Ka Make Loa O Te Ari'i Nui

Photo: Ku'ialuaopuna

Hawaiian Antiquities (Mo`ōlelo Hawai`i) By David Malo, Honolulu Hawaiian Gazette Co., Ltd. Translated from the Hawaiian by Dr. N. B. Emerson 1898

Introduction

The first "Mo`ōlelo Hawai`i" (Hawaiian History), was written at Lahainaluna about 1835-36 by some of the older students, among whom was David Malo, then 42 years of age. They formed what may be called the first Hawaiian Historical Society. The work was revised by Rev. Sheldon Dibble, and was published at Lahainaluna in 1838. A translation of it into English by Rev. R. Tinker was published in the Hawaiian Spectator in 1839. It has also been translated into French by M. Jules Remy, and was published in Paris in 1862.

The second edition of the Mo`ōlelo Hawai`i, which appeared in 1858, was compiled by Rev. J. F. Pogue, who added to the first edition extensive extracts from the manuscript of the present work, which was then the property of Rev. Lorrin Andrews, for whom it had been written, probably about 1840.

David Malo's Life of Kamehameha I, which is mentioned by Dr. Emerson in his life of Malo, must have been written before that time, as it passed through the hands of Rev. W. Richards and of Nahienaena, who died December 30, 1836. Its disappearance is much to be deplored.

W. D. ALEXANDER

CHAPTER 29

On the death of a king, one who was at the head of the government, the ceremonies were entirely different from those performed on the death or any other alii whatsoever.

When the king was dead his heir was removed to another district, because that in which his death took place was polluted by the corpse.

The kuni1 priests took a part of the flesh of the dead king's body to be used as maunu in their incantations against those who had prayed him to death. The body was then taken to the mua2 house in the presence of the multitude and laid in the heiau, that it might be deified and transformed into an au-makua.

The ceremony was performed by the kahuna hui working under the rite of Lolupe,3 who was the god of the kahuna hui. It was believed that Lolupe was the deity who took charge of those who spoke ill of the king, consigning them to death, while the souls of those who were not guilty of such defamation he conducted to a place of safety (ola, life).

The service of the deity Lolupe was in one branch similar to the ceremony of kuni (or anaana) . The deification of the corpse and imparting godlike power to it was another branch of the priests' work, and was accomplished in the following manner.

The dead body was first wrapped in leaves of banana, wauke and taro, a rite which was called kapa lau, garment of leaves,

The body being thus completely enveloped, a shallow pit was dug and the body was buried therein about a foot below the surface, after which a fire was made on the ground the whole length of the grave.

This was kept constantly burning for about ten days, during which time the prayer called pule hui was continually recited. By that time the body had gone into decay and that night the bones were separated from the flesh and worship was performed to secure their deification after the following manner.4

After disinterment the bones were dissected out and arranged in order, those of the right side in one place, those of the left side in another, and, the skull-bones being placed on top, they were all made up into a bundle and wrapped in tapa.

The flesh which had gone to decay (pala-kahuki) and all the corruptible parts were called pela (pelapela, foul, unclean) and were cast into the ocean. It was by night that this pela was thrown into the ocean, on a tabu night. On that night no one from the village must go abroad or he might be killed by the men who were carrying forth the pela to consign it to the ocean.

After this was accomplished, the bones were put in position and arranged to resemble the shape of a man, being seated in the house until the day of prayer, when their deification would take place and they would be addressed in prayer by the kahunas of the mua. The period of defilement was then at an end; consequently the king's successor was permitted to return, and the apotheosis of the dead king being accomplished, he was worshipped as a real god6 (akua maoli.)

His successor then built for the reception of the bones a new heiau, which was called a hale poki, for the reason that in it was constructed a net-work to contain the bones, which, being placed in an upright position, as if they had been a man, were enshrined in the heiau as a god.

 After this these bones continued to be a god demanding worship, and such a deity was called an au-makua. Common people were sometimes deified,5 but not in the same manner as were kings.

