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

• father: HemāGrey 1855 (primary)

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: HemāGrey 1855 (primary)
• mother: Urutonga (Hema's wife, mother of Tāwhaki and Karihi) · PolynesianGrey 1855 (primary)
• sibling: Karihi (younger brother of Tāwhaki, killed in the failed sky-ascent on the wrong vine) · PolynesianGrey 1855; Tregear 1891 (primary)
• spouse: Hinepiripiri (mortal wife, mother of Wahieroa) · PolynesianGrey 1855 (primary)
• lover: Tangotango (sky-woman, mother of his daughter Arahuta) · PolynesianGrey 1855; Tregear 1891 (primary)
• father of: WahieroaGrey 1855 (primary)
• spouse: HinepiripiriReciprocal of polynesian_hinepiripiri.spouse (alphabetical family sweep). (auto reciprocal)
• sibling: KarihiReciprocal of polynesian_karihi.sibling (alphabetical family sweep). (auto reciprocal)
• spouse: TangotangoReciprocal of polynesian_tangotango.spouse (alphabetical family sweep). (auto reciprocal)

Sources

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