Asarpay, also known as Sarpay (16th-century), was an

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

priestess in a cult dedicated to Apurima, the personified version of the Apurimac River, during the 1500s. She was the sister of te Inca, possibly a daughter of the Inca

Huayna Capac Huayna Capac (with many alternative transliterations; 1464/1468–1524) was the third Sapan Inka of the Inca Empire, born in Tumipampa sixth of the Hanan dynasty, and eleventh of the Inca civilization. Subjects commonly approached Sapa Inkas addi ...

. Asarpay spoke for the Apurimac

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

, understood as an oracle of the personified river. She would give advice and warning to those of her community on the shrine's behalf. Asarpay is known for her actions and premonitions during the Spanish conquest; Asarpay foretold the Conquest and advised Inca nobility to gather and use up all of their food stores, as to not leave the conquerors any access to their resources. Asarpay is mentioned most frequently in regards to her sensationalized suicide; the reasoning for her suicide, however, is not exact. There are some claims that Asarpay threw herself into the Apurimac river gorge as a way to assure her freedom after being previously kidnapped by the Spaniard Diego Nunez Mercado. However, it is also believed that Asarpay threw herself from the Apurima temple into the river as a way of returning to the river goddess, rather than watching the destruction of the idol by the advancing Spanish army.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asarpay Inca Empire people 1500s births Deaths by drowning Suicides in Peru Priestesses Nobility of the Americas