In the Inca Empire, Coropuna was a sacred mountain, especially for the people of Cotahuasi. It was regarded as the most important mountain deity (apu) of the southern region, and the second-most important in the cosmology of the Andes. The mountain was considered to be an abode of the dead - a large village where holy people received the souls of the departed, who lived there in the afterlife. In different mythologies Coropuna is instead the starting point for the deceased on a journey to Surimana. Sometimes Coropuna is seen as a male entity while Solimana volcano is seen as a female one. Local people continue to observe these ancient mortuary rites today.