What was the Inca name for the Milky Way?

The Inca name for the Milky Way was Mayu, meaning “river.”

In Inca and broader Andean cosmology, the Milky Way was imagined as a great celestial river flowing across the sky. Mayu was not simply a poetic nickname: it formed part of a connected universe in which the heavens, earthly rivers, mountains, and fields were spiritually related. The celestial river was understood as a source or counterpart of water on Earth.

Inca sky-watchers also identified dark shapes within the Milky Way’s dust lanes rather than relying only on bright-star patterns. These dark-cloud constellations included animals such as the llama, fox, and partridge. Their appearances and movements helped organize seasonal knowledge and agricultural life.

The answer is sometimes confused with Hanan Pacha, Kay Pacha, and Uku Pacha. Those are names for cosmic realms or levels of existence, not the Milky Way itself. Mayu specifically refers to the sky’s bright river-like band.