The cult of the jaguar of Chavín de Huántar
While in the fourth millennium BC, beautiful civilizations such as China, the Indus River and Sumeria developed on the ancient continent, in the New World the transition to an egalitarian society was carried out, based on harvesting and hunting, to a stratified one, based on agriculture and governed by tribal chiefs, called caciques.
The centers of cultural irradiation of the New World were Central America, present-day Colombia, northern Peru and Lake Titicaca.
The latest archaeological studies at the sites of Marcahuasi, Caral, Bandurria and Chavín de Huántar suggest that, probably, the true history of pre-Columbian America has yet to be written.
In the place called Chavín de Huántar, located at the confluence of the Puccha and Mariash rivers, tributaries of the Marañón, in the current Peruvian province of Huari, about 3177 meters above sea level, a particular theocratic culture flourished, whose classical period It can be dated from 1500 to 500 BC.
This culture germinated in the fourth millennium BC, with a great unknown: in architecture and sculpture the forms were already evolved, as if they had been the result of a process of entire centuries.
Some archaeologists, such as Evans and Mayers, proposed that the Chavín ceramics were related to some crafts from the Valdivia area, in Chile, and even to Neolithic amphorae from the Japanese Jomon culture. Monochrome fragments were found, often painted black. The ornamental symbols reproduced on Chavín ceramics are the same as those found in the temples: snake, jaguar and condor.
It is thought that the Chavín de Huántar civilization began with the erection of the Kotosh temple, located south of Chavín, near a tributary of the Huallaga River. This sacred construction, called “of the crossed hands,” was erected about 4,500 years before Christ. Inside the stone building there are niches that were used for offerings and a sculpture of two hands joining together, from which the name originated.
Approximately two thousand years ago, the importance of Chavín increased, as it became a cultural and religious center of the first order. There, complex rituals were elaborated that sought to fertilize the earth and connect the world above, dominated by the Sun (symbolized by the condor), with the underworld, ruled by the snake, an emblematic totemic figure.
On the other hand, the jaguar had a particular meaning in pre-Columbian cultures and specifically, in Chavín. This society depended on agriculture and therefore revered Mother Earth, but the jaguar represented hunting and, consequently, war, which denoted the preservation and expansion of one's own territory. As the jaguar was seen as the perfect animal, which was in total symbiosis with nature and was capable of capturing virtually any other animal, the ideal warrior had to merge with the soul of the feline to become one with it and serve as an example to the community. In the vision of the pre-Columbian peoples, the hunting man had to be like the jaguar, from which he had to assimilate the skill, strength, cunning, serenity, determination and precision. In this way, the jaguar became the most revered deity for Chavín.
In Chavín there are two main temples, one called “late” and the other “early.” They were built on an area of approximately five hectares, and consist of truncated pyramids, ceremonial spaces and magnificent lithic sculptures representing totemic symbols.
The temples are connected to each other by an intricate underground labyrinth that is kept dry and airy thanks to a complex system of rectangular tubes.
In front of the ancient temple, a circular underground plaza was discovered, surrounded by lateral structures. Its construction must have begun approximately around the second millennium BC, continuing with the tradition begun in Kotosh. Zoomorphic heads sculpted in rock that represent the totems of the jaguar were masterfully embedded in the walls of the temple. In the young temple you can admire a carved stele about five meters high. In it, ferocious divinities and monstrous anthropomorphic beings are reproduced.
In both temples, feline symbolism abounds, both in sculpted figures and in masterful carvings. So-called “anthropomorphic birds” are often found with characteristics of a snake, jaguar and condor at the same time. In the Chavín culture, the symbol of the condor united with the jaguar appears for the first time in the ancient temple, representing the feline totem that reaches higher levels of consciousness by uniting with the condor, which denotes the world above (Sun).
The similarities in traditions (jaguar cult) and in the time period, with the Olmec culture, suggest that there were ties between the two civilizations. However, definitive proof is still missing that shows links between the two distant ethnic groups.
As in Teotihuacán, Tula or other urban centers in central Mexico, the image of the feathered feline-serpent, which synthesizes solar thought in America, clearly appears on the cultural horizon of Chavín de Huántar.
It is thought that in the Machac valley, where the temples were built, agriculture was practiced since the fourth millennium BC, in addition to livestock. Likewise, the strategic point where the temples were built suggests that the center was not only religious, but also commercial, since it was located halfway between the Amazon jungle and the coast. It is believed that a bridge was built that crossed the Huachesa River and connected the religious and urban center with the areas reserved for agriculture and sheep raising. From archaeological evidence, it was concluded that the Chavín society was ruled by priest-kings about whose history, however, absolutely nothing is known, since no written remains were found as in the Mayan civilization, for example.
The first discovery in Chavín took place in 1873, when the Italian geographer Antonio Raimondi brought to light a carved stone stele. In 1919, the archaeologist Julio César Tello, who made an in-depth study of the site, maintained that the culture of Chavín de Huántar and particularly the Kotosh temple, should be considered the most important center of cultural irradiation of the development of all Andean cultures, including that of the Incas. According to him, the origin of Chavín de Huántar has to be found in the Arawak culture of the Amazon. In his opinion, Chavín was a place of pilgrimage, where followers of the jaguar cult went to celebrate religious festivals. It is likely that the same faithful participated in the construction and expansion of the temples.
The population of Chavín grew until 300 BC, when, for reasons that are unclear, it rapidly declined.
Some hypotheses affirm that the cause of the involution was the expansion of the Huari people. According to other scholars, the excessive population increase caused internal struggles over food, whose production was already limited. In this way, epidemics and popular revolts developed. The survivors, considering the valley unhealthy and dangerous, abandoned it, heading to other places and mixing with some emerging cultures.
YURI LEVERATTO
