{{Short description|Andean cosmological concept}} {{Inca civilization}}[[File:Waman Puma Hanaq pacha Ukhu pacha Tiksi qaylla pacha.jpg|thumbnail|Indigenous chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in his ''Nueva coronica i buen gobierno'' (1615, f. 912) uses terms ⟨hanacpacha⟩ ''hanaq pacha'' and ⟨ucopacha⟩ ''ukhu pacha'' while arguing that pre-Hispanic Andeans knew of the Christian God under the name ''Viracocha.'']]The '''''pacha''''' ({{IPA|qu|pætʃæ}}) is an Andean cosmological concept associating the physical world and space with time,<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Itier |first=César |title=Les incas |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |year=2008 |location=Paris |pages=106–112 |chapter=Le Temps}}</ref> and corresponding with the concept of space-time.<ref name="N. D’Altroy 2014 131">{{Cite book |last=N. D’Altroy |first=Terence |title=The incas |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2014 |edition=2nd |pages=131 |chapter=Thinking Inca}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Garcia |first=Franck |title=Les incas: Rencontre avec le dernier État pré-hispanique des Andes |publisher=Éditions Ellipses |year=2019 |location=Paris |pages=157–158 |chapter=Le sens de l'Histoire: Du chaos à l'ordre généralisé}}</ref>
The literal meaning of the word in Quechua is "place". ''Pacha'' can have various meanings in different contexts, and has been associated with the different stages and levels in the progressive development of the cosmos towards discontinuity and differentiation of forms,<ref name=":8" /> and attributed as encoding an Inca concept for dividing the different spheres of the cosmos akin to 'realm' or 'reality'. This latter interpretation, disputed by some scholars since such realm names may have been the product of missionaries' lexical innovation (and, thus, of Christian influence), is considered to refer to "real, concrete places, and not ethereal otherworlds".<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=N. D’Altroy |first=Terence |title=The incas |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2014 |edition=2nd |pages=125 |chapter=Thinking Inca}}</ref>
==Definition== In contemporary Quechuan languages, ''pacha'' means "place, land, soil, region, era, totality, space, time, universe.".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arriagada Peters |first=Leonora |date=December 2019 |title=Avatares de la forma en el espacio-tiempo Pacha |url=http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1665-12002019000200165&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es |journal=Tópicos del Seminario |language=es |issue=42 |pages=165–204 |issn=1665-1200}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Itier |first=César |title=Diccionario quechua sureño: castellano (con un índice castellano-quechua) |date=2017 |publisher=Editorial Commentarios |isbn=978-9972-9470-9-4 |edition=1 a edición |location=Lima, Perú |pages=154}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite thesis |last=Torres Menchola |first=Denis Joel |date=2019-10-17 |type=MA thesis, Linguistics |title=Panorama lingüístico del departamento de Cajamarca a partir del examen de la toponimia actual |url=https://tesis.pucp.edu.pe/repositorio//handle/20.500.12404/15199 |journal= |publisher=Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |page=203}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ráez |first=José Francisco |title=Diccionario huanca quechua-castellano castellano-quechua |date=2018 |publisher=Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Instituto Riva-Agüero |others=Sergio Cangahuala Castro |isbn=978-9972-832-98-7 |editor-last=Cerrón-Palomino |editor-first=Rodolfo |editor-link=Rodolfo Cerrón Palomino |edition=Primera edición |location=Lima |pages=202}}</ref> The use of the word for both spatial and temporal reference has been reconstructed, with the same meaning, to proto-Quechuan *''pacha''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Gary John |title=Trabajos de lingüística histórica quechua |date=2013 |publisher=Fondo Ed. Pontificia Univ. Católica del Perú |isbn=978-612-4146-53-4 |editor-last=Cerrón-Palomino |editor-first=Rodolfo |editor-link=Rodolfo Cerrón Palomino |edition= |location=Lima |pages=116 |language=es |chapter=El lexicón proto-quechua |trans-chapter=Proto-Quechua Lexicon |editor-last2=Bendezú Araujo |editor-first2=Raúl |editor-last3=Torres Menchola |editor-first3=Denis}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Emlen |first=Nicholas Q. |date=2017-04-02 |title=Perspectives On The Quechua–Aymara Contact Relationship And The Lexicon And Phonology Of Pre-Proto-Aymara |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/689911 |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |language=en |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=307–340 |hdl=1887/71538 |doi=10.1086/689911 |issn=0020-7071|hdl-access=free }}</ref> There is no etymological link between ''pacha'' and the proto-Quechua terms *''paʈʂak'' ("one hundred"),<ref name=":2" /> or *''paʈʂa'' ("belly"),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cerrón-Palomino |first=Rodolfo |author-link=Rodolfo Cerrón Palomino |title=Lingüística aimara |date=2000 |publisher=Centro de estudios regionales andinos Bartolomé de Las Casas |isbn=978-9972-691-34-8 |series=Biblioteca de tradición oral andina |location=Cuzco |pages=365 |trans-title=Aymaran Linguistics}}</ref> nor the southern Quechua term ''p'acha'' ("clothes").