Two weeks back (5/07/25), we followed the Bauan Rebellion of 1832-1837 where Ratu Seru, who was allowed to return to Bau as a supposedly harmless lad, was able to subjugate and banish the rebels through his astute forging of unlikely alliances with groups that resided both inside and outside of Bau. We also saw how he assumed the more executive and, therefore, more powerful position of Vunivalu while his aging and ailing father receded into a largely ceremonial and advisory role after 1837. Let’s proceed from there.
Bau after 1837
SINCE the late 1830s, “within the war king’s family, the contrast between an active ruler and an abiding title-holder had progressively characterised the relationship between Ratu Cakobau and Ratu Tanoa” (Sahlins, 2004, p.199). This meant that while Ratu Seru wielded the power, Ratu Tanoa was the reigning vunivalu (chief). He held on to this title for more than seven years after his return in 1837 when Ratu Seru conquered the “Rebels of Bau”. This, however, did not curtail Ratu Seru’s ambitions to restore Bauan domination over eastern Fiji. Note that Bau’s perch on the pedestal of power in pre-cession Fiji had slipped while Tanoa was in exile in the 1830s. To this end Ratu Seru embarked on a grand campaign of violent conquest. His entanglements with Rewa, Macuata and Cakaudrove are captured in both written and oral literature. One of the big obstacles in his path was Verata.
Verata falls
Prior to Bau, Verata was the leading kingdom of Fiji, and when in mid-1839 Veratan fisher-warriors attacked a Bauan canoe and killed a chief and his group, Ratu Seru took it as a personal political challenge. He needed Verata to recognise Bau’s hegemony, but this had not been forthcoming. The latest attack appeared like an actual challenge to Ratu Seru’s preferred political order. Bauan forces, tired from the rebellion that had ended just two years prior, were unwilling to obey Ratu Seru’s call to arms. Tradition has it that Ratu Seru confined his warriors in a large men’s house for eight days straight until they agreed to heed his call to arms (Anon, Na Mata 1891, [5] p.10).
Ratu Seru then used his canoes to mount a series of attacks on various Verata towns. These canoes had been gifted by Ratu Kania (Rewa) and Kadavu prior to 1837. The marauding onslaught continued for 13 months until Verata finally surrendered on Ratu Seru’s terms in late November 1840 (Cross Diary, 12 March, 22 November 1840). This is being highlighted here because Verata had sued for peace earlier, but Ratu Seru wanted total capitulation against his father’s wishes. It also became obvious later that Ratu Seru accepted surrender in late November 1840 because he was eyeing his next conquest in Macuata and Cakaudrove.
One year after the surrender of Verata, David Whippy, who was part of the small group of white settlers in Ovalau, wrote to Lieutenant Wilkes saying, “the islands are becoming worse every day, for the tyrant Seru is depopulating them, and will do a great deal of harm if his career is not stopped” (Wilkes, 1845, [3] p.362). At this stage, Ratu Seru was in the prime of his life, aged around 30 and towering above six feet in height. Descriptions of him at the time include: “sometimes playful, usually dignified” (Sahlins, 2004, p.203); “proud” with “high royal feelings” (Eagleston, [UD, 1], p.386); having “consciousness of power, which oozes out at all points” (Lawry, 1850, p.47); and there were more. These were all from people who had encountered Ratu Seru in person. The one that stands out for our purposes was coined by Reverend Calvert after Ratu Seru converted to Christianity in 1854. The missionary wrote, “formerly there was not his equal in Feejee in planning, scheming, managing Feejean affairs. He was very clever at treachery” (Jagger, 15 May 1855 in Sahlins, 2004, p.203).
This deviousness and treachery was well exemplified in 1841 when a group of people including warriors from Namena and Telau were invited to Viwa for a ceremonial feast by Ratu Namosimalua of Viwa. Seeing an opportunity to annihilate his enemies, Ratu Seru, who had been threatening Viwa for days, conspired with Ratu Varani (Namosimalua’s nephew) to be let into the town via prearrangement. At the signal, he barged in and massacred a large number of the visitors from Namena and Telau. The interesting thing was that all the while Bau had been menacing Viwa, but suddenly the two joined forces to annihilate the visitors. This was another instance of Ratu Seru’s adroitness and treachery —na vere va’Bau. The killing of Ratu Raivalita, Ratu Seru’s paternal half-brother and competitor for the title of vunivalu is probably the plot of dark treachery that captures this best.
