Tamanui-ki-te-rangi

An ancestor of Māui. This god preserved Māui at birth when he was thrown into the sea by his mother Taranga. As Māui's kaumātua it fell to Tamanui to raise Māui and teach him his whakapapa (genealogy) and tribal traditions. Traditionally, it was common for kaumātua to whāngai (foster) their mokopuna.

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Kaumātua and Māui In all of the stories of Māui, kaumātua feature either as leading characters or as imparters of knowledge. The discarded baby Māui, who had been cast out to sea by his mother Taranga, was discovered by his grandfather Tamanui-ki-te-rangi when he washed ashore in his mother’s top knot. Tamanui-ki-te-rangi raised the child, passing on his vast knowledge of chants and incantations for the realms of the sea and the forest.

Later, Māui sought knowledge from his kuia Muriranga-whenua and received her jawbone, which he used to fish up the North Island and slow down Tamanui-te-rā, the sun. Through trickery, Māui acquired the secret of fire from Mahuika, another female elder. Finally, Māui attempted to achieve immortality through conquering Hine-nui-te-pō, another one of his kuia, but was crushed to death.