According to legend the Pukamani ceremony was first performed and taught to the Tiwi people by Purrukuparli. The story goes that while Purrukuparli stayed at camp, his wife Bima (also referred to as Wayai) went off to meet her lover Japarra, telling Purrukuparli she was going off to search for food. Bima had left her baby son Jinani, whom she had brought with her, under the shade of a tree. She stayed away with Japarra for too long and little Jinani perished in the heat of the sun. When Bima returned she was grief-stricken to find her baby dead. When she arrived back at camp and told Purrukuparli what had happened he was inconsolable. He berated her for her unfaithfulness and for the death of their son. At this point Bima turned into a curlew (a bird) and according to the Tiwi her mournful cry can be heard every night crying out in sadness and shame for the loss of her baby. Japarra arrived on the scene and asked to take the baby away for three days, so that he could bring him back alive. Purrukuparli refused saying "No, now that Jinani has died we will all follow him. We will all die." Purrukuparli and Japarra then began to fight. Purrukuparli wounded Japarra many times to the face causing him to fly up into the sky. Here he turned into the moon – waxing and waning every month as a symbol of man’s lost immortality.
Purrukuparli then began the first burial ceremony. He showed the people how to make burial poles and what dances to perform. After the ceremony Purrukuparli took his dead son in his arms and walked into the sea off the eastern tip of Melville Island.