Ratu Raivalita (Ratu Doviverata)
Around 5th August 1845, Ratu Raivalita, was killed by unnamed assassins on the orders of Ratu Seru who was apparently acting on behalf of his father, Ratu Tanoa. Ratu Raivalita was Ratu Seru’s paternal half-brother and somehow Ratu Seru sensed that he was plotting to remove his rivals so that he could ascend to the throne of vunivalu. Ratu Raivalita was Adi Qereitoga’s son with Ratu Tanoa. The earliest written records on him dated 1835 “when he was a boy of about twelve” already showing his over the top ‘spirits’ (Sahlins, 2004, p.203). Ratu Raivalita lived in Rewa with his mother (sister of the Roko Tui Dreketi, Ratu Kania) who was the “favourite” wife of Tanoa. He thus was a vasu of Rewa and son of Bau with access to all the privileges that go with this position in the Fijian tapestry of relationships.
Ratu Raivalita became a major problem for Bau not only because he was the leader of the “Rewa faction” in Bau when the Bau-Rewa rivalry was rife, but also because of his anger, reactiveness, cruelty and waywardness. In 1840, Lieutenant Wilkes described him as a “fine-looking young man of about 18 years of age”. However, Ratu Raivalita’s pranks and ‘outrages’ on defenceless villagers was bringing a bad name and reputation to Bau. Wilkes saw this as a prime example of the types of atrocities that the Bauans were “in the habit of committing” and that they “should be so much detested” by the rest of Fiji (Wilkes, 1845, [3] p.149). Historian Ratu Deve Toganivalu referred to Ratu Raivalita as ‘a villain of the first order’, ranking him higher than Ratu Seru on that front (Anon, Na Mata, 1891 [7], pp.14-15).
Among Ratu Raivalita’s atrocities was the burning down of a town in Ovalau in absolute outrage after inhabitants, alerted of his imminent arrival, fled with their valuables (Wilkes, 1845, [3] p.149). The same records also highlight the killing of a nephew of the Tui Levuka, a key ally of Bau. This happened when Ratu Raivalita attacked a Levuka fishing boat to rob them of their catch. There is suspicion that this was probably an accident because Ratu Raivalita mutilated the face of the victim so that he could not be recognised. The body was brought to Bau to be eaten, but Tanoa blocked this because he seemed to know what had happened. Instead, he sent a tabua and ‘sacrificed little finger joints of some Bauans in propitiation’ to the Tui Levuka (ibid, p.103).
In another instance, Ratu Raivalita arrived unannounced in Batiki and ordered food. Records show that the food was considered ‘raw’ by the visiting party and Ratu Raivalita announced that killing the offenders would be too good for them and promptly ordered them to eat up the pumice (light stones) on the beach as it would be easier for these lowlifes to eat the stones than it would be for Ratu Raivalita’s men to eat what the Batiki people had cooked (Jackson, 1853, p.456). These are just a few cases of his tyranny, cruelty and lack of concern for any sort of controls, but the bigger issue against him was that it was already known that Ratu Raivalita was plotting to kill both Ratu Seru and Ratu Tanoa.
That plot was as thick as any royal power plot can get — better than Macbeth! I would be doing the story a grave injustice if I were to reduce it to the next two paragraphs and leave out the intriguing details. We will thus, follow this next week.
In the meantime, I hope the Samoans emulate the Flying Fijians against the Scots this afternoon. Note, the boxing program tonight is going to be a cracker. Every bout has been put together very carefully by the matchmakers and Kings Boxing. I hope the fans realise that boxing history is in the making tonight. Vina’a va’levu The Fiji Times for the boxing series this week. Sa moce to’a mada va’lekaleka.
– DR SUBHASH APPANNA is a senior USP academic who has been writing regularly on issues of historical and national significance. The views expressed here are his alone and not necessarily shared by this newspaper or his employers subhash.appana@usp.ac.fj
