Tutae-Poroporo:

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VII, Issue 1, 1 October 1902, Page 7

Tutae-Poroporo :

Or, The Taniwha of the Whanganui River.

By JOHN ST. OLAIR,

GREAT confusion exists as to what a " taniwha " really is, some Maoris try to explain that it is, or was, a

saurian monster, or huge amphibious reptile, somewhat like a crocodile, or, as they describe it, a gigantic tutara lizard ; but when one comes to sift the Maori's explanations it is found he really does not know, and that he is inventing or retailing information he got from some other Maori equally ignorant. I once asked an aged chief the reason why there was a round spot on the Johnny Dory fish ; he replied that that was the fish which Peter caught to take the coin out of its mouth with which to pay tribute to the Eoman Emperor, and most Maoris believe the story, which, perhaps, originated with the missionary. In the same way, aided by the missionary, the Maori has come to regard the word " wairua " as the spirit or soul. He says : " Oke, oke, c te wairua ngenge nei "—rest, oh rest, thou weary soul, etc., and prays to "Te Wairua Tapu," or the third person of the Christain Trinity ; but the ancient Maori sage, or tohuriga, well knew that by " wairua " he expressed a shadow, a phantom, a spook or astral shade ; hence the reason why the missionary too often fails to make any lasting or deep impression on the thinkers amongst the Maori race.

In giving the Taniwha of the Whanganui River 1 have taken care to sift the story and the meaning of every word by the information of a number of old Maori sages ; and although I know some modern Maori scholars may laugh, yet I am prepared to support the esoteric meaning on the authority of the old men who know, and not on the

inventive genius of the young Maoris whose heads are too often turned by billiards, whisky, gambling and dissipation, and who really don't know.

The old men such as Wini Kerei Te Whetuiti, Te Wharepu, both now dead, or even Te Manu Karioi, Te Whiti or Te Ahu Te Wharepu would explain that a " taniwha " was a monster of the subjective world, endowed with great and terrible powers. It is supposed to be a transformation of a human being, who, having lived through countless incarnations, at last becomes a demigod. There are two classes of " taniwha/' the good and the evil. The good are those who, having through various re-births worked unselfishly for the benefit of the race, now require to incarnate no more, but remain in the subjective world to watch over the interests and welfare of the human race, influencing them for good, and assisting them in their difficulties by the use of the occult powers known only to the " tohunga " or initiate priest, which latter are called " Arata whiti " or the enlightened.

The evil " taniwha " is a demon of devastation, a thing wholly foul and vile, the culmination of a lons* career of evil-doing, witchcraft and sorcery carried on in many lives. It may be directed and controlled by the intelligence or personality of the deceased wizard " Tohunga Makutu," or it may have become an entity working on its own account, and blindly set in motion by evil thoughts and desires, or the will power of the black magician, but I shall deal more fully with this subject of " Makutu " in a separate paper.

" Taniwhas " are said to transform themselves into rocks on the

sea shore, or on the shore of a lake or river, where they often work awful havoc amongst people, either secretly or through the " Tohunga Makutu," or wizard.

The " taniwha," it must be remembered, is said to be a monster of the subjective world and not of the objective world and although the legend may at first sight appear a myth or fable, it may have a deep esoteric meaning behind it, and perhaps conceal some occult facts of vast importance to the true mystic. My own investigations in this domain have led me to discover that the Maori priest adept still exists, and that in their secret schools the initiate still retain a large amount of the ancient wisdom which has filtered down through most systems of religion and philosophy from, perhaps, a common source.

The myth, as related to me by a very old Ngatiruanui chief, runs thus : Aokehu* was my ancestor whom the taniwha, or sea-god, Tu-tae-Poroporo** (the tutelary taniwha of the Whanganui River) swallowed. Aokehu was a tohunga matauranga (an initiate). The monster took him right down into his capacious maw — and there he was. It so happened that Aokehu had with him his enchanted staff called " Tai-timuroa " (i.e., the long ebb-tide, or the tide long at ebbing). Being swallowed up lie had time to reflect, and he began to ponder over the situation ; presently he felt the staff move, and Aokehu remembered that he was not alone, without means of escane and at tne mercy of the taniwha. Taitimuroa had already on more than one occasion proved an efficient power and talisman amidst most serious dangers. Aokehu grasped the life-saving

* The son of " Hinewaitai," a sea goddess, and of "Kewa" (literally to emit, or he who came forth or manifested).

