Pre-eminent Massim/Trobriand culture-hero; entered as demigod per the brief. Recorded directly by Malinowski (1922; 1929; 1935). vitalStatus 'deceased' as he belongs to the mythic past and departed the islands. The 'virgin birth' (water from a stalactite) is a key motif Malinowski analysed in relation to Trobriand ignorance of physiological paternity.
Domains
agriculture
garden magic
Powers
teaches people to grow yams and taro
kills the cannibal ogre Dokonikan
Epithets
Tudava
Sources
Malinowski, Bronisław. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922)
Malinowski, Bronisław. The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia (1929), on Tudava's virgin birth