Legend of Pururau soldiers or stone soldiers. An Inca legend about how the Andean god turned stones into soldiers. It happened in 1438, when the Incas won over the Chanks. Most experts see the legend as an attempt to amplify the surprise of the Inca victory in the Yahuar Pamps.

Legend - Andean God

The Andean legend speaks of a huge duel, where the Incas felt the predominance of a terrible enemy. They turned to their supreme god for help. God Virakko answered their call by converting stones to soldiers who helped the Inca to defend their city and forced the enemy to a cowardly retreat. Is it just a legend or is there more than we thought at first?

Let's start from the beginning…

The conflict between Incas and Chanky is possible the most famous and decisive chapter of Andean history. In 1438, Anccu Hualloc, the ruler of Hanan Chan, accumulated over 40 th. soldiers and conquered Cuzco, destroying everything that had come under his way. Including the surroundings of the city. Legend has it that the Inca sovereign Hatun Tópac (also known as Viracocha Inca) and his son Crown Prince Urco fled cowardly shortly before the arrival of the Chank Army and left the inhabitants of Cuzca to defend themselves.

Anarchy ruled until the young Prince Cusi Yupanqui (later known as Pachacutec Inca), the younger brother of Urca and the other heir to the throne, took over the leadership over the city's defense. The young prince recruited a small army, but none of the neighboring tribes, except the Canas, wanted to come to their aid.

Before the threat of a terrible defeat, the prince turned to the gods. He prayed to Virako, the powerful God, who finally answered. Andy God, the creator of Virakko, appeared to him in a dream and told him to send soldiers to help in an unequal fight. He promised him a tremendous victory for the Incas. After the prince received the message directly from the gods, day D came.

Strong Chank Army assumed easy recharging. As they moved closer to the city, Prince's dream became reality. Surrounding stones suddenly turned into soldiers who attacked Chanky, causing them to retreat. Just as the god Virakoch promised the Prince in a dream, the Incas encouraged by his divine intervention, won the battle. As soon as the Chank Army retreated, the stone soldiers turned back into their original form.

But what did that day really happen?

Most experts believe that the stone soldiers called the Pururaucas were only part of the clever Prince's strategy, and in fact they were made up of surrounding stones masked and disassembled so that the Chanks thought it was against a much larger army. Other historical sources say that many of the ethnic groups that initially refused to participate in the conflict obediently waited for hiding behind the rocky terrain, seeing which side gained an advantage, and then joined it. Thus, historians say, they have the impression that they have appeared from nowhere, perhaps from the stones themselves.

But the Chanks were bloodshed and extremely violent. They were great soldiers without fear, so it's hard to believe they would retreat from the battlefield for stones wearing soldiers. There had to be something much stronger that would force the Chank Army to retreat. Another version of the legend is that the Chancs escaped when they saw a huge crowd of soldiers, what the Indian army had, but they were not stones, but the lamas Pachacutec disguised.

Many talk about something much more incredible that happened that day and speculate that the ancient god Virakocha was a visitor from another world. Is it possible that the ancient god created a powerful army that helped the Incas to victory?