Purukupali is the central culture hero of Tiwi religion and the being through whom death entered the world. A son of the creator Mudungkala, he lived with his wife Bima and their infant son Jinani in the era after creation. While Purukupali was hunting, Bima left the child in the shade and went into the bush with Purukupali's brother Tjapara; the sun moved, the shade passed, and Jinani died of exposure. Enraged, Purukupali fought Tjapara with an ironwood club and spears and refused Tjapara's offer to bring the boy back to life after three days, declaring instead that because his son had died, all living things must now die forever. He instituted the first Pukumani mortuary ceremony, the model for all later Tiwi funerals with their carved tutini poles, songs and dances, and then, cradling the dead child, walked backwards into the sea, where both vanished in a whirlpool in the winga (the ocean).