<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Itier |first=César |date=1999 |title=Szeminski, J. — Wira Quchan y sus obras |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1999_num_85_1_1760 |journal=Journal de la société des américanistes |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=474–479}}</ref> Whether the word is used with reference to its spatial or temporal meaning is depending on context, as in ''pacha chaka'' ("earth bridge")<ref name=":1" /> or in ''ñawpa pacha'', which means "the ancient times" (literally "''the times of the ancestors''").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Third Lima Council |title=El sol, la luna y las estrellas no son Dios: la evangelización en quechua, siglo XVI |date=2003 |publisher=IFEA Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos : Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |others=Institut français d'études andines |isbn=978-9972-623-26-4 |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=Gérald |edition=1. |series=Travaux de l'Institut Français d'Études Andines |location=Lima, Perú |language=qu |chapter=Tercero Catecismo y exposición de la Doctrina Cristiana por sermones (Los Reyes, 1585): Sermones XVIII y XIX}}</ref>
In Classical Quechua, the word seems to have meant "world" or "universe" when not associated with other words. It was often present in important proper names in Andean pre-Hispanic cultures such as the theonym ⟨Pachacamac⟩ ''pacha kama-q'' ("universe's supporter, world's creator",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cerrón-Palomino |first=Rodolfo |title=Voces del Ande: ensayos sobre onomástica andina |date=2008 |publisher=Fondo Editorial de la Ponrificia Universidad Católica del Perú |isbn=978-9972-42-856-2 |edition=1. |series=Colección estudios andinos |location=Lima, Perú |pages=300, 308}}</ref> or "the one who animates the soil"<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Itier |first=César |title=Les incas |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |year=2008 |pages=125–128}}</ref>) or ⟨Pachacuti⟩ ''pacha kuti-y'' ("world's turning").<ref name=":6">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Cerrón-Palomino|2008|p=298}}.</ref>
In Pre-columbian times, the term ''pacha'' designated a specific cultural concept, which is difficult to translate into European languages. Anthropologist Catherine J. Allen translates ''pacha'' as "world-moment",<ref name="Allen">{{cite journal |last=Allen |first=Catherine J. |year=1998 |title=When Utensils Revolt: Mind, Matter, and Modes of Being in the Pre-Columbian |journal=RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics |issue=33 |pages=18–27 |doi=10.1086/RESv33n1ms20166999 |s2cid=132664622}}</ref> and scholar Eusebio Manga Qespi has stated that ''pacha'' can be translated as "spacetime".<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Manga Qespi |first=Atuq Eusebio |date=1994 |title=Pacha: un concepto andino de espacio y tiempo |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/38844252.pdf |journal=Revista Española de Antropología Americana |volume=24 |pages=155–189}}</ref>
==Andean cosmological concept== In the pre-Columbian Andean world, the conception of time was associated with space, both collectively called ''pacha'' (earth, soil), which was in continual development toward order and toward "functional differentiation and discontinuity of forms, factors of complementarity rather than rivalry, therefore of peace and productivity".<ref name=":8" /> However, rather than representing a state of constant change or progress it represented a "punctuated equilibrium" and order, interrupted by moments of radical change.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=N. D’Altroy |first=Terence |title=The incas |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2014 |edition=2nd |pages=138 |chapter=Thinking Inca}}</ref>
In accordance with the Andean concepts of duality, complementarity and opposition, space-time was conceived in connection to certain events, social relationships, vitality (''camaquen''), social being, certain ''huacas'' (constellations, ancestors, and deities personified in the landscape).<ref name="N. D’Altroy 2014 131"/><ref name=":10" /> There existed various geographic spatio-temporel divisions, with strong political and ideological connotations, in Cuzco and in the Inca Empire, showing the social status and position of groups and places, and influencing the administrative organization of the Andean chiefdoms.<ref name=":11" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tom Zuidema |first=Reiner |author-link=Reiner Tom Zuidema |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fOj7EAAAQBAJ |title=Ceque system of Cusco: The Social Organization of the Capital of the Inca |year=1964 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-61240-2 |access-date=30 April 2024}}</ref><ref name=":12" />
