Tutapu-aru-roa (the Relentless Pursuer)

Tutapu, the son of Maonga, was reared in Tahiti in the household of Pou-vananga-roa together with Tangiia, so that the traditions remember the two variously as cousins or as adoptive brothers. Their quarrel over the breadfruit tribute and the sacred stream Vai-iria grew into open war; Tutapu took the rule of Tahiti, and in the fighting a fire set by his men burned to death Tangiia's young son Pou-te-anuanua. When Tangiia fled across the sea, Tutapu followed him from island to island so unrelentingly that he was ever after called Tutapu-aru-roa, Tutapu of the long pursuit. The chase ended at Rarotonga, where Tangiia, strengthened by his gods and his alliance with Karika, defeated the pursuing fleet and slew Tutapu, plucking out his eye and holding it aloft in the victory rite of the time.

Domains

• war and pursuit

Powers

• to hunt his rival's fleet from island to island
• to lead war canoes and fighting men in battle

Epithets

• Tutapu-aru-roa

Sources

• Te Ariki-tara-are, 'History and Traditions of Rarotonga', Parts VI-XI, trans. S. Percy Smith, Journal of the Polynesian Society 28-29 (1919-1920).
• S. Percy Smith, Hawaiki: The Original Home of the Maori, 3rd ed. (Christchurch: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1910).
• Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter H. Buck), Vikings of the Sunrise (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1938).