A panaca or panaqa, or panaka (Classical Quechua: panaqa, [paˈnaqa], lit. 'manager of a royal ayllu') was a family clan of the Sapa Inca, the kuraka or emperor of the Inca Empire. The panakas were formed by the descendants of a Sapa Inca or his wife. The basic social institution of the Incas is the ayllu. An ayllu is a group of families that descended from a common ancestor, united by culture and religion, in addition to the agricultural work, livestock and fishing of the same territory. The ayllu concept transcended into nobility, so that the royal kinship could establish a lineage, called panaca or royal house.

The panaca excluded the auqui (in Quechua awki), the crown prince, who would succeed him. When the designated successor became emperor, he would leave his original panaca and form his own one.

The panakas made up the Inca's court and formed the aristocracy of Cusco. They maintained multiple sacred shrines, performing ceremonies in the name of the ruler-founder emperor of the panaka, and maintaining the memory of the deceased emperor and his mallki (mummy), through songs, quipus and paintings that were transmitted from generation to generation.

In the spatio-temporal ceque system, in which each region, both Hanan (high), Anti Suyu and Chinchay Suyu, and Hurin (low), Cunti Suyu and Colla Suyu, had groups of three ceques, symbolic lines or pathways, the panakas were represented by the Payan ceque.

During the Inca Empire, most of the land was held by the ayllus (a kinship group whose members were related to one another through descent from a real or fictional common ancestor). Land was owned inalienably by the ayllu and not by individuals, while the decisions on the use of the ayllu lands by its members were made by the community kurakas (chiefs) that managed the property for the general benefit of the community. The panacas, as royal ayllus, followed the same rules: the ruling Inca, called Sapa Inca, was the chief of his panaka until he died and someone else became kuraka.

Panacas performed ceremonies in the name of the Inca and took care of the goods and alliances made during his reign. Each panaca owned holdings across the realm, including Inca royal estates and palaces in the sacred valley and the capital city of Cusco: the city core was composed principally of palatial enclosures known as kanchas, some of which were owned by the panakas.

Moreover each panaca had the task of maintaining one or more of the sacred shrines along the ceques, imaginary paths irradiating form Cusco towards the four Suyus (provinces) of the Tawantinsuyu (Inca Empire).

The members of a panaka made up the Sapa Inca's court which was also supported by their deceased ancestors who acted through their descendants, as if they were still alive. The panakas formed the aristocracy of Cusco, and represented factions and alliances capable of exerting influence in the decisions in the politics and conflicts of Inca history In this sense the panacas, particularly female ones, since the Incas had a long matrilineal tradition, influenced, among other things, the appointment of successors to the Sapa Inka position, elected by the law of the "most capable".