Thomagata or Fomagata was a

mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

'' who was said to have been ''

zaque When the Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''Zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ruler of the ...

'' of

Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a mo ...

, present-day Tunja,

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, then part of the

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', ''iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andes, Andean highlands of what is today Colombia before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spanis ...

. He is remembered as one of the most

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

in the history of the ''zaques'', after

Idacansás Idacansás, Idacansas, Idacanzas or Iduakanzas was a mythical ''cacique'' who was said to have been the first priest of the sacred city of Sugamuxi, present-day Sogamoso, Colombia, then part of the territories of the Muisca. He is characterized ...

Background

In the centuries before the arrival of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

s, the central highlands of Colombia were ruled by ''

s'' (northern

) and ''

zipa When the Spain, Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''Zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Funza, Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ...

s'' (southern territories of the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

). The first confirmed human ''zaque'' and ''zipa'' were respectively

Hunzahúa Hunzahúa was the first ''zaque''; ruler of the northern Muisca people, Muisca with capital Tunja, Hunza, named after him. His contemporary ''zipa'' of the southern Muisca was Meicuchuca. Biography Hunzahúa, heir of Idacansás, was a ''cacique' ...

and

Meicuchuca Meicuchuca (died 1470) was the first ruler (''zipa'') of Bacatá, as of around 1450. His '' zaque'' counterpart ruling over the northern area of the Muisca territory was Hunzahúa. Biography Little is known about Meicuchuca and many stories ...

, inaugurated in 1450. The time before those rulers are based on

Folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

Mythography

Thomagata allegedly had a

tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...

, as that of a

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

that reached to the ground, hence the name ''Cacique Rabón'' ("Taily Chief"). Thomagata had four ears and only one eye because he was blind on the other. Thomagata was a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

, traveling each night between Tunja and the Temple of the Sun in

Sugamuxi Sugamuxi (died 1539) was the last '' iraca''; ''cacique'' of the sacred City of the Sun Suamox. Sugamuxi, presently called Sogamoso, was an important city in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the times be ...

along the

Iraka Valley The ''iraca'', sometimes spelled ''iraka'',Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.12, p.77Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.14, p.85 was the Muisca rulers, ruler and high priest of Sogamoso, Sugamuxi in the Muisca Confederation, confederation of the Muisca people, Muisc ...

. His walks were a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

, ten times back and forth, praying in the sacred sites he encountered on his way. Muisca traditions tell he was so holy that whom he made angry, he converted into a

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

or other animal. Thomagata got this ability from Idacansás and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

. Thomagata looked upon his

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

s with disrespect and turned them into animals, so the Muisca didn't dare look him in the face. ''Zaque'' Tomaghata never married.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.14, p.86 Bishop

Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita (1624, Bogotá – March 29, 1688) was a Spanish Neogranadine Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Panamá (1676–1688) ''(in Latin)'' and the Bishop of Santa Marta (1668–1676).Arzobispo de Pa ...

, chronicler of most of the Muisca mythology and traditions, wrote in the 17th century about Thomagata:

...habiéndose inclinado en su mocedad al matrimonio y queriéndolo efectuar, reconoció que estaba inhabilitado para ello porque desagradado el Sol de semejante pretensión y empeñado en que le sucediese en el reino Tutazúa, su hermano, lo despojó la noche antes de la potencia germinativa, por lo cual vivió toda la vida en celibato y después de ciento y tantos años murió...

translated as

...having tended towards marriage in his youth and wanting to carry that out, he recognized that he was unable for that because the Sun was too ambitious and determined that Tutazúa, his brother, would succeed the reign of the zacazgo kingdom"
he Sun He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...
deprived him from his genital power so he lived all his life in celibacy and after more than 100 years he died...

Tutazúa succeeded Thomagata as ''cacique'' of Hunza. In the

Chibcha language Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/ * �mʷɨska, or Muysca de Bogotá is a language spoken by the Muisca people, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabit the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of what today is th ...

Tutazúa means "son of the Sun". The first confirmed human ''zaque'' of the northern Muisca,

, is said to have descended from Thomagata.

Named after Thomagata

Thomagata Patera, a

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

Io has been named after Thomagata.

References

Bibliography

* {{Muisca navbox, Folklore and religion, state=expanded Muisca mythology and religion Pre-Columbian mythology and religion

Background

Mythography

Named after Thomagata

See also

References

Bibliography