Tāwhaki

Quartigod son of Hemā (demigod) by Urutonga; the canonical sky-climber-hero of the pan-Polynesian Tāwhaki cycle, structurally parallel to Cú Chulainn and Heracles. With his brother Karihi, destroyed the Ponaturi who had blinded their father Hemā by trapping them in their hut and exposing them to sunrise — the canonical-Polynesian Ponaturi-sunrise-destruction scene. Climbed to the sky via the aka matua (parent-vine) per Whaitiri's advice; reached the highest of the ten heavens; reunited with his sky-wife Tangotango and daughter Arahuta. Father of Wahieroa by Hinepiripiri (the firewood-name commemorating Tāwhaki's revival-by-fire-after-cousin-attack and encoding the duty of paternal-vengeance). In some Maori recensions apotheosed as a sky-deity of thunder and lightning (inheriting the attributes of his grandmother Whaitiri); cross-Polynesian recensions known as Kahaʻi (Hawaiian per Fornander 1878), Tafaʻi (Tahitian), Tafaki (Samoan / Cook-Islands).

Parentage

• Hemā

Children

• Arahuta
• Wahieroa

Powers

• sky ascent and incantation mastery
• Ascends to the heavens by a vine
• Flashes lightning from his body
• Restores the blind grandmother's sight
• Returns to life by his own power

Relations

• father: Hemā
• father of: Wahieroa
• spouse: Hinepiripiri
• sibling: Karihi
• spouse: Tangotango

Sources

• Grey, Polynesian Mythology (1855) chapters 3-5 (the canonical-primary Maori Tāwhaki-cycle source)
• White (1887-1890); Tregear (1891); Best (1924)
• Fornander (1878-1885) — Hawaiian Kahaʻi recension
• Mohi Ruatapu Ngāti Porou recension preserved by Reedy (1993)
• Cole-Jensen 1961 — comparative Polynesian genealogy