Panakas


A panaka, panaqa or panaca was a family formed by all the descendants of a monarch, a Sapan Inka, excluding from it the son who would succeed in his reign. The basic social institution of the Incas is the ayllu. An ayllu is a group of families that descended from a common ancestor, united by culture and religion, in addition to the agricultural work, livestock and fishing of the same territory. Ayllu concept transcended into nobility, so that the royal kinship could establish a lineage, called panaka or royal house.
The family of each Inca formed a royal ayllu that received the name of panaka, a royal lineage. The only son of the Sapan Inka who was not part of the panaka was the Auqui because the latter, when he became emperor, would form his own panaka.
Among other functions occupied by the panaka were those of maintaining the memory of the deceased Inca and his mallki, of performing ceremonies in his name and of taking care of his goods and alliances made in life. Each panaka owned several holdings across the realm, including a palaces in the sacred city of Qusqu, the city core was composed principally of palatial enclosures known as kancha owned by the Panakas. Panakas had great influence on the decision of the appointment of successors to the Sapan Inka position.

List of Panaka

The capaccuna was the official list of panakas and their respective ancestor, other ethnic Inca ayllu familia existed but only the most prominent lineages were inside the capaccuna, and had the right to be called panaka.
According to the Incas, the panakas were these, in chronological order:
Rurin Qusqu moiety:
Hanan Qusqu moiety:
The ayllu clans and their panaka counterpart were the basic Inca social unit of Inca organization, panaka were one of the most important links in the Inca administration, simultaneously in the political, social, economic and cultural aspects of the state of the Tawantinsuyu.