Yam Culture-Hero

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