[3] It is believed to be the name of a chief (sometimes spelled Pahukaina) who according to legend chose a cave in Kanehoalani in the Koʻolau Range for his resting place.

[5][6] After 1825, the first Western-style royal tomb was constructed for the bodies of King Kamehameha II and his queen Kamāmalu near the current ʻIolani Palace.

[5] Over time, as more bodies were added, the small vault became crowded, so other chiefs and retainers were buried in unmarked graves nearby.

In 1865 a selected eighteen coffins were removed to the Royal Mausoleum named Mauna ʻAla in Nuʻuanu Valley.

Later in the evening, bearers brought the casket of Ka Haku o Hawaiʻi (as Prince Albert was known) and laid him to rest alongside his father.

Queen Emma was so overcome with grief that she camped on the grounds of Mauna ʻAla, and slept in the mausoleum.

The remains of past deceased royals were transferred in a torchlit ceremony at night leading from Pohukaina to the Nuʻuanu Valley on October 30, 1865.

[14] Over time, the remains of almost all of Hawaii's monarchs, their consorts, and various princes and princesses would rest at the Royal Mausoleum.

[17] Kamehameha I's remains were hidden in a traditional practice to preserve the mana (power) of the aliʻi at the time of the Hawaiian religion.

[18] On November 9, 1887, after the main mausoleum building became too crowded, the caskets belonging to members of the Kamehameha Dynasty were moved to the newly built Kamehameha Tomb, an underground vault commissioned by Charles Reed Bishop, husband of Bernice Pauahi Bishop.