilities for considering the scene around me,
some of them contradictory. Stories about important mountains, overseers of
Condeno communities, were recounted differently by various community members,
not necessarily in conformity with each other. The telling of folk tales is
influenced by the age and sex of the individual storyteller, as well as by the
community affiliation of that person and which parts of the landscape are
particularly important to him or her.
First, I am interested in demonstrating how the landscape itself is gendered
in the region surrounding San Pedro de Condo, and how stories about the
landscape like the one I tell here take on specific gendered aspects in modern
versions of folk tales. Second, I will contrast the local representation of the
gender of two mountain peaks (Thunapa and Azanaques). I will examine how this
representation differs from chronicled accounts in which Thunupa(n1) appears in
different guises -- godlike and man-like. I explore what it might mean to have
the same name applied to
a female mountain
peak in the south who is wedded to a man/god/ mountain who is the highest peak
in Condo's territory.
Landscape, Gender, and Folk Tales
In the Andes the landscape is animated in specific ways. As the Andean
geography is monumental, so are the beings that breathe life into mountains,
plains, rivers, and rocky outcrops. For instance, a mountain is not just a place
where a god walked, it is itself a god. A blocky rock the size of a small house
is the missile flung from a sling in a fight between two peaks. Unlike other
cultural landscapes that record in myths the passage of gods, ancestors, and
trickster figures, and their effects on the landscape, Andean geography is a
gargantuan arrangement of bodies, body parts, and the objects these beings used
or left behind as they went on their ways in times past.
Locally told and recognized, the stories about the peaks Azanaques and
Thunapa also provide a counterpoint to other stories about the Andean god
Thunupa whose reputation is known throughout other parts of the Andes, but under
a different guise.
…In several chronicles the god Thunupa is a god who leaves the region of Lake
Titicaca. He sails down the Desaguadero River (opening up the route as he goes),
ending up in exile in Lake Poopo, where he sinks
Condo was the center of the pre-Inca Asanaqi-Killakas Federation whose
political structure is still reflected in modern day sociopolitical
arrangements. Condenos in turn had the peak of Azanaques at the center of their
identity, so stories about Azanaques today reflect in part the origin myths and
political assertion of this
old Aymara
Federation. ….In the legend of Azanaques and Thunapa,
gender, marriage, and the violence of husband against wife frame the story of
their relationship and point to a link
between the behavior of gods and humans.
A Modern Version of the Legend of Azanaques and Thunapa
This story was recorded by Braulio Choque, a young scholar of mythology who
lives in Huari, five kilometers from Condo. As Choque grew up in this area
hearing this story, he draws on his own knowledge of local lore alongside the
information he collected from residents of Huari, Condo, Quillacas, and Pampa
Aullagas. His version therefore is remarkably complete in that it draws on
angles of representation provided to him by inhabitants of the areas through
which Thunapa passed after her fight with Azanaques (see Figure 1). Although
Thunupa is a male god when we encounter him in chronicled myths, the southern
peak of Thunapa is almost always spoken of as a female,
In other Condeno versions the peak of Thunapa is labeled sometimes as a
male,. Legend of Azanaques They say that in the vast region of Huari there lived
a man called Azanaques. …
One day
Azanaques got married to a woman from the south named Thunapa. There were other marital differences -- During the party he drank a
lot of alcohol and ended up beating Thunapa. She was badly wounded, harming also
the child she was carrying in her womb. Because of the fight, Thunapa took
Sullka and resolved to flee from Azanaques. Thunapa, badly wounded, stayed
several hours on the outskirts of San Pedro de Condo. She found several
medicinal herbs to help her, then continued on her journey. Along the way,
however, she dripped blood, which today has been converted into three small
hills of reddish earth, named Wila-wila ["red-red" or "blood-blood"].
Azanaques ordered a search. Azanaques and his henchmen followed Thunapa's
path, but without success. Meanwhile Thunapa continued her journey, stopping to
prepare a meal. She rigged a little oven, made of clay and granite rocks. A long
time later the little oven became the
village of Quillacas [today a pilgrimage
site]. A resident says, "Thunapa cooked her meal in those three hills that you
see there, at the top of Calvary Hill. And because of that, those three hills
are black with the smoke of the fire -- it stained it that way forever ....