=== Progressive and cyclic development towards order === The Incas (and, more broadly, Andean cultures) understood time as cyclical, integrated into the concept of “Pacha” (which encompasses space, time, and the cosmic order). They did not view history as a straight line with a clear beginning, constant progress, and a definitive end, as in many modern Western historical narratives (influenced by Judeo-Christianity and the idea of linear progress).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thrift |first=Scott |date=2025-11-21 |title=Cyclical Time Across Cultures |url=https://thepresent.is/blogs/research/cyclical-time-across-cultures |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=The Present |language=en}}</ref>
The spatio-temporal development of the cosmos was divided into several fundamental stages in the development of the world: the pre-solar era, during which men lived in semi-darkness, which was closed by the event of the arrival of the sun, establishing the alternation between night and day; the solar era, divided into two periods by the advent of the great flood called ''Unu Pachacuti'' ("reversal of space-time, or return of time, by water"), a first period where the ''huacas'' ruled the Andean states, and a second during which the relations of opposition and complementarity were maintained between the llaqtas, urban spaces, and urqu, uninhabited lands of the mountains, the ancient ''huaca'' lords now personifying the natural spaces surrounding and defining the identity of the Andean socio-territorial and political entities; and then the ''Purum Pacha'' and the ''Inka Pacha'', the first era being the pre-Incaic age supposedly uncultured and barbaric, and the second being the Incaic era, in which, following the conquests of the Inca Emperor Pachacuti ("world's turning" or "cataclysm") which mark a "sort of "return to square one", after exhaustion of the forces [''camaquen''] of the era which was ending" and which then became the old era associated with chaos, the Inca empire is charged of the civilizing and ordering mission of the post-diluvian world,<ref name=":8" /> notably in order to delay the end and the cyclical restarting of the world.
The chroniclers of the colonial period mentioned various ''pachas'', of different number. According to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, there were only two, while Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa wrote of three eras, and Felipe Guaman Pima de Ayala of five.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Garcia |first=Franck |title=Les incas: Rencontre avec le dernier État pré-hispanique des Andes |publisher=Éditions Ellipses |year=2019 |location=Paris |pages=160–161 |chapter=Le sens de l'Histoire: Du chaos à l'ordre généralisé}}</ref>
=== Worlds === According to various anthropologists, historians and linguists there existed two spatio-temporal "realms" or "worlds", called ''Pacha'', in addition to "''This Pacha''".<ref name=":3" /><ref name="Allen" /> This postulat is based on Quechua compounds used in colonial sources for Christian concepts pointing to pre-Hispanic use for cosmological concepts. That is the case for ''hananc pacha'' or ''hanan pacha'' and of ''ucu pacha'' or ''ukhu pacha,'' which were used for "Christian heaven" and "Christian hell", respectively, since at least the first written Quechua text<ref>{{Cite book |last=Santo Tomás |first=Domingo de |author-link=Domingo de Santo Tomás |title=El sol, la luna y las estrellas no son Dios: la evangelización en quechua, siglo XVI |date=2003 |publisher=IFEA Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos : Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |others=Institut français d'études andines |isbn=978-9972-623-26-4 |edition=1. |series=Travaux de l'Institut Français d'Études Andines |location=Lima, Perú |language=qu |chapter=Plática para todos los indios}}</ref> and first Quechua dictionaries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Santo Tomás |first=Domingo de |author-link=Domingo de Santo Tomás |title=Lexicón o vocabulario de la lengua general del Perú : Compuesto por el Maestro Fray Domingo de Santo Thomas de la orden de Santo Domingo |date=2013 |publisher=Universidad de San Martín de Porres |volume=1 |location=Lima |pages=151, 349}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Anonymous (probably Blas Valera) |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/885304625 |title=Arte y vocabulario en la lengua general del Perú |date=2014 |publisher=Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Instituto Riva-Agüero |isbn=978-9972-832-62-8 |editor-last=Cerrón-Palomino |editor-first=Rodolfo |editor-link=Rodolfo Cerrón Palomino |edition=Primera edición |series=Publicaciones del Instituto Riva-Agüero |location=Lima |pages=94, 173, 235, 284 |oclc=885304625 |editor-last2=Bendezú Araujo |editor-first2=Raúl |editor-last3=Acurio Palma |editor-first3=Jorge}}</ref>
Andean tradition conceives of the universe as an interconnected, living system, where the different planes of existence are not strictly separate but are interrelated through complementary dualities (yanantin) and cycles of creation and destruction (pachakuti).
