The mana of succession

Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, mother of seven, New Zealand Order laureate, honorary doctorate, longest-serving Kingitanga leader, ka taka te rakaunui, ka rere te kotuku, ka tipu te mahuri, the great tree has fallen, the graceful heron soars, a new sapling grows. As tears and tributes flow like the mighty waters of the Waikato, her passing is a time to welcome a new successor.

Succession discussions will canvass four main issues. Should the first born automatically be appointed? Will inheritance and meritocracy be balanced? Will gender play a role? Will the office pass to another tribe?

Dame Te Ata will have indicated her preference. In 2003, she said that the tribe might be ready to return to a male leader. At other times she has reflected upon the legacy of her aunty, Te Puea Herangi. During the 1933 to 1966 reign of Dame Te Ata's father Koroki, a reluctant leader, Te Puea provided the strength that drove the tribe forward. Raising money to buy back confiscated land she rebuilt Turangawaewae marae as a central bastion at Ngaruawahia.

She ensured that every member marae held their poukai gatherings each year to maintain the solidarity needed to keep the fires of hope burning that one day justice would return the Raupatu lands. She groomed Robert Mahuta to lead the fight, and Dame Te Ata to lead the tribe toward a new dawn.

Dame Te Ata's eldest daughter, Heeni Katipa, is the first born. Tuheitia Paki, the eldest son, the third born. Both have the humility and dignity of their mother. Both are capable. Dame Te Ata will have already consulted within Te Kahui Ariki, the inner sanctum of those closest to the Kingitanga. Te Kahui Ariki will have also talked to elders and leaders from marae, Te Kauhanganui - the tribe's Parliament, and Tekaumarua - the over-arching executive. These discussions will have intensified over the last few days.

Tainui is now also consulting other tribes, a process that will culminate in a hui on the last night of the tangihana. Tumu Te Heuheu VIII, paramount leader of the only other continuing hereditary leadership, will be the most appropriate person to chair that debate.

The historical poetry will be huge. His great-great-grandfather's uncle, Iwikau Te Heuheu III, hosted the 1858 hui at Pukawa on Lake Taupo that selected Dame Te Ata's great-great-great-grandfather, Potatau Te Wherowhero, to be the first King. With great political craftsmanship, Iwikau introduced himself by the name of Mt Tongariro in the centre of the North Island.

He then greeted each chief by the name of their mountain, never calling them by their personal names. In this way, he emphasised that their mission was to preserve the land, protect the people and secure the future, not to uplift the mana of individuals.

In a custom that also stems from Pukawa, Tainui will not formally take part on the last night. In 1858, other tribes, respecting that the Kingitanga initiative came from Tainui, accepted that the mantle of the title would lie with them. To balance that, Tainui were to surrender selecting the anointed.

Unfortunately, the vision of pan-tribal unity under the Kingitanga never materialised.

Land hungry colonialists invaded the Waikato forcing Tainui to fight at Meremere and Rangiriri, and then at Orakau where the defenceless were pursued and slaughtered in a dirty swamp. Innocents fell at Rangiaowhia; 1,200,000 acres were confiscated. Many tribes did not fight, fearful that they would lose their lands. They did anyway.

During the 1880s, Tainui again attempted to unite all tribes under its Kauhanganui Parliament, but the desire to unite under one leader had faded. Each tribe determined their destiny and most chose the alternative Kotahitanga Parliament.

As time passed, the Kingitanga took on a new symbolism first as a national and then as an international institution.

Nevertheless, the old custom remains. Tainui will offer the position for debate; most other tribes will wish to return the position for safekeeping. The exchange will be humble, dignified and deeply respectful.

Other tribes may proffer an alternative, some simply to add integrity to process, others to claim that the position's new significance demands that it be shared. Wisdom might counsel that over time pernicious inter-tribal rivalry could degrade the position.

The shift might also undermine the continuity of the ongoing lineage of the Tainui leadership, the other of the last two hereditary leaderships. Many will think that this is not the time for change. The Tainui-Kingitanga amalgam is an iconic Maori history now deeply embedded in the consciousness of the nation.

An announcement will be made that night or the following morning and the successor coroneted before Dame Te Ata's body is taken from Turangawaewae Marae along the Waikato River to be buried on Taupiri Mountain.

The heritage of loss, struggle and renaissance with Maori and Pakeha bearing equal witness to this event as never before, the final day will be one of the most spiritually charged in our recent history.

That is good, because ultimately the greatest of Dame Te Ata's gifts was that alongside war, conflict and tension there was a coming together under her grace, ka rere tonu te kotuku.

* Dr Rawiri Taonui is Head of Aotahi: The School of Maori and Indigenous Studies, University of Canterbury