The Death of a Hawaiian King

The death of a Hawaiian King, if it occurred in a relatively peaceful and non-combative atmosphere, was never-the-less, a traumatic societal event. The king was not only the ruler, he was man's representative before the god's and he lived in union with the soul of the island.  His life was intertwined with that of the island, and his death was regarded as a great physical calamity. 

The king's death brought into question the foundations of life.  What had been unwavering during his life, was suddenly gone or uncertain. The permanence of the waters, the wind, the sun and the moon were no longer assured.  It was in many ways a ritualized ending of the world.

The opening of my book The Vengeance of Kahekili, (Click HERE for the buying options )  describes the passing of the Great King Kahekili, the 25th Mo'i of the Maui Kingdom. Kahekili, having conquered Oahu, sought respite there from the wars of Maui, and died on Oahu in the month of July 1794. 

Perhaps this is what occurred......

Prologue

Kahekili died at Ulukou, Waikiki, in the month of Ka‘aona, which is perhaps known now as July and perhaps the year was 1794. [[i]]

...Fornander, Ancient History of the Hawaiian People, pg. 260.

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K

ahekilinui‘ahumanua, known to his subjects as Kahekili[[ii]], the 25^th Mō‘ī[[iii] [iv]] of the Maui kingdom, Great King of the islands of O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, and Maui, lay dying, surrounded by terrified servants and powerless kāhuna priests[[v]]. He wheezed and stirred, interrupting the rattle of his final moments. Then, pulling strength from deep within, he rolled onto his left side, revealing the intricate almost black body tattoo along his entire right side[[vi]]; long his personal sign of condemnation. The servants shuddered and moaned in fear at such a curse from their dying king. His kāhuna softly chanted a darkly toned prayer. Then a strong tremor shook the land, rocking the hale and tossing the king’s attendants to their knees. Boiling angry clouds, dark and ominous, rolled off the high Ko‘olau mountain ridges, sliding down over Waikiki, blotting out the sun and turning day to twilight. Rain squalls whipped out of the valleys and mad sheets of water lashed the sides of the great hale where Kahekili lay. Gusty winds tore at the roof thatch, shaking the building to its foundations, reaching in and tugging at the attendants and priests. In the distance the surf rose, roaring and thundering against the reef, threatening to sweep in and cover the lands. It was as if the island itself was suffering its own death throes and reluctantly sharing the fate of the great and terrible king.

Time slowed, like the king’s labored breaths, seconds passed uncertainly, minutes sticking in the evil intent of Kahekili’s last thoughts, the wheels of time mired in the dark chanting of the king’s sorcerers who sang the last of the old man’s damnations. Hearing the black curses sung, he was finally ready and let his breath slip away, and amid a barrage of lightning strikes and shattering thunder cracks, the old warrior king’s final breath fled him. His body shuddered and tensed, and the rattle of escaping life echoed through the hale like gravel tossed by the wind. The servants froze in fear, terrified of the consequences of being the first to know, the first to announce the terrible event.

The wind blew out of the east, whipped around from the north, and then screamed out of the south, seemingly uncertain of its purpose. Finally, as if losing its own will to live, it moaned quietly and stopped altogether. The roar of the surf against the reef settled into an uneasy growl. Just as suddenly as the violent outbursts of nature had begun, they ended, and stillness settled over the island. It was as if it too had given up its life. The king, retreating from the world, had taken the soul of the island hostage; fleeing with it into the blackness of the spirit land, leaving the living captive to a world without a soul.

Chaos erupted from the shocked quiet following the king’s passing. The order and purpose of life dissolved. People slipped dazed from their homes; roaming unclothed and disoriented. Trees dropped their leaves out of season. Random couples fornicated on open terraces. Birds fell from tree limbs; dead for no obvious reason. Women strolled unchecked through the most sacred heiau. Fear and terror stalked village lanes, sweeping people into senseless violence and mayhem. Dogs hunted in packs attacking children and ravaging livestock. The rains fled the mountains and streams dried-up. The ancient ways of life were ignored, fields went untended, crops were pillaged, and trees dropped their fruit. Ali‘i were assaulted or forced to flee, the words of kāhuna were ridiculed, and women ate with men in orgies of forbidden delicacies. The sacred was profaned, and the kapu consumed or practiced in a gluttony of perversions. Vendetta, retribution, and lust ruled the actions of the living. The world as the people had known it, the strict order of life, perished with the king; and society foundered, lost in a chaotic world lacking traditional landmarks. [[vii]]

Slowly, after many days of mayhem, the people awoke from their disorientation, and realization of their loss gave way to intense grief. In their lamenting, they cut their hair, gashed themselves, knocked teeth from their mouths, and wailed and grieved the passing of their king through the days and long into the nights. Finally, amid the great despair, the prayers of kāhuna were heard, and the vast loss of purpose, the drifting fear of abandonment was stilled. A new king stepped forward to lead in mourning the old king’s tragic passing. Familiar ceremonies and significant rituals were performed to mark the venerable king’s death and to celebrate the new king’s union with the land. The priests sang chants and made sacrifices, marking the new king’s marriage with the spiritual world and dominion over the lands. They appealed to the people to follow their newly anointed leader. Hearing the chants and prayers of the priests, and reconfirming order and purpose in the world, the people honored the new king and brought gifts to seal their sacred trust. With the ascent of the new ali‘i‘ai‘moku[[viii]], balance was restored, and the breath of the island was heard once again in the soft breezes flowing lightly out of the valleys. What had been lost was reborn in the union of the new king with the island.

