school of learning where tohunga taught esoteric knowledge, rituals, karakia, history and creation narratives. A term used particularly by Ngāi Tahu for the whare wānanga.
Ka tōna riteka o te whare pūrākau, hei whakaako i kā tamariki rakatira kia mātau ki te taki tāhū, ki te karakia mō ruka i kā taumata whakaariki, karakia ruruku manawa mō te tūpāpaku ki te moe, ka hemo.
The purpose of the house of learning was to teach the chiefly children to know how to recite the direct lines of ancestry through the senior lines, to recite incantations to weaken approaching war-parties, and for restoring life to someone who is ill and has fallen unconscious.
