ORIGIN OF THE MAORI

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1938, Page 5

ORIGIN OF THE MAORI

AN INTERESTING SURVEY. DESCENT FROM CAUCASIAN RACE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. PALMERSTON NORTH, July 20. “E koro tena koe, (greeting to you, sir). E hoa ma tena koutou (friends greeting). Ka nui ta matou koa, notemea ko te. matua o te kura Maori (Mr Stevens, we greet you because you are the father of this Maori class.)” A class of students of Maori language, history and mythology gathered at the Technical High School, Palmerston North, tonight both to welcome the founder, Mr J. H. Stevens, a noted Maori authority, and to listen to a number of informative and interesting talks by several members. Among the speakers were Mr Stevens himself, who spoke of his experiences; Mr R. Rawstone, on the lost history of the Maori; Mrs Yorke, on Maori cures for illnesses; Mr Marriott, on mythology, and Mr E. Edwards, on a wide and amusing range of observations on the race. Invasion of India. The authorities believed, said Mr Rawstone, that the Maori was a mem-' ber of a white Caucasian race which invaded north-west India from their home in the Caucasus mountains near the Caspian Sea. Reaching India, the Maori conquered the Mongolian race inhabiting the north-west border and eventually intermingled with it and absorbed the Mongolian strain. It was believed that the ancestral home of the Maori was Ava, a kingdom now known as Bengal. Penetrating to the Indus River, the Maori found the great land of Sindavia, or Sind in Punjab. The word Maori'itself was Indian, being composed of two words: “ma.” meaning the first man in India, and “uri,” people of the flrsit man. It was not until the invasion of India that the word was used. The Maori people in New Zealand had the term “tangata Maori,” said Mr Rawstone, which meant the Maori as distinct from all other races.

Burma to the Islands. Mr Rawstone said the East Coast Maori today had a tradition that they came from a place called “Uru” before they invaded Irihia —Sanskrit for India. This Uru had been identified as Ur of Chaldees, in Mesopotamia, where Abraham grazed his flocks. As the invading Maori spread out from Punjab across India into the plains of the Ganges, they grew into a mighty nation and became all-powerful. They gradually spread to Burma, pushed down to the Malay Peninsula, and across to Borneo, Sumatra and Java. Mr Rawstone concluded his talk with references to a number of place names existing in India today—Manapouri, Arahura, Rangariri, Mataroa, Pipiri—and Indian tribal names —Kai Awa, Arawa, Maona, Kaori.