Auraka

The Keia district contains at least two ancient burial caves, Kauvava and Piri Te Umeume, which were accessed by diagonal descents through boulder-strewn roof collapses from the top of the makatea, the limestone cliffs that form a concentric ring around the central basalt core of the island (Anton and Steadman 2003:133, 136).

Gill, an early source for the mythology of Mangaia, noted a cave in Keia named Auraka, with one of its two entrances named Kauvava (1876a:71–79).

[1] The idea that Auraka is an all-devouring god of death appears to be a false assumption deriving from a misreading of Gill, where 'all-devouring' is his translation of the word 'maumau' in a line from a Mangaian song of mourning.

The line that Gill translates as "From all-devouring Auraka" is O Rākā maumau e!

Gill comments on the same page that this is a reference to "Auraka, the last resting-place of the dead", and he makes no suggestion that Auraka is a god of death rather than a burial cave.