render “Creator,” really means the “Teacher of the World;” that of Caylla signifies “the Ever-present one;” Taripaca, which has been guessed to be the same as tarapaca, an eagle, is really a derivative of taripani, to sit in judgment, and was applied to Viracocha as the final arbiter of the actions and destinies of man.  Another of his frequent appellations for which no explanation has been offered, was Tokay or Tocapo, properly Tukupay.[4] It means “he who finishes,” who completes and perfects, and is antithetical to Ticci, he who begins.  These two terms express the eternity of divinity; they convey the same idea of mastery over time and the things of time, as do those words heard by the Evangelist in his vision in the isle called Patmos, “I am Alpha and Omega; I am the Beginning and the End.”

[Footnote 1:  “Dan (los Indios), otro nombre a Dios, que es Tici Viracocha, que yo no se que signifique, ni ellos tampoco.”  Garcilasso de la Vega, Comentarios Reales, Lib. ii, cap. ii.]

[Footnote 2:  Garcia, Origen de los Indios, Lib. iii, cap. vi; Acosta, Historia, Natural y Moral de las Indias, fol. 199 (Barcelona 1591).]

[Footnote 3:  Christoval de Molina, The Fables and Rites of the Incas, Eng.  Trans., p. 6.]

[Footnote 4:  Melchior Hernandez, one of the earliest writers, whose works are now lost, but who is quoted in the Relacion Anonima, gives this name Tocapu; Christoval de Molina (ubi sup.) spells it Tocapo; La Vega Tocay; Molina gives its signification, “the maker.”  It is from the word tukupay or tucuychani, to finish, complete, perfect.]

Yet another epithet of Viracocha was Zapala.[1] It conveys strongly and positively the monotheistic idea.  It means “The One,” or, more strongly, “The Only One.”

[Footnote 1:  Gomara, Historia de las Indias, p. 232 (ed.  Paris, 1852).]

Nor must it be supposed that this monotheism was unconscious; that it was, for example, a form of “henotheism,” where the devotion of the adorer filled his soul, merely to the forgetfulness of other deities; or that it was simply the logical law of unity asserting itself, as was the case with many of the apparently monotheistic utterances of the Greek and Roman writers.

No; the evidence is such that we are obliged to acknowledge that the religion of Peru was a consciously monotheistic cult, every whit as much so as the Greek or Roman Catholic Churches of Christendom.

Those writers who have called the Inca religion a “sun worship” have been led astray by superficial resemblances.  One of the best early authorities, Christoval de Molina, repeats with emphasis the statement, “They did not recognize the Sun as their Creator, but as created by the Creator,” and this creator was “not born of woman, but was unchangeable and eternal."[1] For conclusive testimony