Tinirau

deity water Cook Islands mythology single tradition · 5

Tinirau is the god of fishes in Māori tradition. He welcomed Hinauri to Motutapu and took her as his new wife. He is also known for lending his pet whale, Tutunui, to Kae, which led to Kae's treachery and subsequent punishment by Tinirau.

↻ synthesized from 5 sources

When

First attested
0 CE
Attested period
1790 – 2020
Historical notes
Documented in late 19th and 20th century sources.

Relationships

consort of
Hinauri

Expand to full subgraph →

Sources

Source passages

“Eventually Hinauri would be welcomed by the people of Motutapu and was taken to the house of Chief Tinirau god of fishes, becoming his new wife.”

#18739 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“These six are the primary gods of the universe. Yet no marae or image was ever sacred to them, nor was any offering made to them. These gods are: Vatea (or Avatea), the father of gods and men; Tinirau, lord of the seas”

#31459 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“In some versions, Tangaroa has a son, Tinirau, and nine daughters.”

#31785 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“Tinirau - Māori, featuring in the story of Kae. In Mangaia (Cook Islands), Tinirau is the child of the goddess Varima-te-takere, born in Avaiki as a piece of flesh torn from his mother's side. He is half fish. Motutapu is given to him as his inheritance. He is guardian of all fish.”

#32089 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Tinirau, a guardian of fish.”

#32279 · extracted by deepseek/deepseek-chat