These realms are not solely spatial, but simultaneously spatial and temporal.<ref name="Heydt-Coca">{{cite journal |last=Heydt-Coca |first=Magda von der |year=1999 |title=When Worlds Collide: The Incorporation Of The Andean World Into The Emerging World-Economy In The Colonial Period |journal=Dialectical Anthropology |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–43}}</ref> Although the universe would have been considered a unified system within Inca cosmology,{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} the division between the worlds is a part of the dualism prominent in Inca beliefs, known as ''yanantin''. This concept of duality considered everything which existed as having two opposed complementary characteristics ( feminine and masculine, hot and cold, positive and negative, dark and light, order and chaos, etc.).<ref name="Minelli">{{cite book |last=Minelli |first=Laura Laurencich |title=The Inca World: The Development of Pre-Columbian Peru, A.D. 1000–1534 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2000 |location=Norman, OK |chapter=The Archeological-Cultural Area of Peru}}</ref> This dualism between the upper ''pacha'', dominated by the deity of rain, of the sky, of the atmospheric phenomena, of hail, of thunder, and of lightning, ''Illapa'', and the lower ''pacha'', presided by the creator deity Viracocha, institutor of irrigated agriculture, and deity of the subterranean ocean under earth's crust supplying lakes and springs with water, "thus cemented the relationship of opposition and complementarity existing between the inhabitants of each of the two mountain ecological (exploitation) levels".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Itier |first=César |title=Les incas |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |year=2008 |location=Paris |pages=121–123 |language=fr}}</ref>
=== ''Hawa Pacha'' === In the Andean worldview, the Hawa Pacha (outer world or "world beyond") is an invisible realm that transcends conventional space-time, acting as an infinite ocean where worlds, dimensions, and realities vibrate, transcending the visible universe and other known planes. This world represents realities that go beyond our direct perception; a more subtle sphere of the cosmos, related to the invisible universe, times, and dimensions that escape human senses.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 January 2014 |title=Cosmovisión Inca – El Tiempo Cíclico Inca Contra El Tiempo Lineal Europeo |url=https://peruguides.blogspot.com/2014/01/1-cosmovision-inca-el-tiempo-ciclico.html? |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=Peru Tour Guides Agotur}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vargas |first=Noemi Amalia |date=2024-01-09 |title=Corporalidad desde la cosmovisión andina, cuidado, desapegos en las narrativas de la corporalidad. |url=https://suquia.ffyh.unc.edu.ar/handle/11086/174638}}</ref>
=== ''Hanan Pacha'' === Hanan Pacha (the upper world) is the celestial realm; it refers to the worlds above. According to the writings of Diego González Holguín and Domingo de Santo Tomás, this world is interpreted as a two-part entity: Janan Pacha (the physical heaven) and Janaj Pacha (the metaphysical heaven).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Client Challenge |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/419610521/Mario-Vilca-Pacha-El-mundo-hervidero-espantoso |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=www.scribd.com}}</ref>
=== ''Hakaq Pacha'' === The Hakaq Pacha or Haqay Pacha (world beyond) is the realm associated with the “afterlife” or the transcendent world of spirits. Some descriptions place it within or beyond the Hanan Pacha, while others present it as a separate realm: the realm of spirits, exalted ancestors, or that which exists beyond what is perceptible to the human senses. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Tribuno |first=El |title=Munay Ceremonia de iniciación espiritual andina |url=https://www.eltribuno.com/nota/2016-10-12-0-0-0-munay-ceremonia-de-iniciacion-espiritual-andina |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=El Tribuno |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Client Challenge |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/486660782/KAY-PACHA-ANTROPOLOGIA-OSCAR |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=www.scribd.com}}</ref>