However, the people of O‘ahu secretly rejoiced in the death of the old despot Kahekili and were dishonest in their displays of grief. Their hate for the old king, for the retribution he had exacted upon them, had struck deep at the heart of their belief. The foundations of the old ways had been shattered; their certainty of the unity of king and nature cleaved. The island lay wounded; its people trampled, though unbeaten, and the days of mourning a silent celebration of the old demon’s passing. [[ix]]

The old king, carrying his power into the afterlife, was not fooled by O‘ahu’s lamentations over his passing. He knew the people’s deceitfulness, and had always despised them for it. Leering evilly from of the portals of the after-world he gazed over the conquered island. The old devil, as sly as ever, had sown the seeds of retribution and calamity long before his death. He knew with time’s nourishment his curses would bloom wickedly across the land, and the ungrateful people of O‘ahu would once again feel the noose of his oppression: The Vengeance of Kahekili.

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The Vengeance of Kahekili, (Click HERE for the buying options )  

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[i]     Death of Kahekili: Fornander, pg. 260. Fornander notes the date of Kahekili’s death and the circumstances surrounding his final burial. Desha, pg. 349-50, provides a similar date and account. Both note the likelihood that Kahekili was father to Kamehameha and cite coincidental evidence

[ii]     Kahekili: For Pronunciations of Characters' Names see table on pg. ix and x,. For place names see Appendix 1.

[iii]    The author has made significant effort to use accepted Hawaiian language syntax throughout this document. However, much knowledge has been lost and much now often highly debated in this regard. Primary references were the Place Names of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Dictionary, both by Pukui .et.al, and the Ulkau Hawaiian Dictionarys at http://wehewehe.org/gsdl2.5/cgi-bin/hdict?a=q&r=1&hs=1&e=q-0hdict--00-0-0--010---4----den--0-000lpm--1en-Zz-1---Zz-1-home---00031-0000escapewin-00&q=&j=pm&hdid=0&hdds=0  (11/15/2012)

[iv]    Mō‘ī: or Moi, Mo-ee or Moi, depending on source. Great King, title gained by blood or power; often of many islands. For a listing of the Mō‘ī of Maui see Appendix II. This was not a title commonly used by the Hawaiians of earlier era's, and came into vogue in the nineteenth century.

[v]     Kahuna: Priest, servant of a place of worship, healer, or skilled artisan. There were many Kāhuna in Hawaiian society, many, if not most, were non-religious in nature and of the artisan class. 

[vi]    Tattooed side of body, Pushup’: pahupū: ‘cut in two’: Kahekili and a group of his warriors had dark tattoo on one side of the body. Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, pg. 159, describes them as “strange-looking men tattooed [half] black from top to toe, with eyelids turned inside out and held up by props and only their eyeballs and teeth left in their natural state.”

[vii]   The Death of a King: Dudley, Chapter 11, pg. 109-114. Dudley discusses the special place that the ali‘i‘ai‘moku played in religion and particularly their association with the natural flow of life and nature. Much of what he notes is distilled from Kamakau, Malo, and Fornander. Dudley discusses the sanctioned disorientation that would occur at a king’s death and the traditional forms of mourning and recovery rituals that might take place as society reforms around the new king. Valeri, in Kingship and Sacrifice, also discusses in detail the social consequences of the death of a great chief.

[viii]   Ali‘i‘ai‘moku: King or ruler of an island or district. Moku can mean either a district or an island.

[ix]    King Kahekili’s Excesses on O‘ahu are well documented. Fornander, pg. 224-228, cites Kahekili’s suppression of an O‘ahu chiefs’ revolt. He notes “Men, women and children were killed without discrimination and without mercy. ....The native O‘ahu aristocracy were almost entirely extirpated.” He further notes that chiefs among Kahekili’s ruling elite were also involved in the revolt, Ka‘iana and his brother Nāmākehā were among them and escaped to Kaua'i when Kalanikūpule discovered the plot. Such vicious and widespread suppression was not common. It is unlikely that the survivors would forgive such an act within a few generations, particularly considering the historical link between Maui and O‘ahu. 


The Vengeance of Kahekili, (Click HERE for the buying options )