"
She continued on across the flat pampa. On her way she left the marks of her
dejection in the shape of gigantic sandal prints. Her full breasts spilled out
milk on the pampa as
she walked towards
Pampa Aullagas, …At the first rays of dawn, Thunapa
continued her hurried journey. In her haste she didn't suspect that her pito had
been leaking out of a small hole in the ch'uspa and had spread across the length
of the pampa. Residents say that this was converted into the current line of
sand and dust marking her route. Along with this, the milk from her breasts
continued to leak out, to be converted into salt. This salt now extends in small
mounds to the village of Pampa Aullagas, even covering the environs of the
village of Salinas de Garci Mendoza, where Thunapa set up her new dwelling,
living peacefully, free from her pursuers.
Landscape and the body
One of the obvious aspects of the story of Azanaques and Thunapa, which as
told in this version is like a serial origin myth, is how the landscape is
represented as many bodies and is itself the result of the actions of these
bodies as they shaped this space in the past. In the story the landscape is
animated through its representation as living and dead gods, and as their body
essences -- blood, breast milk, and urine figure as parts of the modem
landscape.
As a present part of Condo's territory, how does the effect of Azanaques'
body on the landscape differ from that of Thunapa's? Whereas Azanaques is
encompassed by Condo's territory,
Thunapa
lies far away, in the territory of Salinas de Garci Mendoza (once called Salinas
de Thunapa) and is the tutelary god of those inhabitants just as Azanaques is
for the Condenos (see Figure 1). Thunapa is visible from Condo, and marks an
important point on the horizon -- the direction of the
great salt flats to the southwest of Condo. Condenos still travel to these salt
fiats but did so much more frequently in the past, a point to which I return
below. Thunapa is an important reference point on the landscape, and people name
it frequently, while they may or may not point out other mountain landmarks
within sight. Perhaps this is partly so because of Thunapa's commanding location
beyond the shores of Lake Poopo and in the region of Uyuni and Coipasa. The
orientation of Thunapa also marks the line of an old trade route to the Pacific
Ocean through the Atacama Desert which highlanders used to travel. Thunapa also
marks the western edge of the Federation
of Asanaqi-Killakas' territory to which Condenos trace
their history (Espinoza Soriano 1981). Within these old boundaries the distance
between Thunapa and Azanaques also marks the wide extent of a common and old
territory.
Thunapa's journey may also make reference to the historic migrations of the
inhabitants
Gender: Local and Titicaca Variations on the Myth
In sorting out the various meanings and interpretations of this myth, I find
that gender is a notable feature, especially in that the gender of Thunapa is
inconsistent from account to account. (Compare the two quotations in the opening
of this article.)
The mythical action of
the Condeno story revolves around a married couple, specifically marked in their
human-like relations. Along with exploring this aspect
of the story, I also wish to talk about how a local variant of this story links
it to early colonial chronicled myths about the god of Thunupa. He is always
depicted as a male, sometimes of the same stature as Viracocha (an ancient
Andean god), and sometimes as Viracocha's son. Thunupa is variously depicted in
these myths, sometimes with Christian-like aspects, and often with associations
to water and water courses (Bouysse-Cassagne 1988; Guillen E. 1991; Urbano 1988;
Wachtel 1990). Bouysse-Cassagne,
indicating that Thunupa was a god venerated in the sixteenth century by Aymara
speakers, notes that Thunupa may have well existed in earlier times (1988: 77).
Wachtel (1990) claims even greater antiquity for Thunupa than for Viracocha,
arguing that Thunupa may be a pre-Aymara god, perhaps of Puquina origin.
