Taukei Ni Waluvu - History and Ethnology

History and Ethnology

According to Adolf Brewster,(see Joske's Thumb), Commissioner Colo East 1884-90, and elaborated by Arthur Capell, the genealogies of the hill tribes tend to go back some eleven or twelve generations from the time of his research. Basil Thomson and Brewster had worked on a basis of thirty years to a generation. So granting it, the founder seems to in each case to have lived about AD 1600.

The Taukei ni Waluvu clan trace their ancestry to Rokowai who founded their tokatoka Natabutale lineage at Nakamarusi around 1600 AD. Rokowai's ancestry through his father Rokovucago high chief of Navunidakua is traced back to Robonowai, the son with mystical powers of Ranadi ni Namasia the daughter of the Tui Nalawa in Ra. Clan folklore tells that Rokowai, who was the insolent and audacious youngest son in the chiefly household, had to flee the village as his brothers led by Nayacakuru had hatched a plot to harm him. The young chief fled with members of the chiefly clan’s bati, sauturaga, matanivanua and bete who were loyal to him. Their descendants still reside with the Taukei ni Waluvu in Nairukuruku and its older stronghold sister village Taulevu. The Taukei ni Waluvu as head of Yavusa Siko includes the mataqalis: Siko Natabutale (Nairukuruku), Siko Navunisalusalu of Taulevu village (Matailobau District), Siko Navunidakua of Naqara village (Waima District) and Siko Koroqele of Nakorovatu village (Waima District).

Image: A group of traditionally dressed Matailobau warriors with charcoal blackened faces in three lines grasping their spears and leaning forward on their war clubs. Most are wearing turban like head gear. Behind them are densely thatched village buildings, and two groups of people sitting watching from a distance at Nakorovatu, Matailobau, 1881.

Rokowai's older brothers were Nayacakuru, Rosauturaga and Rovakacodrowai. Rokowai's wife Kororava was from the Vunimoli clan of Waidracia village. Rokowai had five sons :Rokotokalau, Rorairuku, Rotabuwaiwai, Rocaginidaveta( no issue) and Iranaqarikau. Clan legend also narrates, that Rokowai’s manna was manifested when a fire burnt only the thatching of his great bure without destroying its wooden framed structure. The Clans founding ancestor's yavu was thus bestowed the name Nakamarusi or ‘burnt thatching’. Celebrated female author Constance Gordon-Cumming describes Nakamarusi on her visit to the village stronghold on 27 December 1875, “the village of Nakamerousi had attracted my especial admiration. It is perched on a steep bank, and looks right along a broad reach of the river to a beautiful mountain range.”

The clan's movements is traced from Navunidakua (district of Waima) to Nakamarusi, then onto the hill features: Taulevu, Ulira and Navaulele respectively, and finally to present Nairukuruku. Rokowai's youngest son Iranaqarikau's sons were : Iranabobo I, Naitege, Tabuadunaki and Rovucago II. Iranaqarikau's wife was Ro Ligatabua from Nasautoka. Their youngest son Rovucago II was installed at Navaulele as Taukei Waiburbure and Vunivalu by the clans of Nabubuco, Navitilevu and Vusovuso.

Navaulele and Ulira were the hill fortifications and pre-Christian villages of the Taukei ni Waluvu, situated just a kilometer due west from present Nairukuruku across the Wainimala river. From these two strategic locations, the clan's influence and power were projected into the Waimaro and Navitilevu tribal heartlands of eastern Viti Levu. Both these koro ni valu (war villages) were heavily fortified and sat surrounded by ringed dry moats to protect from other marauding and warring hill tribes. The other Siko clan’s fortified village close to Nairukuruku of Taulevu where the yavu (bure foundation) of Natabutale is built, looks east into the Wainibuka and Verata heartlands.

The chiefly clan had moved out of its hill fortification onto the Nairukuruku river plain after the conversion to Christianity by Reverend Frederick Langham of chief Ratu Meli Davetanivalu at Navaulele on September 14, 1862. As recountered by Reverend Deane, two Nalawa chiefs, Sogonaivi and Naqari who accompanied Rev. Langham played a part in Ratu Meli, the Taukei ni Waluvu's, conversion to Christianity. The relocation from Navaulele to the present spectacular Nairukuruku river valley was only possible in post Christian times after belligerent surrounding tribes shunning Christianity and colonial encroachment were subdued and converted.

Taukei ni Waluvu, Roraiova I, son of Rovucago II, in his tribal wars known as the 'Valu ni Lulu', is credited for spreading the clan's power and influence throughout Tholo East, up to Vatusekiyasawa village on the northern coast of Viti Levu to include an alliance with the Tui Bua on Vanua Levu. The origins of this traditional alliance with the Tui Bua can be traced to the mythological tale of the Tui Uluibua and Ro Namasia na marama Tabusiga daughter of the Tui Nalawa in Ra. She apparently after drinking the mysterious waters from a waterfall gave birth to Robonowai –the great ancestor of the Taukei Ni Waluvu. Roraiova's son Roradibi was skilled in the use of musketry firearms that was a marked advantage over traditional hand weapons in these inter tribal skirmishes.

By tribal migration movements and marital linkages the more prominent ancient hill tribes such as the Yavusa: Nasautoka, Navitilevu, Burenitu, Noemalu, Navatusila, Waimaro, Nabubuco, Nabukebuke, Nacobicibici, Dreketi, Rara, Viria and Vuna are traditionally blood linked to the Yavusa Siko of the Taukei ni Waluvu. Hence pre-christian names of renowned Vunivalu’s such as Rovucago of the Noemalu tribe, Robatiratu of the Nabukebuke tribe and Roragoca of the Soloira tribe were all bestowed on generations of Taukei ni Waluvu chiefs known as vaka toka yaca. In pre-Christian days, the name of a chief was sacred and in later generations his name was only bestowed on a close blood relative.