Sunduism: Tiwanaku

                                                                       Tiwanaku, Bolivia
                                                                             June 2014

Most of the tourists to Peru, visit the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Cusco, the symbols of the great Inca culture. Just to the south of Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia, there is an equally important archaeological site at Tiwanaku. Before the Incas, the Tiwanaku empire had dominated Peru, Bolivia and parts of northern Chile. While the Incas are world famous, the fact that the Tiwanaku civilization had a significant influence on the Incas is not well known. In fact, it is believed that the Incas adopted lot of elements from the Tiwanaku mythology and construction methods in to their own. The Tiwanaku culture never developed a written language and it is a mystery why they perished. Tiwanaku is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Somehow, this welcome arch of Tiwanaku town reminded me of the numerous welcome arches I am used to, in India :)

A stone monolith (aka Stela) in the Tiwanaku museum. This statue is called the "Bennet Monolith", named after Wendell C. Bennet who found it in 1932 at the Tiwanaku archaeological site. This Stela is 24 feet tall and weighs 20 tons. It is interesting to note that the lower part of the Stela is covered in fish-scales, similar to the "Matsya Avatar" of the Indian God, Vishnu !!!

An architectural model showing the the 3 major attractions at the Tiwanaku archaeological site: 1) The Akapana (stepped pyramid), 2) The Kalasasaya temple complex just north of the Akapana and 3) the subterranean temple to the right of the Kalasasaaya complex.

Akapana Pyramid
The Akapana pyramid is the largest man-made structure at Tiwanaku. It had 7 large platforms with stone retaining walls. As shown in the model, the top platform had a large water reservoir shaped like the Andean cross. One of the explanations is that during the winter solstice, the water reflected the Southern Cross constellation right overhead. The Tiwanaku culture preceded the Incas in following the "As Above, So Below" concept.

After centuries of looting by the Spanish to build churches and by the locals to build houses,
the original retaining walls have been stripped off the stones. This is what is left of the Akapana pyramid.

Subterranean Temple:

View of the Subterranean temple form the top of Akapana pyramid.

Subterranean temple with 3 statues in the middle.

Archaeologists believe these statues must be representing the Tiwanaku ancestors.

An interesting feature of the subterranean temple is the heads sticking out of the wall.

One of the explanations is, these heads represent the heads of the enemies killed by the the Tiwanaku empire.
It was a custom of the Tiwanaku culture to display the severed heads of their enemies.

Kalasasaya Temple:
"Kala" means rock and "Saya" means standing up. Kalasasaya is a temple of standing rocks. The two majors highlights of the Kalasasaya temple are the "Ponce Monolith" and the "Sun Gate". It is believed that the Kalasasaya temple was build to track and identify the movement of the Sun and the changing seasons.

View of the Kalasasaya temple complex from the top of the Akapana pyramid.

Entrance of the Kalasasaya Temple.

The Ponce monolith, believed to be the representation of stone giants
of the first populated the world, according to the Andean mythology.

Intricate carvings of the Ponce monolith.

Sun Gate:
From the time I first read about the Sun Gate at Tiwanaku, i was very keen on visiting it. I thought, the top horizontal portion is the original work and it had been placed on 2 smooth concrete pillars. Our guide, Rodrigo very politely pointed out that the Sun Gate was made of a single stone.

The Sun Gate.

The central figure is believed to be Lord Viracocha. On either side, a total of 48 "bird-like" characters have been carved, 32 with human heads and 16 with condor heads.
The Sun Gate is facing straight East and is believed to be an astronomical calendar.