Thunupa, thought to be especially important to the area round Lake Titicaca, is
particularly associated with water (Molina R. n.d.). Wachtel describes him as
the maker of terrestrial water (1990: 534). This role is
demonstrated in Sarmiento's account (1942[1972]) when he casts Thunupa as the
disobedient son of Viracocha. In this account, Viracocha punishes Thunupa
because of his misdeeds. Viracocha's other two sons tie Thunupa by the feet and
hands and toss him into a boat, which is carried down the Desaguadero River,
that flows to Lake Uru-Uru and on to Lake Poopo (also cited by Bouysse-Cassagne
1988: 82). Ramos Gavilan (1976) elaborates by recounting that a strong wind blew
on the aft of the vessel, carrying it towards Desaguadero -- which before this
time did not exist -- and the prow of Thunupa's boat opened the outlet on this
spot, providing enough space for the waters to flow out. On this watercourse Thunupa went sailing until "the
Aullagas" [another name for Lake Poopo] where "the waters vanish into the bowels
of the earth" (pp. 31-32). (See Figure 2.) Unresolved is
the fate of Thunupa in this story -- did he sink into the lake or establish a
new home? Given the local Condeno story it is tempting to postulate that the
local story picks up where the Titicaca version leaves off; that is,
Thunupa was deposited on the shores
of Lake Poopo to take up residence alongside Azanaques. Although these two stories are not
explicitly linked, they are symbolically connected beyond just the name.
Thunupa, and then Thunapa, moves across the landscape, bisecting it roughly
along the line between urco and uma(n5) which defined pre-Hispanic Aymara space (Bouysse-Cassagne 1986;
Saignes 1984), continuing this process on land until reaching the salt flats,
once a part of this altiplano water course
system. The travels of Thunupa also mark what Wachtel calls the "aquatic axis"
of the altiplano from Lake Titicaca to the great salt pans of southern
Bolivia (1990: 527). Comparing the chronicled accounts
of Thunupa to the local story there is a shift from water to land, but the shift
in register is more than from sailor in his boat to a mountain god; it is from
male to female.
This analogy suggests that in mythically encountering the local god
Azanaques, the founding symbol of the
once
huge Asanaqi-Killakas Federation, Thunapa would have
found an immediate place in the local hierarchy if construed as a female rather
than a male. Not only was she seen as a female, but she was mythically wed to Azanaques,
symbolizing the unequal union of Aymara and other pre-Inca religious beliefs,
perhaps associated with the regional fishermen of Uru or Puquina ethnicity.
Thunupa, after all, is associated with
water ways in the Titicaca story,(n6) while he/she goes
on to shape the landscape and "produce salt" --logically related to water
resources as one moves from wetter to drier parts of the altiplano (Titicaca to
Uyuni). The local myth in some way domesticates Thunapa, planting her on the
landscape as a creative force come to rest -- as the runaway wife of Azanaques
who lost her dominion over the part of the landscape ruled by her husband.
By Lynn Sikkink, San Jose State University and Braulio Choque M., Huari,
Bolivia
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(see website for full article)
From Ruta Tarapaca
Menciona que Calancha atribuye la muerte de Taapac (Tunupa) a los indios de
las orillas del Titikaka, donde dice, el cuerpo fue colocado en una balsa:
"y las tranquilas aguas haciendo las veces de remo, los céfiros
sirviendo de pilotos, el cuerpo navegó con tal velocidad que quedaron absortos
y poseídos de temor que ellos mismos lo habían matado sin piedad... la balsa
llegó a la playa de Chachamarka donde está el Desaguadero, la misma balsa
abrió por tierra formando el Desaguadero, el santo fue hasta el pueblo de
Aullagas y el Titikaka en dirección de la costa de Arica y Chile"
(
Bandelier 1996:385).
Algo similar refiere Ramos Gavilán (citado por
Ponce 1982:173-175), lo
citamos desde que Tunupa llega navegando hasta Aullagas:
" y sobre ellas fue nauegando hasta los Aullagas; donde como
arriba queda dicho, se hunden las aguas por las entrañas de la tierra, y allí,
se dize, quedó el Santo cuerpo, y que cada año en vna de las Pascuas, o por
aquel tiempo, se veían alli vna muy fresca, y verde Palma: aunque otros
afirman, se vé esta Palma en vna isleta, que el desaguadero haze vezina a la
costa de Chile sola, y sin que la acompañe otro arbol alguno" (
Ponce 1982:175)
El peregrinar de Tunupa hacia la costa: Historias indígenas
Los cronistas logran rehacer la ruta de Tunupa hasta que se pierde en la
región de Aullagas, al sur del lago Poopó. Es claro que este peregrinar no
termina allí, incluso los cronista mencionan una posible relación con la costa
de Chile. Historias indígenas regionales respecto al volcán Tunupa, situado a
orillas del salar de Uyuni nos permite extender el itinerario de sus viajes
desde el altiplano boliviano hacia la frontera con Chile.
