Purukupali

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).

Parentage

• parent: Mudungkala

Domains

• death and mortality
• mortuary ritual

Powers

• to decree that all living beings must henceforth die
• to perform the first Pukumani mortuary ceremony as the model for all Tiwi

Epithets

• PurukuparliVenbrux, E. (1995). A Death in the Tiwi Islands: Conflict, Ritual and Social Life in an Australian Aboriginal Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: BimaBima (Wai-ai) was the wife of Purukupali and mother of their son Jinani.Mountford, C.P. (1958). The Tiwi: Their Art, Myth and Ceremony. London: Phoenix House. (secondary)
• sibling: Tjapara, the Moon-manTjapara, the Moon-man, is the younger maternal brother of Purukupali; their quarrel over Bima and the dead child is the origin of death.Venbrux, E. (2010). Death and regeneration: The moon in Australian Aboriginal myths of the origin of death. In W. van Binsbergen & E. Venbrux (eds.), New Perspectives on Myth. Haarlem: Shikanda. (secondary)
• enemy: Tjapara, the Moon-manPurukupali fought Tjapara with an ironwood club and spears after Tjapara's adultery with Bima led to Jinani's death, driving him into the sky.Mountford, C.P. (1958). The Tiwi: Their Art, Myth and Ceremony. London: Phoenix House. (secondary)
• sibling: Wuriupranala, the Sun-womanWuriupranala, the Sun-woman, is the sister of Purukupali; he gave her the bark torch that is the Sun and charged her to keep it alight.Hamacher, D.W. & Banks, K. (2018). Twin Suns in Australian Aboriginal Traditions. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 21(2&3), 107-114. (secondary)
• sibling: Murupiangkala, the second Sun-womanMurupiangkala, the second Sun-woman, is a sister of Purukupali, the third child of Mudungkala.Hamacher, D.W. & Banks, K. (2018). Twin Suns in Australian Aboriginal Traditions. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 21(2&3), 107-114. (secondary)

Sources

• Purukupali is the Tiwi culture hero, son of Mudungkala, who after the death of his infant son Jinani fought his brother Tjapara, refused the offer to revive the child, instituted the first Pukumani funeral, and decreed mortality for all creation.: Mountford, C.P. (1958). The Tiwi: Their Art, Myth and Ceremony. London: Phoenix House. (secondary); Hart, C.W.M. & Pilling, A.R. (1960). The Tiwi of North Australia. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (secondary); Venbrux, E. (1995). A Death in the Tiwi Islands: Conflict, Ritual and Social Life in an Australian Aboriginal Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (secondary)