Ollantáy

Ollantáy is the title of the most important play in the Quechua language. Its author and the exact date it was written are unknown, but it can satisfactorily be situated in the first half of the eighteenth century (around 1735). This would make it a colonial period work, impregnated with the Baroque aesthetic.

Ollantáy must have been written by a mestizo priest and substantially modified by Antonio Valdez, a parish priest of Yanaoca. It is unique in that it lacks romance, despite being a work about a passionate love affair, while the political powers, in which the church is the mediator, are deployed during its development and culminate in the denouement. Addressing political themes, this drama differs from other similar works of its time, among them the auto sacramental or allegorical religious play Uska pawkar (The Poorest Rich Man), also anonymous, and other dramas of a mythical or religious nature such as El rapto de Proserpina y sueño de Endimión or El Hijo Pródigo by Juan Espinosa Medrano (El Lunarejo), to whom Ollantáy has been unjustifiably attributed, and El pobre más rico by Gabriel Centeno de Osma.

There are several known versions of the work, arising from changes in its performances during the colonial era, when it was banned as a result of the revolt led by Tupac Amaru II in 1781. The main versions are known as the First Dominican (around 1755) and the Second Dominican (1940), clearly referring to an earlier manuscript, now lost. The work also has been translated into German, Spanish, English, French, Italian, Czech, Latin, Russian, and Catalan (in that order).

Ollantáy consists of 1,868 verses (in Calvo's critical edition of 1998). The verse is generally octosyllabic, with consonant rhyme, and has some lovely décimas and three magnificent yaravíes (sweet and sad songs of Indians). In the story, Ullanta, a general of the cruel Inca Pachacutec, secretly marries the Inca's daughter. This results in his exile from the fortified city of the same name, Ollantaytambo, while Kusi Quyllur, his pregnant wife, is confined for life in the Acllawasi (House of the Chosen) as punishment for her disobedience. When the Inca Pachacutec dies, he is succeeded by his son, Tupac. Yupanqui, who, in contrast to the former Inca, takes pity on his enemies. After defeating the already rebel Ullanta through cunning actions of his general Rumi Ñahui Tupac Yupanqui pardons him at the same time that Ullanta's now ten-year-old daughter, Ima Sumac (How Beautiful!), is horrified to discover that her mother, she did not know, is living awfully chained in prison, also in the Acllahuasi. The Inca orders her freed and bestows on the family his best wishes for the rest of their lives.

See alsoQuechua .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Calvo Pérez, Julio. Ollantay. Edición crítica de la obra anónima quechua. Monumenta Linguistica Andina, 6. Cuzco, CERA "Bartolomé de las Casas". 1998.

Markham, Clements R. Ollan:. An Ancient Ynca Drama. Translated from the original Quechua. Londres, Tübner and Co., 1871.

Meneses, Teodoro L. Teatro quechua colonial: Rapto de Proserpina y Sueño de Eudimión, Usca Paucar, Apu Ollantay, El pobre más rico, Tragedia del fin de Atahuallpa. Lima, Edubanco, 1983.

                                  Julio Calvo PÉrez