Algunas implicancias del color rojo en el mundo andino desde el inkario a la actualidad

Abstract

In the Tawantinsuyu, colours were not conceived as a mere luminous phenomenon, external and independent of the support on which they could be seen. They had multiple connotations and profound meanings, as well as agentive capacities that conditioned or determined their use in different contexts. With regard specifically to the colour red, we know that it was closely associated with the Inka through the attributes he wore - and were an expression of his authority - and also through the use of textiles in this and other dyed tones, as these were the exclusive patrimony of the sovereign and the elites who were allowed to wear them. In this paper we want to reflect on the reasons for the association between the colour red and the Inka and to study which other powerful beings were linked to this colour and why. We also want to investigate the meanings and properties that this colour carried in the Inka, analysing the colonial and present-day survival of the colour. We propose that red formed part of a complex religious and multi-evocative mesh and operated as an intermediary agent of intricate and fluid associative networks, but dense in meanings, relationships and affectivities whose centre resided in the guarantee of abundance.