Verata District

Verata is a Tikina in Fiji's Tailevu Province. It is made up of several sub-districts or Tikina makawa, namely: Verata, Namalata, Tai, Vugalei, and Taivugalei.

Verata, Namalata, Tai, and Vugalei have both coastal areas as well as extensive inland undulating and rugged terrain, while Taivugalei is completely landlocked and much further inland of/border Verata and Namalata. Shellfish, Fish, coconut, taro, tapioca and a range of local vegetables and seafoods are the main trading merchandise.

The traditional leader is the Na Gone Turaga Bale O Koya Na Ratu who traditionally is acknowledged as one of the most senior members of Fiji’s tribal hereditary chiefs.

Fijian oral tradition holds that Fiji was settled by the legendary ancestral chief Lutunasobasoba. The first “Na Gone Turaga Bale O Koya Na Ratu” Rokomautu was said to be one of Lutunasobasoba’s sons. Verata shares this distinction with the vanua of Rewa (Burebasaga), Bureta, Batiki, and Kabara whose ancestral chiefs were the children of Lutunasobasoba.

Most of the chiefly households on the Eastern half of Viti Levu as well all of Vanua Levu and Lau including Bau acknowledge either direct descent or some other strong connection to the vanua of Verata.

The sub-districts are in themselves separate Vanua with their own chiefs, but the Vanua of Verata used to cover a much wider area.

In tribal Fiji, the power and therefore size of a vanua depended on the chief’s ability to hold the “qali” or subject people, and to control the “bati” or border people. Bati is usually translated as warrior because they often were, but the literal meaning of “bati” in this sense is border (or edge). “Vanua/Yavusa Qali-tu” or subject peoples/tribes often rendered service only as long as the paramount chief was strong enough to enforce his rule. It is difficult to say with any precision how far Verata influence reached but at its zenith it was the pre-eminent vanua of ancient Fiji.

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Wikipedia