One of the great repositories of a people's world view and religious beliefs, the Huarochiri Manuscript may bear comparison with such civilization-defining works as Gilgamesh, the Popul Vuh, and the Sagas. This translation by Frank Salomon and George L. Urioste marks the first time the Huarochiri Manuscript has been translated into English, making it available to English-speaking students of Andean culture and world mythology and religions.

The Huarochiri Manuscript holds a summation of native Andean religious tradition and an image of the superhuman and human world as imagined around A.D. 1600. The tellers were provincial Indians dwelling on the west Andean slopes near Lima, Peru, aware of the Incas but rooted in peasant, rather than imperial, culture. The manuscript is thought to have been compiled at the behest of Father Francisco de Avila, the notorious "extirpator of idolatries." Yet it expresses Andean religious ideas largely from within Andean categories of thought, making it an unparalleled source for the prehispanic and early colonial myths, ritual practices, and historic self-image of the native Andeans.

Prepared especially for the general reader, this edition of the Huarochiri Manuscript contains an introduction, index, and notes designed to help the novice understand the culture and history of the Huarochiri-area society. For the benefit of specialist readers, the Quechua text is also supplied.

A summation of native Andean religious tradition and an image of the superhuman and human world as imagined around A.D. 1600

About the Author

Frank Salomon is John V. Murra Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

George L. Urioste is professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Reviews
This work represents the most fulsome and developed narrative available to us of how local people in a provincial setting in the Inca Empire conceived of their society and its past.... This book will stand for some time as the definitive transcription and English translation of a seminal document in Andean cultural history. * American Anthropologist *
Although some Christian influence is discernible, the Huarochiri cycle is as close as we are likely to come to a purely Andean expression of the supernatural.... Urioste's transcription of the Quechua is included, and an Introductory Essay by Frank Salomon is an excellent study aid for both novices and adepts. * Latin American Indian Literatures Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9780292730533
Author Frank Salomon
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint University of Texas Press
Publisher University of Texas Press
Weight(grams) 653g
Dimensions(mm) 279mm * 216mm * 15mm