=== ''Kay Pacha'' === ''Kay pacha'' (Quechua: "this ''pacha''") would have been the perceptible world which people, animals, and plants all inhabit. ''Kay pacha'' may have often been impacted by the struggle between ''hanan pacha'' and ''hurin pacha''.<ref name="Heydt-Coca" /> This realm would have originally not had the subordination and inferior status in relation to the upper realm that it has in Christian conception.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Haimovich |first=Gregory |date=2017-05-19 |title=Linguistic Consequences of Evangelization in Colonial Peru: Analyzing the Quechua Corpus of the Doctrina Christiana y Catecismo |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jlc/10/2/article-p193_1.xml |journal=Journal of Language Contact |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=193–218 |doi=10.1163/19552629-01002003 |issn=1877-4091|doi-access=free }}</ref>
=== ''Hurin Pacha'' === Hurin Pacha (the underworld) is the Andean underworld. As the realm associated with death, it is inhabited by Supay and other underworld beings who torment the living. It is also associated with fertility, the moon, and nocturnal animals, and this plane is traversed by an underworld sea.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Client Challenge |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/741335555/el-hurin-pacha-o-inframundo-andino |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=www.scribd.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Adobe Acrobat |url=https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:18df0e67-d7cb-4792-a248-3222caf21fe0 |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=acrobat.adobe.com}}</ref>
=== ''Ukhu Pacha'' === [[File:Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Pachamama.jpg|thumbnail|Cosmological drawing by Aymara chronicler Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua (1613), which has been interpreted as a representation of Pachamama.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}]]Uku Pacha (the inner world) is considered the realm of eternal darkness, where the ultimate embodiment of night resides—the antagonistic force to the celestial power, the generative power. It is not the same as Hurin Pacha, although in some cases it is often considered the deepest part of the underworld. Both Hurin Pacha and Uku Pacha are terms that are confused in the chronicles, and there may have been other names that have been forgotten over time and due to evangelization.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gómez |first=Pedro |date=December 2009 |title=El mundo de los muertos en la cosmovisión centroandina |url=http://www.ugr.es/~pwlac/G25_51Carmen_Garcia_Escudero.html |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=www.ugr.es |language=es}}</ref>
When the Spanish conquered the area, rituals about ''ukhu pacha'' became crucial in missionary activity and mining operations. Kendall W. Brown contends that the dualistic nature and rituals surrounding openings to ''ukhu pacha'' may have made it easier to initially get indigenous laborers to work in the mines.<ref name=Brown /> However, at the same time, because mining was considered a perturbation of "subterranean life and the spirits that ruled it; they yielded to sacredness that did not belong to the familiar universe, a deeper and riskier sacredness."<ref name=Brown>{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Kendall W.|title=A History of Mining in Latin America|year=2012|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque, NM|isbn=9780826351074|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zt1bJKWmLUC&q=Cultivation+history}}</ref> In order to insure that the perturbation did not cause evil in the miners or the world, indigenous populations made traditional offering to the ''supay''. However, Catholic missionaries preached that the ''supay'' were purely evil and equated them with the devil and hell and thus prohibited offerings.<ref name=Brown /> Ritual surrounding ''ukhu pacha'' thus retained importance even after Spanish conquest.
