Mahuika

Maori fire-deity, ancestress of Maui, keeper of fire in her nails. Her contest with Maui is the canonical Maori fire-origin myth; in some recensions she is the younger sister of Hine-nui-te-po.

Domains

• fire

Powers

• Keep and yield fire from her fingernails and toenails
• Plant fire in the wood of the kaikomako

Relations

• ancestor of: Māui-tikitiki-a-TarangaFire-grandmother or ancestress of Maui from whom he won fire for humankind. Expressed as ancestor-of since recensions vary between grandmother and aunt.George Grey, Polynesian Mythology (1855), Maui cycle (secondary)

Sources

• existence: George Grey, Polynesian Mythology (1855), The Legends of Maui (How Maui brought fire) (secondary); Tregear, The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891), s.v. Mahuika (secondary)