Inca burial practices, which included preparation for the afterlife, were linked to their religious beliefs.
To be embalmed or not to be embalmed. This was the important question that arose at the time of an Inca´s death. The question was easily answered if the dead person in question was the Inca himself with his gold band around his forehead or one of his nobles.
Like the kings of Egypt, important Incas were mummified and typically buried in their finery amid rare objects and provisions that would be needed for the journey to the afterlife. Their long list of burial possessions even included, on some occasions, freshly sacrificed humans. ("No, don’t worry, Guaman; it’s what the Inca would have wanted.")
If an Inca, rich or poor, had been a good Inca, then-- bingo -- the warmth of the eternal Sun awaited. And what about bad or naughty little Incas? An eternity or more in the cold, damp earth loomed. (Incidentally, there could not have been many "bad" Incas, since prisons were unheard of and there was no need for thieving in a society of plenty. What crimes that were committed consisted of the deflowering one of the sun-god vestal virgins, punishable by a chaining to a wall and being left to starve; insulting one of the gods --any would do -- or tallyhoing one of the Inca emperor’s wives, which would result in being hung upside down and, again, left to starve. Other miscellaneous crimes were dealt with by a quick chop-chop of the hands or feet or gouging of the eyes, all of which was sufficient punishment to dissuade most other would-be criminals from wrong-doing.)
A curious --and, in some measure, comical, depending on your viewpoint -- practice of the Incas during the time of important festivals and the like was to disturb the dead from their places of rest, dress them up in the finest garments available and, for example, parade them to the Temple of the Sun. The dead also sat in on important meetings and functions, but in all cases were treated with the utmost respect.
Presumably if a person was eating soup at a banquet and the lifeless mummified body seated in the next chair began to fall against the soup eater, nothing would be said and the mummy propped back up in its seat, since they were meant to be treated as if they were living.
The Incas --that is, the living ones -- believed that their dead ancestors governed various aspects of their lives, and for this and other reasons were worthy of being worshipped. Need a bountiful harvest? Then pray to one of your dead ancestors, because he could make it happen.
As for peasants, they, too, received special burial attention but on the cheap. Dead peasants were wrapped in their best clothes and put in the nearest convenient cave or crevice. Both rich and humble alike were usually buried while in the seated position.
The peasants could not match the pageantry excesses of the Inca’s funeral. At the time of an Inca funeral, images of mythical ancestors as well as the mummified bodies of all his actual Inca ancestors would be brought out to the main square of the Inca capital of Cuzco and each of them would in turn be eulogized.
Further reading:
Inca Religion and Customs, by Bernabe Cobo
