Murúa Codex

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he earliest date referred to in this document entitled "Historia y Genealogía Real de los Reyes Incas del Perú de sus hechos, costumbres, trajes, y manera de Gobierno" (Royal Genealogy and History of the Inca Kings of Peru, their acts, customs, clothing and style of Government) is 1590, but the additions reveal that material was incorporated until the early part of the 17th century. Together with the later manuscript, this work constitutes an extremely valuable testimony of how a chronicle is built up and how, in its impatience to be published, it had to weave an intricate path through the restrictions imposed by the State and the Church of its day. Adding further weight to this merit of being such an early text is the fact that it is documentally very close to the Indian chronicler Guaman Poma de Ayala and, in general, to the culture of the Andean peoples. This is palpable in the structure of the document, the presence of a suite of traditions only mentioned by these two chroniclers and in the drawings presenting, around 80% of the time, a style reminiscent of those included by the author of the "Nueva Coronica" (New Chronicle).

Throughout its 145 folios, we can see the Incas parade in lists similar to those in the "Nueva Coronica", as recited by the ancient readers of quipus (the knotted cords used as mnemotechnical aids in the Inca oral tradition), together with their queens, the figures of the nobility, their institutions and customs, and a few of their cities. With some exceptions, the tendency is for each chapter in the four books making up this work to be accompanied by a drawing. Some of these, particularly those included with the chapters on the Incas themselves and their wives, the Coyas, betray the presence of a European hand while those of other parts are by one or more native artists.

Through the drawings and the texts alongside them, we can learn the names of the parts of the clothing worn by the Incas and obtain a representation of the space that fell under the rule of the Inca as well as some of the buildings like the Sun Temple or the Inca Palaces; see the prisons and the punishments meted out, the chasquis or mail runners, the accountants, the bridgekeepers, their weddings, the chosen virgins, class divisions by age, sacrifices and other ritual practices, the shamans, dancers, finally cities and an illustration of a romantic legend dealing with the love of a Virgin of the Sun for a lowly shepherd.

Study by Professor Juan Ossio, Senior Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. The original belongs to the private collection of Mr. Sean Galvin. The complete document comprises 150 folios. Size: 300 x 205 mm.

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