Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/132

104  The cult of Uira-cocha by the Incas was confined to the few. The popular religion of the people was the worship of the founder or first ancestor of each ayllu or clan. The father of the Incas was the sun, and naturally all the people joined in the special adoration of the ancestor of their sovereign, combined with secondary worship of the moon, thunder and lightning, the rainbow, and the dawn, represented by the morning star But each clan or ayllu had also a special huaca, or ancestral god, which its members worshipped in common, besides the household gods of each family.

In the last century or two, the ceremonial and ritual observances of the sun-worship at Cuzco assumed extraordinary magnificence. The splendid temple was built of masonry, which, for the beauty and symmetry of its proportions and the accuracy with which the stones fitted into each other, is unsurpassed. The cornices, the images, and the utensils were all of pure gold. When the Inca and his court were present at the ceremonies it must have been a scene of marvellous splendour.  The elaborate ritual and ceremonies necessitated 