Reciprocity at the beginning of Inca expansion
After the triumph over the Chancas, the Incas could not aspire to greater territorial expansion with out previously taking steps to acquire greater authority.
Although Pachacutec enjoyed military prestige, he was far from having dominion over the neighboring lords. He could not order the necessary works performed to make him secure in his supremacy.
At that time, authority was not directly exercised except through reciprocity, that is to say, through minka and ayni at the level of the State. One had to "plead with so-and-so to help me, promising him something in compensation."
The chronicler Betanzos narrates how the Inca organized the necessary tasks to be worthy of reciprocity. For that he assembled all the neighboring lords in the great plaza of Aucaypata and he feted them with ceremonies, ritual meals, gifts, offering them wives to establish between them ties of kinship. Only afterwards did he propose the works he wanted to execute. The first was the construction of numerous warehouses on the outskirts of the city. The Inca on showing he was generous satisfied the curacas who accepted the "plea".
A little later the lords returned to Cuzco bringing what was necessary for the construction of the storehouses which they did not take long to build.
On a second summons the Inca asked the curacas to fill the warehouses with food and manufactured objects. Possessing full warehouses allowed Pachacutec to show he was "generous" and continue requesting the collaboration of the lords.
Therefore, reciprocity played a primordial role as the axis of Inca accomplishments and fulfilled a crucial part in the birth of the Cuzco State.
In cultures where the use of money was unknown; reciprocity was a socioeconomic organizational system which regulated the lending of services at various levels and served as gears in the production and distribution of goods. It was a matter of the ordering of distribution between the members of a society which did not know the use of money. It existed in the whole Andean sphere and acted as a link between the different economic organizational models present in the extensive territory.
Reciprocity during the State
Reciprocity experienced changes during the later development of the State, when the Incas stopped being a simple seņorio lost in the immensity of the Andes. The Incas expanded their frontiers until they dominated a good part of the continent looking out on the Pacific.
By then their power was absolute and it is possible that reciprocity as we have described it became a stumbling block and a delay. An example of what happened during the government of Huayna Capac. The Inca maintained a series of wars against the northern tribes of present day Ecuador and in one of them, the sovereign fell from his litter. Furious, Huayna Capac made his entrance into Tumibamba on foot to show his displeasure.
Then reinforcements arrived, made up of noble Cuzco lords commanded by General Mihi who carried the statue of the important huaca of Huanacauri.
In his hurry, Huayna Capac ordered those who had recently arrived to march to the front and erase the disrespect paid to his person, forgetting the rites, gifts, and public meals. Offended, General Mihi decided to return to Cuzco with his army. The Inca, warned, sent grand gifts to the nobles and only then did they enter into the battle, coming out victorious.
These deeds judged from the European point of view are treason, but for the Andeans, the sovereign did not fulfill tradition and was at fault. To avoid in some way the continuous "pleas" and rites, the Incas frequently chose curacas of the social category yana, or servants with whom reciprocity was not suitable.
