page_title: Inca mythology
section_title: Inca symbols
hierarchical_section_title: Inca mythology / Inca symbols
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Кулон в форме чаканы.
context_page_description: Inca mythology includes many stories and legends that attempt to explain or symbolize Inca beliefs.
context_section_description: Chakana (or Inca Cross, Chakana) is - according to some modern authors - the three-stepped cross equivalent symbolic of what is known in other mythologies as the Tree of Life, World Tree and so on. Through a central axis a shaman journeyed in trance to the lower plane or Underworld and the higher levels inhabited by the superior gods to enquire into the causes of misfortune on the Earth plane. The snake, puma, and condor are totemic representatives of the three levels. The alleged meaning of the chakana symbol is not supported by scholarly literature.
caption: Chakana or tree of life
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