Inti

Accounts vary across sources: in some traditions Inti is presented as born of Viracocha or as connected genealogically to Viracocha; other accounts place Inti as a child of the earth goddess (Pachamama) and a sky-divinity, or as Pachamama's consort. Inti is also cast in origin narratives as the divine instructor of culture-heroes (for example, teaching Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo civilizing arts). The sources emphasize that Inti functions as a cluster of solar aspects rather than a single unitary personality, and multiple, sometimes conflicting, genealogies and roles exist in the record.

Iconographically Inti is described as a golden disk with rays and a human face. A cult image known as punchaw (also spelled punchao; Quechua for 'day') is described as a disk adorned with ear spools, a pectoral, and a royal headband; some accounts describe lions and serpents projecting from the form. Multiple golden disks and statue-forms were kept in Cusco and in the Qurikancha shrine; certain images were said to contain a hollow filled with gold dust and ashes of Inca kings' hearts.

Inti is credited with life-giving and fertility functions — the sun's heat was linked to crop production and to patterns of rain — and plays roles in origin, instruction, and political guardianship. Inti serves as a divine ancestor and patron of the ruling dynasty (the Sapa Inca was regarded as Inti's living representative), commands a court attended by celestial figures (e.g., the Rainbow, Pleiades, Venus), and is paired with the moon-goddess Mama Quilla. The cult of Inti was institutionalized with temples, a high priest (Willaq Umu), and mamakuna priestesses serving in ritual production and offerings.