Anuwampar gate. Oral literature, landscape and ritual at the aymara altiplano

Abstract

The Orqorani hill, that watches over people's ceremonial life at Qorpa community in the Bolivian Highlands, has a peculiar geomorphology of intricate rock formations, loaded with myths, traditions and allusions to the local memory, and inscribed in the cognitive map of its structures. This work analyses one of these stone representations which, as an ideogram, displays the story of Anuwampar and becomes a symbolic testimony to the 'Temple's Gate', where -within the hill- he is locked. The character's name, Anuwampar -meaning 'dog hand'- alludes to his imminent shame and dishonor, linked to his ill-fated and ritualistic entrance to the Achachila hills. This rules the fertility in and outside the hill. This offence by Anuwampar, who forgets his ritual obligations towards Orqorani, makes his state of offeror and donor turn into a symbolic sacrificial offering.