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Maha Sarakham (Thailand)
town, northeastern Thailand. Maha Sarakham is located at a road junction on a bend of the Chi River. Rice is widely grown in the surrounding region, particularly in shallow river valleys, and freshwater fishing is also important. Pop. (1993 est.) 41,812....
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Maha Sila Viravong (Lao scholar)
...well as social commentary that attacked the government as corrupt and that bemoaned a perceived decline in Lao social values. Major writers in Vientiane during this period include three children of Maha Sila Viravong, an important scholar of traditional Lao literature, history, and culture: Pakian Viravong, Duangdeuan Viravong, and Dara Viravong (pseudonyms Pa Nai, Dauk Ket, and Duang Champa,.....
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Maha Thammaracha (Myanmar vassal ruler)
In 1569 the Myanmar king Bayinnaung (reigned 1551–81) conquered Siam and placed Naresuan’s father, Maha Thammaracha, on the throne as his vassal. The capital, Ayutthaya, was pillaged, thousands of Siamese were deported to Myanmar (Burma) as slaves, and Siam then suffered numerous invasions from Cambodia. At the age of 16 Naresuan was also made a vassal of Myanmar and appointed govern...
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Mahā-aṭṭhakathā (Buddhist literature)
...the close of the 4th century ce, an even older work existed in Sri Lanka. This chronicle of the history of the island from its legendary beginning onward probably was part of the Maha-atthakatha, the commentarial literature that formed the basis of the works by Buddhaghosa and others. The accounts it contains are reflected in the Dipavams...
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maha-ksatrapa (Indian political official)
...and widely used by these dynasties. Its Sanskrit form was kshatrapa. The governors of higher status came to be called maha-kshatrapa; they frequently issued inscriptions reflecting whatever era they chose to follow, and they minted their own coins, indicating a more independent status than is generally......
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Mahā-śivarātrī (Hindu festival)
(Sanskrit: “Great Night of Śiva”), the most important sectarian festival of the year for devotees of the Hindu god Śiva. The 14th day of the dark half of each lunar month is specially sacred to Śiva, but when it occurs in the month of Māgha (January-February) and, to a lesser extent, in the month of Phālguna (February-March), it ...
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Maha-Vairocana (Buddha)
(“Great Illuminator”), the supreme Buddha, as regarded by many Mahāyāna Buddhists of East Asia and of Tibet, Nepal, and Java....
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Mahābād (Iran)
city, northwestern Iran. The city lies south of Lake Urmia in a fertile, narrow valley at an elevation of 4,272 feet (1,302 metres). There are a number of unexcavated tells, or mounds, on the plain of Mahābād in this part of the Azerbaijan region. The region was the centre of the Mannaeans, who flourished in the early 1st millennium bc. The city is no...
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Mahabaleshwar (India)
resort town, southwestern Mahārāshtra state, western India. It lies about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Bombay and northwest of the town of Sātāra at an elevation of 4,718 feet (1,438 m), in the Sahyādri Hills of the Western Ghāts. The town commands an excellent view over the coastal Konkan Plain from the steep scarp slope of the hills. Recognized in anci...
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Mahabalipuram (historical town, India)
historic town, northeast Tamil Nādu state, southeastern India. The town lies along the Bay of Bengal 37 miles (60 km) south of Madras. The town’s religious centre was founded by a 7th-century-ad Hindu Pallava king, Narasiṃhavarman, also known as Māmalla, for whom the town was named. Ancient Chinese, Persian, and Roman coins found at Mah...
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Mahabandula (Myanmar general)
Myanmar general who fought against the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26)....
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Mahābat Khān (Mughal leader)
...and her relatives and associates. The queen’s alleged efforts to secure the prince of her choice as successor to the ailing emperor resulted in the rebellion of Prince Khurram in 1622 and later of Mahābat Khan, the queen’s principal ally, who had been deputed to subdue the prince....
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Mahabat Khan Mosque (mosque, Peshāwar, Pakistan)
...of Nowshera; Gor Khatri, once a Buddhist monastery and later a sacred Hindu temple, which stands on an eminence in the east and affords a panoramic view of the entire city; the pure white mosque of Mahabat Khan (1630), a remarkable monument of Mughal architecture; Victoria memorial hall; and Government House. There are many parks, and the Chowk Yadgar and the town hall are other places of......
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Mahābhārat Range (mountains, Nepal)
A complex system of mountain ranges, some 50 miles in width and varying in elevation from 8,000 to 14,000 feet, lie between the Mahābhārat Range and the Great Himalayas. The ridges of the Mahābhārat Range present a steep escarpment toward the south and a relatively gentle slope toward the north. To the north of the Mahābhārat Range, which encloses the vall...
