16.8 The Death of Maui the Navigator
273
Evidence for mutation of nearly half of the existing Maori maternal haplotypes (discussed in Chapter 20) has the same implications for a long presence in New Zealand
of Maori.
16.8 The Death of Maui the Navigator
The story of Maui’s death after his return to his own country has an historical as well
as a mythological import. Two apparently contradictory versions of Maui’s death,
which Beattie could not reconcile, persist in New Zealand. It is possible that in one
case we have a historical event presented simply, in the other the same historical
event presented in a mythological frame. The simple historical event has Maui the
Navigator drowned in a tidal wave in a narrow strait close to his homeland. The
mythological frame is provided by a myth, which is unique to New Zealand [12] –
a myth in which the demi-god Maui sets out to achieve immortality for man by
defeating Hine-re-te-po, the goddess of death, by penetrating and passing through
her body, metaphorically destroying the power of death from within.
Tradition tells us that Maui met his death at a place called Te-one-ki-pikopiko-iwhiti [13]. Let us consider the suggestive force of some of the elements that make up
this place name. One is the beach, the shore; ki means full, filled up, tight, and also
high (of the tide); piko means to bend, stoop and a bend, a corner. Whaka-piko means
to go alternately in opposite directions; tapiko is to set a trap, murder committed in
breach of hospitality and also to be wrong morally, crooked, bent and also to be
vanquished or overcome, to be extinguished. I is to ferment, turn sour, or anything
indicating age or decay. Whiti is to cross over, to get to the other side of a sea or
river and also means the extremity of a place or thing.
“To cross over the sea” and “high tide on the curved shore”, suggestions inherent
in the name of the place where Maui died, suggest an historical event, his drowning
in a tidal wave in a curved narrow strait, one traditional explanation of his death,
according to Beattie [14]. As we have noted, Maui, according to our calculations
(part of the chronology we develop in Chapter 19), visited New Zealand about AD
100. It is conceivable that the volcanic eruption at Ambrym, Vanuatu, which blew
the island apart probably about AD 100, could have generated the tsunami in which
Maui drowned. In Chapter 20 we are, in fact, able to use climate proxy data to
confirm this dating for the Ambrym eruption.
Another set of meanings for the word piko is related to murder and death, age and
decay. Piko means to be morally wrong, to set a trap, to commit murder in breach
of hospitality and also to be vanquished or overcome, to be extinguished. In this
metaphorical interpretation, the curved narrow strait where Maui the Navigator is
trapped by a tidal wave can be seen as a metaphor for the demi-god Maui’s tight
passage through the body of the goddess of death. In this interpretation the mythological element of the story of Maui’s death, an explanation for man’s mortality, is
woven into the tragic story of a hero’s defeat in a heroic battle against impossible
odds, the quest to steal immortality for man from the goddess of death herself.
273
Evidence for mutation of nearly half of the existing Maori maternal haplotypes (discussed in Chapter 20) has the same implications for a long presence in New Zealand
of Maori.
16.8 The Death of Maui the Navigator
The story of Maui’s death after his return to his own country has an historical as well
as a mythological import. Two apparently contradictory versions of Maui’s death,
which Beattie could not reconcile, persist in New Zealand. It is possible that in one
case we have a historical event presented simply, in the other the same historical
event presented in a mythological frame. The simple historical event has Maui the
Navigator drowned in a tidal wave in a narrow strait close to his homeland. The
mythological frame is provided by a myth, which is unique to New Zealand [12] –
a myth in which the demi-god Maui sets out to achieve immortality for man by
defeating Hine-re-te-po, the goddess of death, by penetrating and passing through
her body, metaphorically destroying the power of death from within.
Tradition tells us that Maui met his death at a place called Te-one-ki-pikopiko-iwhiti [13]. Let us consider the suggestive force of some of the elements that make up
this place name. One is the beach, the shore; ki means full, filled up, tight, and also
high (of the tide); piko means to bend, stoop and a bend, a corner. Whaka-piko means
to go alternately in opposite directions; tapiko is to set a trap, murder committed in
breach of hospitality and also to be wrong morally, crooked, bent and also to be
vanquished or overcome, to be extinguished. I is to ferment, turn sour, or anything
indicating age or decay. Whiti is to cross over, to get to the other side of a sea or
river and also means the extremity of a place or thing.
“To cross over the sea” and “high tide on the curved shore”, suggestions inherent
in the name of the place where Maui died, suggest an historical event, his drowning
in a tidal wave in a curved narrow strait, one traditional explanation of his death,
according to Beattie [14]. As we have noted, Maui, according to our calculations
(part of the chronology we develop in Chapter 19), visited New Zealand about AD
100. It is conceivable that the volcanic eruption at Ambrym, Vanuatu, which blew
the island apart probably about AD 100, could have generated the tsunami in which
Maui drowned. In Chapter 20 we are, in fact, able to use climate proxy data to
confirm this dating for the Ambrym eruption.
Another set of meanings for the word piko is related to murder and death, age and
decay. Piko means to be morally wrong, to set a trap, to commit murder in breach
of hospitality and also to be vanquished or overcome, to be extinguished. In this
metaphorical interpretation, the curved narrow strait where Maui the Navigator is
trapped by a tidal wave can be seen as a metaphor for the demi-god Maui’s tight
passage through the body of the goddess of death. In this interpretation the mythological element of the story of Maui’s death, an explanation for man’s mortality, is
woven into the tragic story of a hero’s defeat in a heroic battle against impossible
odds, the quest to steal immortality for man from the goddess of death herself.