" In the dark recesses of the
Chavín temples the gods sneered with their feline mouths, with their terrible
projecting fangs, with their distorted eyes turned upwards, perhaps as effect of
the sacred drugs used by their priests-oracle, whilst their hair, eyelashes and
belt were formed by snakes whose hiss was almost likely to be perceived. From
their backs protruded wings or plumed tails.
For thousands of years the
Andean deity has reunited in itself elements of the three animals to express the
totality of power in the three realms: that nocturnal and fertile of the earth
and of the dead, symbolized by the snake; that of the living, of which jaguar and
puma are lords, and that of the uranic deities, into which soar the majestic
condor and the eagle."