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Mahabharata (Hindu literature)
one of the two Sanskrit great epic poems of ancient India (the other being the Ramayana). The Mahabharata is an important source of information on the development of Hinduism between 400 bce and 200 ce and is regarded by Hindus as both a text about dharma...
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Mahābhāṣya (work by Patañjali)
...“Psychic Power,” “Practice of Yoga,” “Samādhi” (transcendental state induced by trance), and “Kaivalya” (liberation); and the second, the Mahābhāṣya (“Great Commentary”), which is both a defense of the grammarian Pāṇini against his chief critic and detractor Kātyā...
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Mahabodhi Society (religious organization)
an organization that was established to encourage Buddhist studies in India and abroad. The society was founded in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1891 by Anagarika Dharmapala; one of its original goals was the restoration of the Mahabodhi temple at Buddh Gaya (Bihar state, India), the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, which at that time was in the hands of a Hindu landowner....
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Mahabodhi temple (temple, Bodh Gaya, India)
...have representations of the Vedic gods Indra and Surya, and the railing medallions are carved with imaginary beasts. This shrine was replaced in the Kushan period (2nd century ad) by the present Mahabodhi temple (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002), which was itself refurbished in the Pala-Sena period (750–1200), heavily restored by the British archaeologist Si...
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Mahābodhi temple (temple, Pagan, Myanmar)
...It is much revered and famous for its huge golden umbrella finial encrusted with jewels. It was considerably damaged in the earthquake of 1975. Also revered are the late 12th-century pyramidal Mahābodhi, built as a copy of the temple at the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment at Bodh Gayā, in India, and the Ananda Temple just beyond the east gate, founded in 1091 under King....
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Mahādājī Sindhia (Marāṭhā leader)
...(1761). Again, like the Holkars, the Sindhias were based largely in central India, first at Ujjain, and later (from the last quarter of the 18th century) in Gwalior. It was during the long reign of Mahadaji Sindhia, which began after Panipat and continued to 1794, that the family’s fortunes were truly consolidated....
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Mahadammayaza (king of Myanmar)
...and the victory over Arakan was never achieved. Instead, the Myanmar empire gradually disintegrated. The Toungoo dynasty, however, survived for another century and a half, until the death of Mahadammayaza (reigned 1733–52), but never again ruled all of Myanmar....
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Mahādeo Hills (hills, India)
sandstone hills located in the northern part of the Sātpura Range, in southern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. The hills have small plateaus and steep scarps that were formed during the Carboniferous Period (360 to 286 million years ago). The hills have a gentle northern slope but are steep to the south, where they drop abruptly from 3,600 feet (1,100 m) to less than 900 feet (275 m). ...
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Mahādevā temple (building, Ittagi, India)
...Lakkundi temple is also the first to be built of chloritic schist, which is the favoured material of the later period and which lends itself easily to elaborate sculptural ornamentation. With the Mahādevā temple at Ittagi (c. 1112) the transition is complete, the extremely rich and profuse decoration characteristic of this shrine being found in all work that follows. Dating...
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Mahafaly (people)
...of the Lake); the Antakarana (People of the Rocks); the Betanimena (People of the Red Soil), who are now largely absorbed by the Merina; the Bezanozano (Those with Many-Braided Hair); and the Mahafaly (Those Who Make Taboos). These ethnic names do not stand for clear-cut cultural boundaries, for in many cases one group fades imperceptibly into another. Moreover, the conventional......
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Mahafaly Plateau (plateau, Madagascar)
Behind the scarp face are the remains of ancient lakes, including one called Alaotra. To the south the two steep gradients meet and form the Mahafaly and the Androy plateaus, which overhang the sea in precipitous cliffs. Toward the west the descent is made in a series of steps. In places, however, the central plateau is bordered by an impassable escarpment, such as the Cliff of Bongolava in the......
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Mahagonny (opera by and Brecht and Weill)
...own group of associates. With the composer Kurt Weill (q.v.) he wrote the satirical, successful ballad opera Die Dreigroschenoper (1928; The Threepenny Opera) and the opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1930; Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny). He also wrote what he called “Lehr-stücke” (“exemplary......
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Mahaica River (river, Guyana)
...the tributaries of the Essequibo, the Potaro, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni drain the northwest, and the Rupununi drains the southern savanna. The coast is cut by shorter rivers, including the Pomeroon, Mahaica, Mahaicony, and Abary....
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Mahaicony River (river, Guyana)
...tributaries of the Essequibo, the Potaro, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni drain the northwest, and the Rupununi drains the southern savanna. The coast is cut by shorter rivers, including the Pomeroon, Mahaica, Mahaicony, and Abary....
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mahājan (Indian guild)
Among the most durable and effective of the state’s cultural institutions are the trade and craft guilds known as the mahājans. Often coterminous with castes and largely autonomous, the guilds have in the past solved disputes, acted as channels of philanthropy, and encouraged arts and culture....
