Te Puna Wai Matauranga

Blossom of Knowledge

"Knowledge is no good without wisdom to apply it properly"

Te Puna Wai Matauranga is the whakairo (carving) which stands at the main entrance to the University of Waikato Library as the kaitiaki (guardian) of the knowledge which is stored within its doors. The main figure of Te Puna Wai Matauranga is Tawhaki, an atua (god) and/or mortal of Polynesian cosmogony.

Explanation

The carver of Te Puna Wai Matauranga Bob Koko, provides the following explanation inscribed on a metal plaque beside the whakairo (carving):

Tawhaki was a celebrated hero of Polynesia, sometimes appearing as a mortal and sometimes as a deity, but generally having supernatural powers and being depicted as gracious and generous.

His fame enabled him to marry Tangotango, a celestial maiden who quarrelled with him and fled back to her heavenly home, with their child. He set out with his brother Karihi to find her, looking for the vine which would help find him to find his family. Matakerepo, a blind ancestress showed him the way after he had restore her sight.

In the carvings he is shown grasping the vine with the bolt of lightning - the symbol of his divinity impressed upon his being. He is believed by some tribes, to have brought the gifts of knowledge and religion to mankind, from the tenth realm of Rehua. 

He Piko he Taniwha