Chakana is the Andean cultures´s symbol based on the Sriyantra

Chakana is the popular element of the life and traditional designs in the life of many Andean cultures. 

Chakana also served as the calendar and guide to important agricultural events ie sowing,   etc.

Where possibly does the inspiration for this form come from? 

We think that Chakana is derived from the base of the Lingam, which is represented in the form of Sriyantra.  We associate this form made of 43 triangles with the Hindu tradition, but  it has been used in the Indus Valley culture, and appeared even earlier, probably as early as in the Sumerian iconography. 

The first document referring to the form of Chakana is the freehand drawn image in the manuscript of Pachacuti Yamqui dated in 1613. This form resembling the cross represents the idea of  the genesis of the world Andean (executed on sheet of gold in the Coricancha temple in Cusco). This document has many interpretations which have been deduced  from it (Pachacuti Yamqui [1613], 1993: 208; Milla Villena, 1983)

  

Representación de la idea de génesis de Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui (1613). Fuente: Milla Villena (1983 [1613]: 232); y Milla Euribe (1990: 10)

 

The constellation Chakana or “Southern Cross” is understood as an orienting compass seen in the sky of the southern hemisphere of the globe, the Pacha in quechua. This constellation is always pointing towards the south pole and, therefore, providing - night to night - orientation throughout the year. 

The speculative idea that the amautas  (quechua - wise men), priests-astronomers and pre-Columbian architects “were lowering” the stars from the sky reflecting them in water mirrors, was not necessary to understand the form.  Focusing on  two lines, of different lengths, which only together make up the cross. On this basis, they built a square whose sides correspond to the short line and the diagonal to the long line— and then a polyvalent matrix that they in turn called Chakana.32 Thus, the Chakana was transformed —in its expression as a polyvalent matrix— into the guiding axis of high Andean culture (Fig. 1 and 6) .33 In this way, it is: “[…] represents this mystery of the universal chakana which builds between the living and the inert, between the feminine and the masculine, between the past and the future ”(Estermann, 2008: 228). 

 

Lets take a look at the recently renovated chullpas from Bolivia, they show two rhombus with series of triangles at the perimeter - and we will compare this with the synthesized design of the Sri yantra on the right. 

 

sources: Leonora Arriagada Peters Avatars of Form in the Space-time Pacha 2020

Milla Villena, Carlos (1983). Génesis de la cultura andina. Lima: Colegio de Arquitectos

Lake Titicaca Hydraulic Civilization (43,000 - 12,900 BP) introduction

Results from the Jebel Irhoud site dating (a pre-modern phase in H.Sapiens evolution re: C.Stringer & J. Galway 2017) are confirming our theory that approx. 40,000 yrs ago in the vicinity of the the Lake Titicaca had begun a process on a large scale, during which concentrated and multilevel human activities took place, resulting in the creation of the Lake Titicaca Hydraulic Civilization (LTHC).

This process lasted until approx. 12,900 BP which corresponds to the Younger Dryas event, and it was then when catastrophic floods had changed drastically human conditions and a pattern of human existence in South and North America.

Initial phase was related to the extensive mining activities which were carried on for several thousands of years on a gigantic scale, and of which the final purpose we do not understand at this point. With depletion of important metallic minerals, the Mining Phase (approx. 40,000-21,000 BP) wained and was followed by the second Limited Phase (21,000-15,000 BP), during which the abandoned mines and degraded sites were slowly being adapted for the agricultural use. Corresponding climatic change forced new patters of behavior in the dryer and less friendly conditions, resulting the transition to the third Agricultural phase (17,000 - 12,900 BP), more known and important for our understanding of the global history , during which local population multiplied and created an extensive system of andenes and during which important ceremonial centers in Pucara and Tiwanaku were built. An extensive earthwork was carried out leading to create remote large water reservoirs (eg. Acmanuncocha, Laguna Sumbila, etc.) connected with surface canals, and alternatively with dugout ´rivers´ and perhaps complemented by ´dugout and cover´ underground puquis; unusually large coastal works re-shaped the Lake Arapa; evidence of aqueducts did not surfaced at this point, but we are not excluding their existence. This phase has been treated in more detail by other researchers.

see:  Karl August Wittfogel (1896–1988), in his book Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power (1957)