When you hike up to the high-altitude ruins of Cusco or stand in the misty silence of Machu Picchu, you aren't just looking at rocks. Honestly, you're standing in a crossroads of worlds. The Incas didn't see the universe like we do—a linear timeline or a big empty space. For them, reality was a layered sandwich, and the top layer was Hanan Pacha.
You've probably heard the term if you've been down a rabbit hole of Andean history or, more recently, if you’re a gamer. But let’s get one thing straight: the Records of Hanan Pacha in the real world aren't a single physical book or a magical scroll. They’re a collection of oral traditions, colonial chronicles, and astronomical stone-work that explain the "world above."
What Most People Get Wrong About the Upper World
A lot of folks try to map Christian ideas onto Inca cosmology. They hear "Hanan Pacha" and immediately think "Heaven." It’s a natural mistake. Spanish missionaries like Bernabé Cobo and Garcilaso de la Vega did the exact same thing in the 16th century to make the indigenous religion easier to swallow for the Church.
But Hanan Pacha isn't just a place for "good" people to go when they die.
It’s the realm of the celestial. Think of it as the source of energy. It’s where the Inti (the Sun), Mama Killa (the Moon), and the Illapa (Thunder and Lightning) live. It’s literally "the high world." If you look at the Quechua word pacha, it doesn't just mean space; it means space-time. So, Hanan Pacha is also the future.
The condor is the mascot here. You’ll see it carved everywhere. This massive bird was believed to be the only creature capable of flying high enough to deliver messages between our world (Kay Pacha) and the gods above.
The Records Found in the Living Rock
Since the Incas didn't have a written alphabet, their "records" are a bit different from what we're used to. They used Quipus—those complex knotted strings—and architecture.
If you want to see the records of Hanan Pacha in person, you look at the stones. There’s a fascinating, and somewhat controversial, theory by researchers like Alfredo Gamarra regarding the styles of masonry in the Andes.
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The Three Styles of Time
- Hanan Pacha Style: This is characterized by carving directly into "living rock." You'll see massive boulders with steps or seats carved out of them that look like they were melted or molded.
- Uran Pacha: This is the megalithic style. Think of the giant, interlocking stones at Sacsayhuaman that fit so tightly you can’t slide a credit card between them.
- Ukun Pacha: The later, cruder style with smaller stones and mortar.
Gamarra argued these weren't just different construction techniques but represented different epochs of time. While mainstream archaeology is skeptical of the "different eras" theory, the physical evidence of these distinct styles is undeniable when you're standing in front of them.
The Viral Misconception: The Video Game Connection
Okay, we have to talk about it. If you search for "Records of Hanan Pacha" today, you're going to get hit with a lot of results for Genshin Impact.
In the game, there is a literal set of three books titled Records of Hanan Pacha. It’s a fable about a sage named Waxaklahun Ubah Kan who builds a floating city. It's a cool story. It’s great world-building. But it is not a historical Incan record.
Basically, the game developers took the beautiful concept of Andean cosmology and wove it into their own lore. If you're looking for the real history, don't cite the "Sage of the Stolen Flame" in your history paper. Real Inca records are found in the Huarochirí Manuscript, a 16th-century document that captures the authentic myths of the Andes before they were too heavily diluted by colonial influence.
Why Hanan Pacha Still Matters
You might wonder why we’re still obsessing over 500-year-old space-time concepts. It's because the Andean worldview is incredibly relevant to how we think about the environment today.
In the Records of Hanan Pacha—both the metaphorical and the chronicled ones—everything is about Ayni, or reciprocity. The upper world gives rain and light; we give back through rituals and respect for the earth. It’s a closed loop.
When you visit a site like Ollantaytambo, you see the alignment of the buildings with the stars. The Incas recorded the movement of the "Dark Cloud Constellations," like the Llama in the Milky Way, to predict when the rains would come. These weren't just myths; they were survival data.
Practical Ways to Explore This History
- Visit the Coricancha in Cusco: This was the Golden Temple. It was the literal center of the universe where the three worlds met. The Spanish built a church on top of it, but the Inca foundations—the records of their celestial devotion—still stand.
- Read the Huarochirí Manuscript: If you want the "raw" version of these myths without the Spanish "heaven and hell" filter, this is your best bet. It was written in Quechua for a Spanish priest named Francisco de Avila.
- Look for the Chakana: This is the "Inca Cross." Each arm and level represents parts of their cosmology, including the three worlds. It’s a visual shorthand for the entire Hanan Pacha philosophy.
Ultimately, Hanan Pacha is about looking up. It represents the potential of the human spirit to connect with something larger than itself. Whether you see it as a physical place in the stars or a state of mind for the future, the records left behind in the stones of the Andes suggest a people who were deeply in tune with the rhythm of the universe.
To dive deeper into the physical records of this era, you should investigate the Intihuatana stones found at various ruins; these "hitching posts of the sun" were the primary instruments used to track the movement of the Hanan Pacha deities across the sky.