Punga

Maori atua of ugly and deformed things, ancestor of sharks, lizards and stingrays; son of Whaitiri and Kaitangata and brother of Hema in the Tawhaki genealogy. Some recensions instead make him a son of Tangaroa; the registry follows the Whaitiri-Kaitangata line asserted in the Hema and Whaitiri entries.

Parentage

Recorded default; alternative parentage accounts are listed separately below.

• parent: Whaitiri
• parent: Kaitangata

Parentage accounts

Each account is a separate source claim. The parentage and children listed outside these accounts use the recorded default. Selecting an account in the interactive app updates its lineage, descent classification and inherited-power candidates. Linked pedigree accounts are selected together; other records retain their recorded parentage. Claims of ancestry are not proof of biological descent or attested powers.

• Sea progeny: Tangaroa (Te Ara)

  Divine ancestry; fraction unquantified because the account is incomplete.

  • father: TangaroaPaul Meredith, Te hī ika – Māori fishing, Tangaroa, god of the sea (2012), opening genealogy (secondary)
  Paul Meredith, Te hī ika – Māori fishing, Tangaroa, god of the sea (2012), opening genealogy (secondary)

Children

• Ikatere
• Tūtewehiwehi

Domains

• monstrous progeny

Relations

• sibling: HemāBrothers, both sons of Whaitiri and Kaitangata; Punga is ancestor of sharks, lizards and ugly creatures while Hema fathers the hero-line.John White, The Ancient History of the Maori (1887), Tawhaki cycle (Ngati Hau) (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Tregear, The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891), s.v. Punga (secondary); Best, Maori Religion and Mythology (1924) (secondary)