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
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