*3.2. Kaumaha-Chiefly Obligation to Steward in Perpetuity*

As we (re)understood the relationship ali'i had with 'a¯ina and maka'a¯inana, we thought more about the vast responsibility that the ali'i shouldered to ensure the functioning of the socio-ecological system. We enlisted Ka¯naka 'O¯ iwi scholars at the indigenous organization, the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation (EKF) to assist us in understanding these profound concepts. We describe the weighty or heavy burden of ali'i to safeguard and perpetuate resources in perpetuity for his or her people as kaumaha [47,57]. We use kaumaha to describe a deep, imperative responsibility that one cannot easily relinquish, such as that of landscape-level 'aina stewardship. ¯

The word kaumaha is colloquially most often understood as the feeling of sadness, grief and sorrow, and contemporarily, students often learn this word early in 'olelo Hawai'i classroom training as ¯ an example stative verb in sentences like: "Kaumaha au, I am sad." However, connotations of grief and sadness are not what we wish to convey in this context of 'a¯ina stewardship. Pukui, Haertig and Lee (2002) explain that kaumaha as grief and sorrow is derived from the "*original use of kaumaha meaning weight or heavy weight and from use of the separate syllables, kau (place, put, set) and maha (relief or rest). From the most literal connotation, that holding a physical weight is followed with relief when it is set down,* *came the abstract idea that grief is a heavy weight followed by relief.*" [56] (p. 132). The literal and figurative kaumaha is somewhat like the English word burden, which refers to a heavy load that one carries, but figuratively and colloquially is understood as misfortune or hardship. In our context describing the perpetual duty to maintain and steward 'a¯ina, we refer to the original meanings of kaumaha: heavy, weighty, profound, deep and significant, and not its subsequent often cited figurative definitions.

Furthermore, we contrast the concept of kaumaha—an ali'i obligation of stewardship, with the more familiar term kuleana, meaning right, privilege, responsibility [42]. Traditionally, when a new Ali'i Nui ascended to power, all of the lands of the Island would be redistributed to the various ali'i allies under him or her. The rights and responsibilities (or kuleana) that maka'a¯inana had on those lands would not change through these conversions. On the other hand, the rights and obligations (or kaumaha) that individual ali'i had to steward lands given to him or her could change drastically [59]. We view the right and responsibility maka'a¯inana had to live on and care for their lands and seas as a kuleana, and indeed this is the name given to the lands that maka'a¯inana claimed during the land privatization process of the 1840's [45]. Both kaumaha and kuleana are inherited responsibilities through land and mo'oku'auhau, however, we argue that because of the intimate interdependence that ¯ ali'i had with akua and maka'a¯inana across various landscape scales, they carried a different obligation to maintain critical 'aina functions for all (i.e., water cycling—discussed below). ¯

### **'O ke akua ke komo, 'a'oe komo kanaka** ¯

*The gods may enter, man cannot enter*

#### **'O ke kane huawai, he akua k** ¯ **en¯ a**¯

*Man with the water gourd, he is the god*

Kumulipo, Lines 111–112 [48]

In the Kumulipo lines above, the man with the ka¯ne huawai (water gourd) is refered to as an akua. Why does this ka¯ne huawai elevate this man to akua status? We understand this passage to be about the maintenance of the water cycle, and that the man who perpetuates the sources and driving forces of water is not a merely a man but is an ali'i and god-like [57]. The ali'i as the principle land steward had the kaumaha or imperative duty to maintain the water cycle that sustains all life—the streams, the groundwater, the forested watershed, evaporation, condensation, precipitation [57]. The maintenance of the function of the watershed ensured that all lifeforms in the Hawaiian realm would be supported, including people. This involved the protection of the geologic formations that drive weather systems, the large trees that interact with the atmosphere to produce rain and cloudfall, the multi-layered forest that slows the force of descending raindrops, the groundcovers that absorb moisture and prevent erosion, as well as the aquifers and conduits that hold and distribute fresh water throughout the landscape.

In order to fulfill the kaumaha to ensure maintenance of 'a¯ina in perpetuity, the ali'i imposed rules for resource interaction, which included ka¯na¯wai (laws, rules, or protocols) and kapu (sacred, prohibitions, taboos) at different scales [42,60,61]. Ka¯na¯wai and kapu are both essential elements of 'O¯ iwi religion more broadly. Ka¯na¯wai and kapu indicate the relationship between natural phenomenon and natural phenomenon, Ka¯naka and natural phenomenon, and Ka¯naka to Ka¯naka", [47] (p. 45), meaning these concepts tell us (1) how different elements of the environment will interact, (2) how we as people and the environment should interact, and (3) how we as people should interact with one another. All three relationships are vital for biocultural resource health. The ali'i, as the institutors of kapu and ka¯na¯wai in traditional Hawai'i, governed through these relationships. First, they understood environmental element interactions and cycles through careful observation over generations. Second, using this expert scientific understanding of their environments, they understood resources had specific kapu or a sacredness which prohibited ka¯naka to access those resources at specific times. Ali'i enacted ka¯na¯wai of how ka¯naka should access those kapu resources. For example, seasonal ka¯nawai were put upon many kapu fish according to observations of their spawning times, knowledge of their maturity rates, food abundance and availability, and other information [49,50,62]. And third, ali'i created and

enforce rules of how people should interact with one another, an example being Kamehameha I's famous Ka¯na¯wai Ma¯malahoe, or Law of the Splintered paddle, which declared protections for all people, young and old, from violent assault [63].
