NgaêÂÂara (reigned from the death of his father, Kai MakoêÂÂi ca. 1835 to his own death just before 1860) was the last great êÂÂariki, or paramount chief, of Easter Island, and the last master of rongorongo, the Easter Island script.
Before becoming king, NgaêÂÂara ran a hare rongorongo (rongorongo school) at êÂÂAnakena Bay. Generally fathers would teach their sons and any other boys who were interested, and NgaêÂÂara was the most famous teacher on the island. Boys would study three to five months to learn rongorongo.
At the time he became êÂÂariki, the real power on the island lay in the Birdman priests of êÂÂOrongo. One of the sacred responsibilities of the tuhunga tà(scribes and reciters of rongorongo) seems to have been the recitation or chanting of rongorongo tablets at êÂÂOrongo during the annual Birdman ceremonies. That quarter of the village was off limits to everyone else during the ceremonies. NgaêÂÂara sent students, but did not himself attend.
Rongorongo was considered to contain mana (sacred power). For example, chanting a timo (vengeance) tablet could release supernatural powers to kill a murderer. A woman would carry a pure (fertility) tablet while the scribes chanted it to increase her fertility. Tablets were used to increase crops or a catch of fish. Katherine Routledge was told that one of NgaêÂÂara's tablets, called Kouhau êÂÂo te Ranga and thought to be Rongorongo text C, was one of a kind and had the power to "give conquest in war" and enslave the conquered.
In order to take control of the island from the Birdman priests of êÂÂOrongo, NgaêÂÂara established an annual rongorongo festival at êÂÂAnakena. Rather than using the tablets for specific ends, it was a festival for the tablets themselves, and it became the most important assembly in pre-missionary times:
Hundreds attended these festivals. Heuheu staves were brought by all and stuck in the ground where the attendee stood. The tablets were recited from dawn to dusk, with a break for dinner. NgaêÂÂara presented the reciters with veri tapa cloths. Since the mana of the tablets went through him at this festival, NgaêÂÂara was able to assert spiritual primacy over the island.
When NgaêÂÂara died, his son Kai MakoêÂÂi êÂÂIti (Kai MakoêÂÂi Jr) took over the festival at êÂÂAnakena for three years, until he was captured in the great Peruvian slaving raid of 1862. Although the slaves were freed the next year, Kai MakoêÂÂi did not survive to return.