** " Tutae-Poroporo," not translated in literal sense of " Tutae," but as astral refuse. Poroporo in little round balls, here meant to indicate astral refuse, or what the Budhist terms the accumulation of evil Karma.

staff, and as he did so he felt the monster shudder convulsively, for well the taniwha divined that he had drawn an all-powerful tohunga into his stomach. Aokehu softly began to breathe his sacred incantations over the ' magic staff, in order to prepare it for the deed of daring which would be at once the destruction of the sea-god and the liberation of himself. The monster, impressed with the manifesting influence of the tohunga' s incantations, writhed and shivered, and furiously lashed his tail from shore to shore of the river, throwing up large bodies of mud and water, which deluged the land where the town of Whanganui now stands. " Eage great fish And lash your sides, The cravings of your hunger Methinks should now be fully appeased For have you not the potent Aokehu (in your capacious stomach) . When Aokehu had finished his incantations he made ready for the mighty combat before him. With a powerful lunge he drove the enchanted staff through the monster's stomach, thence hissing through its heavy side until finally it issued right through, and he drew the subtle weapon back to him. The monster increased his struggles, *is he felt his life-blood oozing out from the rift in his side which the tohunga had made. Meantime Aokehu worked on to widen the gash, until it was large enough for him to escape ; he rushed out through the opening thus made ; thereupon the tohunga, having regained life and liberty, the monster became convulsed with the death throes and at once expired. Thus perished the dangerous taniwha, who up to that time had lived in the Whanganui River, close to where the present traffic bridge now stands, and who had attacked incoming and outgoing canoes with impunity, often devouring the occupants wholesale.

Since the feat of Aokehu my people cross the river in safety. Aokehu is the type of a soul come forth from the eternal source

of souls, from whence, as the Eastern (as also the Maori) adept claims, we have all come, and to which we must all return ; he is a tohunga matauranga or initiate by virtue of right living and experience gained in past lives. For the ancient Maori sage believed in re-incarna-tion, and many of their old sacred waiatas (poems) breathe the ideas of Krishna :

" Both I and thou have passed through many lives, Mine are known to me, but thou knowest not of thine."

Aokehu was swallowed by " Tu-tae-Poroporo," a taniwha who dwelt in a river. He may have brought his fate upon himself by creating " Tutae-Poroporo," or evil Karma, which had accumulated in his many past lives ; his evil actions in each life being rolled up in a 11 poroporo," or round lump, to take the form of a monster or Frankenstein, or Dr. Jekell, as Bulwer Lytton terms it, in a subseqiuent life. This taniwha overpowers and swallows him, but his Karma, or balance of merit and demerit from past actions, demands his deliverance ; he is weighed in the balance and found to be in credit, or rather his merit exceeds his domerit. The thinker, although imprisoned in a body, and surrounded by the foul refuse of " Tutae Poroporo," is roused, and he remembers " Taitimuroa," which, though I translate literally as the tide slow or long at ebbing, means to the tohunga a great deal more. It typifies involution, the life of Melfsacrifice of one who in the world is not of the world, but who so lives that he rises above material things, and lives only for the good of his race, pursuing this course through more than one life (tohungas of old lived to great ages, my informant being over 100 years) ; the tide of life slowly ebbs back to the great central source from whence it came, and by its aid and the knowledge of right action Aokehu returns out of matter to spirit, destroying the power of the taniwha or monster, and opening a

safe road for those who may follow him to cross the river, not a material bridge such as now spans the Whanganui River, but that mystic road which leads " To that true face of the central sun Now hidden by a vase of golden light, From whom all proceed, To whom all must return." Aokehu is no longer a mortal ; he has learnt the lessons in many incarnations, which he came to this planet to be taught ; he has shown his people the path that leads upwards and onwards to that mystic place or sphere in the heart of Te Matariki or Pleiades, so sacred to the ancient priest adepts, but he enters not that heaven. He is as one " Wedged as a stone with countless other stones, Which form the guardian wall, Built by the hands of many masters of compassion, Upraised by their sufferings, by their blood cemented, It shields mankind, since man is man, Protecting it from other and far greater evils." The ideas and explanations are not my own, but are those of an aged Maori mystic who took part in the conquest of Kapiti and lands adjacent to the Manawatu before the advent of the pakeha, and who has only been dead a couple of years. The translations of Eastern poems from which I have quoted are practically translations of some of his sacred " karakias " and " waiatas/' and it may yet be found that the ancient Turanian adept and the Maori tohunga of old derived their ancient wisdom from one and the same source. This wisdom is not lost, but while we clever pakehas, who know everything, ridicule such sages as Te Whiti we cannot expect to know much of the Maoris real higher thought ; the teachings of the " Wharekura/' " Ahurewa," and '" Wharemairere," schools of mysticism are as sacred to them as the symbols of Masonry are to a Mason, and it is seldom one can get an old Maori initiate to explain the symbology of their mythology, but it all has one, if not more, esoteric or hidden meanings.