Pan-Polynesian culture-hero and trickster, demigod son of the underworld-atua Makeatutara by the mortal rangatira Taranga in the dominant Maori tradition. Born prematurely; abandoned in the sea wrapped in his mother's topknot (tikitiki — hence Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga); rescued by ocean spirits; raised in the sky by the divine ancestor Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi. Returned to his mortal mother's village; recognized by Taranga only after reciting his four mortal brothers' names. Followed Taranga to the underworld in the form of a kererū (wood pigeon) and discovered his father Makeatutara — but Makeatutara rushed the baptismal tohi incantations and forgot parts, condemning Māui and through him all humanity to mortality. Cultural feats: fished up Te Ika-a-Māui (the North Island of New Zealand) using a magical fish-hook made from his grandmother Murirangawhenua's jaw-bone; snared the sun (Tama-nui-te-rā) with ropes from his sister's hair and beat it with the jaw-bone until it agreed to move more slowly across the sky, lengthening daylight; brought fire to humanity from Mahuika the atua of fire by tricking her into giving up her burning fingernails one by one, then preserving the last spark in the māhoe and kaikōmako trees. Final attempt at winning immortality: entered Hine-nui-te-pō (the goddess of death and underworld) in the form of a worm intending to crawl through her vagina to her mouth and reverse mortality; the fantail bird (pīwakawaka) laughed at the sight, woke Hine-nui-te-pō, and Māui was crushed between her obsidian and pounamu vaginal teeth — fulfilling Makeatutara's baptismal-error prophecy. The hei-matau (stylized fish-hook pendant of bone or pounamu / greenstone) is among the most iconic Maori taonga and a continuing modern cultural symbol. The Te Ara — Encyclopedia of New Zealand explicitly classifies him as demigod. Pan-Polynesian variants in Hawaiian (Māui-a-Kalana), Tahitian, Tongan, Samoan, Mangarevan, Marquesan, and Cook Islands traditions preserve related figures with varying parental configurations recorded in `variants[]`.