=== Connections between pachas === Although the different realms would have been distinct, there would have been a variety of connections between them. Caves and springs would have served as connections between ''ukhu pacha'' and ''kay pacha'', while rainbows and lightning would have served as connections between ''hanan pacha'' and ''kay pacha''.<ref name="Strong">{{cite book|last=Strong|first=Mary|title=Art, Nature, Religion in the Central Andes|year=2012|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin, Tx}}</ref> In addition, human spirits after death could inhabit any of the levels. Some would remain in ''kay pacha'' until they had finished business, while others might move to the other two levels.<ref name="Gonzalez">{{cite book|last=Gonzalez|first=Olga M.|title=Unveiling Secrets of War in the Peruvian Andes|year=2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL}}</ref>
==== Cyclic development ==== According to other reconstructions, the most significant connection between the different levels was at cataclysmic events called ''pachakutiy'' ("world's turning"<ref name=":6" />). These would have been the instances when the different levels would all impact one another transforming the entire order of the world, and cause and contribute therefore to the cyclic and progressif development of the cosmos. These could come as a result of earthquakes, floods, or of other cataclysmic events.<ref name="Heydt-Coca" />
== Criticism == Various historians, anthropologists and linguists are critical of the existence of the concept of ''Pacha'' in pre-Columbian Andean thought, which is largely based on the indigenous chronicler Guaman Poma's 1616 chronicle. This chronicler, writing in a particular political context, thought, similarly to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, that the Inca emperors prepared the Andes to receive Catholicism, comparing events from Andean cosmological development to Western history, notably using the word "flood" to describe ''Unu Pachacuti'', and therefore comparing the destruction of the world by the creator deity Viracocha to the Bliblical flood.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Garcia |first=Franck |title=Les incas: Rencontre avec le dernier État pré-hispanique des Andes |publisher=Éditions Ellipses |year=2019 |location=Paris |pages=162–163}}</ref>
The archeologist Pierre Duviols notes that Guaman Poma, adopting a Western way of thinking, used, along with other chroniclers, the concept of "ages", to describe supposed cycles, which was an important part of Ancient Greek thought. Main criticisms to the conception of ''pacha'' appeal to the lack of early colonial written sources in its favor.<ref name=":13" /> Other criticisms concern the notion of three realms in Inca cosmology. According to historian Juan Carlos Estenssoro, ''kay pacha'' is a missionary neologism, and, while other compounds may have been preexisting, the interpretation of ''pacha'' as "realm" could be attributed to Catholic missionaries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Estenssoro-Fuchs |first1=Juan Carlos |last2=Castelnau |first2=Charlotte de |date=1996 |title=Les pouvoirs de la parole. La prédication au Pérou : de l'évangélisation à l'utopie |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ahess_0395-2649_1996_num_51_6_410918 |journal=Annales |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=1225–1257 |doi=10.3406/ahess.1996.410918}}</ref> Furthermore, the Peruvian linguist Rodolfo Cerrón Palomino attributes the coining of the compounds entirely to Catholic missionaries' lexical planning.<ref>«[...] se hizo la distinción normal, en el quechua sureño propugnado por la iglesia, entre ''hana pacha'' ‘mundo de arriba’ (= cielo) y ''uku pacha'' ‘mundo de abajo’ (= infierno), aprovechando la disponibilidad de la lengua en cuanto al registro de ''uku'' [+bajo, +interior], que simbólicamente parecía ajustarse a la noción del infierno judeo-cristiano [...]» (translation: «[...] in Southern Quechua, a normal distinction, advocated by the Church, was made between ''hana pacha'' 'world above' (= heaven) and ''uku pacha'' 'world below' (= hell), taking advantage of the availability of the language for the presence of ''uku'' [+below, +inner], which symbolically seemed to fit the Judeo-Christian notion of hell [...]»; {{Harvard citation no brackets|Cerrón-Palomino|2008|p=235}})</ref> According to these criticisms, the spatial-temporal concept of ''pacha'' as "era", "stage" or "realm" would be an unjustified anachronistic attribution of Christian beliefs to Andean pre-Hispanic societies. However, many scholars, such as Nathan Wachtel and Juan de Ossio, defend the chronicle of Guaman Poma, and the conception of ''Pacha'' in pre-Hispanic times,<ref name=":13" /> Gregory Haimovich stating that parts of the work point to the existence of three realms in pre-Hispanic cosmology.<ref name=":7" />
== See also == *Chakana *Yanantin
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Inca mythology Category:Afterlife places Category:Underworld Category:Indigenous American philosophy