Kaitangata
Māori · mortal · mythic prehistoric · Recorded classification
Mortal-tier man whose name "man-eater" (Kaitangata) was misunderstood by the cannibalistic sky-goddess Whaitiri to signify shared cannibalistic appetite. Whaitiri descended from the sky to marry him; after their two sons Hemā and Punga were born, she discovered the name was a misnomer and returned to the sky. The canonical-Polynesian abandoned-mortal-husband-of-deity narrative-position, structurally parallel to the Greek Anchises-and-Aphrodite, Indian Bhīma-and-Hidimbī, and Welsh Pwyll-and-Rhiannon mortal-mortal-spouse-of-divine narratives.
Children
Relations
- spouse: WhaitiriGrey 1855 (primary)
- father of: HemāGrey 1855; Tregear 1891 (primary)
Sources
- existence: Grey 1855; White 1887-1890; Tregear 1891; Best 1924 (primary)