It was believed that it was the gods who led and influenced the souls of men. This was the reason why a real god, an akua maoli,6 was deemed to be a spirit, an uhane (or) this is the reason why it was said that the soul of the king was changed into a real god, (oia ka mea e olelo ai ka uhane i akua maoli.)

NOTES ON CHAPTER 29

1 The functions of the kahuna kuni and kahuna anaana bore a strong outward resemblance to each other, but the purpose was different. The meaning of this passage is that the ceremony of kuni was performed on the king's body in order to find out who had compassed his death by sorcery (anaana.}

2 David Malo uses the terms mua and heiau almost as if they were interchangeable, and meant the same thing. The mua was the men's eating house, tabu to women. The family idols were probably kept there, and it seems as if some part of it was set apart as a shrine or heiau.

3 Lolupe, seems to have been rather a kupua than a full fledged deity. This deity was represented by a kite made in the shape of a fish, with wings, tail, etc.; when made the figure was sent up the same as any kite. Its special function was to go in search of the spirits of the dead and bring them before the kahunas for identification, interrogation and judgment. Prayer and offerings were used at the time of its being sent up. The errands committed to it were never of a criminal nature. A suitable errand to commit to Lolupe would have been the recovery of the soul of a dear one from the land of shades, as Hiku brought back the soul of his bride or sister, Kawelu, after it had gone into the shades of Milu. If a man wanted a big piece of land, he might pray to Lolupe and commit the job to him.

Apropos of Hiku, the following beautiful kanaenae* has been told me which comes in not inappropriately at this time. Hiku is represented as climbing the mountain side in search of the shade of his bride:

Pi'i ana Hiku i ke kualono,

     Hiku is climbing the mountain ridge,

Pi'i ana Hiku i ke kualono,

     Climbing the mountain ridge,

E ka lala e kaukolo ana,

     The branch hangs straggling down,

Ua ke'eke'ehi ia e Lolupe ka pua, ua haule ilalo.

     Its blossoms, kicked off by Lolupe, lie on the ground,

Ka pua kui lei au, e Malaikanaloa.

     Blossoms to be strung into a lei by Malaikanaloa.

Homai ana kahi pua, e Lolupe,

     Give me also a flower, o Lolupe,

I hoolawa ae no ko'u lei.

     That I may piece out my wreath.

Long before Franklin made use of the kite to draw electricity from the clouds the Hawaiian kahuna, following the rite of Lolupe, used it to ensnare ghosts in the heavens.

*A kanaenae is a complimentary address which stands as a prelude to the more serious matter of a prayer or mele. (In Maori tangaengae is the prayer used at the cutting of the umbilical cord.

4 Hoaha ia a pa'a i ka aha, as it is in the text, would be better expressed hoa ia a pa'a i ka aha. I am informed that when, as in this case, the bones were those of a king, or chief of high rank the fitting expression was kama ia a pa'a i ka aha, the meaning being in each case the same. Each limb and the trunk, neck and head were separately bound with sinnet, and the parts being then placed in position were joined together to resemble the shape and appearance of a human figure.

5 The deification of a common person could be accomplished, but it was more burdensome and took longer time to accomplish than that of a king.

6 Akua maoli: The gods Ku, Kane, Kanaloa and Lono, though making themselves visible to men occasionally in human form perhaps, were conceived of as spirits, uhane, and as such were spoken of as akua maoli. Mr. Malo unwittingly, probably as the result of the new theology which had come for the enlightenment of him and his people, was inclined to do scant justice to the discarded ideas of his heathen ancestor. An akua maoli was, as he says, an uhane. The person of the dead king was by hoomana, prayer and incantation made into an akua maoli. Theologic disapproval of the use of images, icons and relics as aids to a devotional frame of mind must not blind us to the fact that while the culture of the ancient Hawaiians had advanced so far as to have attained the idea of a spiritual deity, it had not gone far enough to be able to dispense with that old time crutch of superstition, the image and the effigy. It is one thing for a people in the natural course of religious evolution to make use of the image, as an aid to the imagination, in the attempt to form a definite concept of the unseen, but quite another thing to relapse from a higher plane of religious evolution and take up again with the defunct and discarded emblem. Such a retrogression is a sure sign of mental and moral degeneracy.