Talk:Auraka

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[edit] Orginal text of this article

The original text of this article, as submitted by User:TUF-KAT on 30 September 2002, was: "In Polynesian mythology, Auraka ("all-devouring") is a god of death."

This derives from the Encyclopedia Mythica article Auraka, which has the text A deity of death in Polynesian myth. Literally, 'the All-Devouring'.

However, a look at Gill 1876b pages 202 and 243 shows the following:

  1. that Auraka is actually not a deity of death at all, but a cave that is the last resting-place of the dead
  2. that 'all-devouring' is not a literal translation of Auraka at all, but Gill's own translation of a poetic description of the cave from a line in a song. The actual word in question is 'maumau' meaning 'to waste'; a burial cave 'wastes' or 'squanders' the bodies of those consigned to its depths, the sense that Gill attempts to convey with his 'all-devouring'.

Kahuroa 10:17, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

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