WHAT WAS THE YACHAYWASI OF THE INCAS? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The yachaywasi (“Yacha Huaci”, in the aboriginal language) of the Incas was the name given to a space that functioned as a teaching house and the sages and teachers of that republic lived there.

These were called amauta and harauec, words that mean philosopher and poet respectively, profiles highly esteemed and respected by the Incas and their entire empire.

The appearance of the yachaywasi as part of the study of Inca culture was popularized through the historical-literary works of Garcilaso de la Vega, specifically in his work entitled Royal Comments of the Incas.

According to Garcilaso de la Vega, the teaching houses were founded by King Inca Roca, whose name means a prudent and mature prince.

Inca Roca was the first to be called supreme governor and sixth sovereign of the Cracazgo del Cuzco, the first Inca of the Hanan Cuzco dynasty and who came to power through a coup against Cápac Yupanqui.

Characteristics of the yachaywasi of the Incas

Education was directed by the Inca State and within the Tahuantinsuyo, as they called their region, the yachayhuasi and acllahuasi coexisted as training institutes for men and women, respectively.

Education was an essential aspect for the organizational, planning and order apparatus of its governmental structure to function productively.

The yachaywasi was also called the “house of knowledge” and served as a school for upper-class youth, members of the royal families.

Those most prepared to become the ruling class would graduate from this educational center.

Inca education was primarily intended for the preparation of the Inca elite: only that would help fulfill the goals of the powerful Inca Empire, which primarily referred to planning, organization and political and territorial direction.

Formation within the Yachaywasi

The men's education lasted four years and, basically, the curriculum was divided into four main subjects: language, religion, learning the quipus and, perhaps one of the most representative, the history of Tawantinsuyu linked to military art.

The amautas, equivalent to philosophers, teachers or sages in the Quechua language, were in charge of the rigorous preparation for the discharge of the highest positions and the compromising future responsibilities.

Young people began their studies at the age of 13 and finished at approximately 19.

To complete their strict preparation, as is customary in Indian civilizations, a special graduation ceremony was held that took place in a place called "huarachico" or "huara-chicuy", which was attended by the highest officials who ruled the country. Inca state.

In said graduation protocol, tests of difficult athletic performance were carried out in which the young and victorious graduates made a demonstration of manhood, masculinity and virility, which made them possessors of the "huara" or the "truza", an emblem that gave to understand wisdom and maturity.

Study areas within the yachaywasi

The study and practices of the language were not limited to grammar, but also dealt with the arts: poetry, theater and, most likely, music.

On the other hand, the teaching of quipus, which, in Quechua language, means knot or ligature, had to do with the exercise of numbers through woolen strings of various colors.

This last tool was widely used by accountants who administered the Inca Empire.

Other researchers of the Inca culture say that it may have been used as a graphic writing system. Its invention is attributed to the Andean civilizations in general.

Religious teachings or beliefs hovered within the parameters of a cosmogonic worldview or philosophy.

The population of the Tahuantinsuyo, as the territory of the Inca Empire was called, did not have an indeterminate concept of God and neither did they have an absolute belief by a single entity.

There was no word that defined God. The Incas were polytheists and their gods or divinities had a local character, image and specific meanings.

The faith in the tahuantinsuyo or tawantinsuyu, represented the parts of an Inca's life: their traditions, their work, their praises, their festivals, their ceremonies, their religious beliefs, their life in community, etc.

As part of their philosophy and religiosity, to define the vital force that possessed or animated all things that existed on earth, the Incas used the word “camaquen”.

According to the faith of the Tahuantinsuyo, living beings, also the dead, had "camaquen", even some forms of nature such as stones, hills, lagoons and even inanimate objects with which they had sacred links, they also possessed it.

In Catholic practices, a dead body no longer has a soul, but in the Tahiantinsuyo's faith, the dead were as respected as the living.

Polytheism and "camaquen" were not well processed by the Spanish colonizers, who with their Catholic beliefs confused the Inca word with the definition of "soul", things that, although they are similar, do not refer to the same thing.

After the European colonization, the Catholic priests united, by way of adaptation, Wiracocha as "the creator god", a concept that tried to annul the polytheistic tradition and part of the Andean worldview.

Yachaywasi in the rest of Inca society

The rest of the town, the common man or, in the Quechua language, the "hatunrunas", mostly very humble Indians, were discarded to receive such a distinguished education: the yachaywasi represented the highest educational entity of the male nobility.

Although it was still thought that being part of one of these houses of study was a privilege, on the other hand, the acllahuasi, was the house of education of the women chosen to receive cultural preparation.

It was not necessary that they were part of royalty, they only had to be virgins, young, beautiful and accept to live locked up in the House of Acllas.

The education of the rest of the Inca families consisted of the reinforcement of practical knowledge, which began with the home, the community and was directed to activities related to daily sustenance such as agriculture and construction.

References

1. Ballesteros Gaibrois, M., & Bravo Guerreira, M. (1985). Culture and religion of pre-Hispanic America. Madrid: Editorial Católica.
2. Rostworowski, M. (2015). History of Tahuantinsuyo. Lima: Institute of Peruvian Studies.
3. Vega, IG (1608). Actual comments of the Incas. Lisbon.
4. Vega, IG, Rodríguez Rea, M., & Silva-Santisteban, R. (2009). Actual comments of the Incas. Lima: Ricardo Palma University.