Supay

In the indigenous Inca/Quechua-Aymara framework Supay is presented as a primordial denizen and regent of Uku Pacha (Hurin Pacha), the inner/underworld. Some chronicler-derived accounts place him in creator genealogies — reports record that Viracocha created Supay and made him a brother to principal deities such as Inti, Illapa and Mama Quilla — and other traditions portray him as the ancestor or archetype of many abyssal or dangerous spirits that inhabit roads, mountains, waters, caves and jungle. Under Spanish Christian influence Supay and the plural 'supays' were reinterpreted by evangelists and chroniclers as evil angels or the Devil, a redescription that overlays but does not entirely replace indigenous ambivalent meanings.

Indigenous conceptions emphasize Supay's multiform nature — capable of manifesting in many shapes — while post-contact descriptions and Christianized iconography often portray him in demonic terms: long horns, glassy or star-like eyes, a feline face with long fangs and prominent ears. Sources stress that fixed physical appearance is not absolute and that later demonizing images reflect colonial reinterpretation.

Supay rules the underworld and is described as able to move between Uku Pacha, the earth, and heaven at will. He is ambivalent: capable of protecting and guiding certain dead and favoring some living worshippers, while also spreading terror, misfortune, despair, corrupting minds, and turning the wise into madmen. He is presented as the source or progenitor of a race of abyssal spirits and as a trickster-like force able to deceive, mock human solemnity, and alter ideas or thoughts; chronicler sources further reframed groups of supays as fallen angels in Christian terms.