Molina (
1996), por otra parte,
recogió una serie de leyendas que tienen al volcán Tunupa como personaje
central. Estas versiones fueron recogidas en las zonas de Quillacas y Pampa
Aullagas, Salinas de Garci Mendoza y Challapata, Huari y Sevaruyo. Según estas leyendas se dice que un día el
viejo Asanaques se casó con una mujer llamada Tunupa y tuvieron varios hijos. El Asanaques era un viejo con barba blanca y el
principal Mallku de la región. La Tunupa era una bella y joven mujer que llevaba
doce polleras de muchos colores y doce enaguas. El viejo Asanaques era muy
celosos de la bella Tunupa acasionádole muchos sufrimientos. Un día, tanto
sufrir, la joven Tunupa decidió irse hacia la costa. En esa ocasión la Tunupa y
el Asanaque tuvieron una riña en la que el Asanaque comenzó a castigarla. La
Tunupa pidió auxilio y salió en defensa de su hermana, Chullasi, que se
encontraba al otro lado del lago cerca a Orinoca. Chullasi, para defender a su
hermana Tunupa lanzó una piedra, con una honda, a la cabeza del Ausanaques,
hiriendo al Mallku para siempre. Es por esa razón que el mallku se encuentra
inclinado hacia donde sale el sol y la piedra que le hirió se encuentra aún en
la pampa cerca al camino, que llaman PacoKahua. Mientras el Asanaques estaba
herido, la Tunupa aprovechó para marcharse, dejando atrás a sus hijos Wilacollo,
Huatascollo, Huari y Sevaruyo (Cerro Gordo) (cerros menores que se encuentran al
sur del lago Poopó).
Iniciando su camino hacia la costa, la Tunupa orinó en las pampas de Aguas
Calientes, donde hoy existen brotes de aguas termales, consideradas saludables.
Luego de transitar por las pampas de Condo,
la Tunupa decidió descansar en la localidad de Quillacas
, donde se
construyó un fogón para cocinar, formando así los cerros de Santa Bárbara y San
Juan Mallku, donde luego se ubicaría el actual pueblo de Qillacas.
Al día siguiente, se dirigió rumbo al oeste, para cruzar el río Marqués, la
Tunupa dejó una de sus abarcas, en el lugar hoy conocido por una pequeña loma
denominada Sato.
Al otro lado del
río decidió descansar dejando rastros de reposos en los contornos del cerro
Pedro Santos Willka, lugar de fundación del pueblo y ayllu de Pampa
Aullagas.
Rumbo al sur, cerca de Tambillo, la Tunupa excavó la tierra para construir
una Tiwaraña de piedra para preparar la quinoa. Continuando su trayectoria hacia
el sur, en una localidad llamada Jayu Cota, excavó nuevamente la tierra para
luego verter su leche y dejarle a su hijo menor que la seguía. Más adelante dejó
en su camino a un hijo enfermo con viruela, llamado Saalviano, nombre de un
cerro que tiene muchos huecos en su superficie.
Siguió camino hasta una gran planicie donde se perdía de vista el Asanaques y
donde dicen que la Tunupa vertió grandes cantidades de leche para alimentar a
sus hijos. En esta zona, conocida desde entonces como el Salar de Uyuni (o
Aullagas) se encontró con dos jóvenes muy guapos, el Cora Cora y el Achacollo o
cerro Grande, con los que entabló una buena amistad. Ellos la convencieron que
se quedase por esos lugares antes de seguir rumbo a la costa.
Muy pronto los jóvenes se enamoraron de la bella Tunupa. y comenzaron a
pelearse por su amor. Con un hondazo, el Cora Cora hirió el corazón del
Achacollo, por lo que desangró mucho. Por su parte, el cerro Achacollo también
le lanzó un hondazo al Cora Cora, hiriéndolo en la vejiga y habriéndole muchos
huecos. Así ambos jóvenes pretendientes murieron por el amor de la Tunupa y
desde entonces la Tunupa se quedó y permaneció para siempre en esta región de
los Aullagas (
Molina 1996:405-408).
HISTORIC ATLANTIS IN
BOLIVIA
From
Britannica.com … summary
HISTORIC ATLANTIS IN
BOLIVIA