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Mahajan, Pramod (Indian politician)
Indian politician (b. Oct. 30, 1949, Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India—d. May 3, 2006, Mumbai [Bombay], India), established the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a major force in Indian politics, modernizing the party and overseeing many of its election campaigns. Armed with degrees in physics, journalism, and political science, combined with strong organizational skills, an intere...
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Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (political party, Sri Lanka)
...1952 as the founder of the nationalist Sri Lanka (Blessed Ceylon) Freedom Party, becoming leader of the opposition in the legislature. Four years later he formed the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP; People’s United Front), a political alliance of four nationalist-socialist parties, which swept the election; he became prime minister on April 12, 1956....
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mahājanapada (historical state, India)
A systematic history of India and the area of Uttar Pradesh dates to the end of the 7th century bc, when 16 mahājanapadas (great states) in northern India were contending for supremacy. Of these, 7 fell entirely within the present-day boundaries of Uttar Pradesh. The Buddha preached his first sermon at Sārnāth near Vārānasi and founded a reli...
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Mahajanga (Madagascar)
town and major port, northwestern Madagascar. It lies on the island’s northwest coast, at the mouth of the Betsiboka River, whose estuary widens there into Bombetoka Bay. The town was the capital of the 18th-century kingdom of Boina. The French occupied Mahajanga in 1895 at the beginning of their conquest of Madagascar. The town’s old sector is confined mainly to t...
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Mahākāla (Buddhist deity)
in Tibetan Buddhism, one of the eight fierce protective deities. See dharmapāla....
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Mahākāla (Hindu deity)
...1.1.188). “Time” (kala) is thus another name for Yama, the god of death. The name is associated with Shiva in his destructive aspect as Mahakala and is extended to his consort, the goddess Kali, or Mahakali. The speculations on time reflect the doctrine of the eternal return in the philosophy of transmigration. The universe returns,......
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Mahākāli River (river, Asia)
river rising in the Himalayas and flowing south-southeast along the India–Nepal border to join the Ghāghara River after a course of about 300 miles (480 km). In its upper course, where the stream is known as the Kāli River, it enters the Gangetic Plain at Barmdeo Mandi, widening there above the Sārda Barrage; below this point it is known as the Sārda River. Its m...
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Mahakam River (river, Indonesia)
river rising in the mountains of central Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan) and flowing about 400 miles (650 km) east-southeast to Makassar Strait, in a wide delta. The chief town along its course is Samarinda, capital of Kalimantan Timur (East Borneo) province, about 30 miles (48 km) above the river’s mouth....
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mahākaṭhina (Buddhism)
...tree” are the usual components of the ceremony. The kathina celebration culminates in the making and presentation of the mahakathina (“great robe”), a particularly meritorious gift that requires the cooperation of a number of people who, theoretically at least, must produce it—from......
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mahākāvya (Bengali literature)
Poems of the second genre, the mahākāvya (“great poem,” but not to be confused with the Sanskrit mahākāvya genre), are based mainly on the Sanskrit models of the Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, and Purāṇas. Kṛttibās Ojhā (late 14th century) stands at the beginning of t...
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mahākāvya (Sanskrit literature)
a particular form of the Sanskrit literary style known as kavya. It is a short epic similar to the epyllion and is characterized by elaborate figures of speech....
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mahakavya (Sanskrit literature)
a particular form of the Sanskrit literary style known as kavya. It is a short epic similar to the epyllion and is characterized by elaborate figures of speech....
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Mahal, Taj (American musician)
American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and one of the pioneers of what came to be called world music. He combined blues and other African-American music with Caribbean and West African music and other genres to create a distinctive sound....
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Mahalakh shevile ha-daʿat (work by Kimhi)
European author of an influential Hebrew grammar, Mahalakh shevile ha-daʿat (“Journey on the Paths of Knowledge”)....
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Mahalapye (Botswana)
village, eastern Botswana. It lies midway along the Mafikeng-Bulawayo railway and is 125 miles (200 km) northeast of Gaborone, the national capital. The name Mahalapye refers to an impala. The village is situated on a plateau with good pasturage, and its economy is based on cattle raising and extensive mixed farming of sorghum, corn (maize), and beans. Mahalapye has one of the country’s me...
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Mahalla el-Kubra, Al- (Egypt)
city, in the central Nile River delta of Lower Egypt, eastern Al-Gharbīyah muḥāfaẓah (governorate). It lies just west of the Damietta Branch of the Nile. Because the names of a large number of Egyptian places were compounded with maḥallah (Arabic: “encampment”), exact references to the town by early Arab writers are ...
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Maḥallah al-Kubrā, Al- (Egypt)
city, in the central Nile River delta of Lower Egypt, eastern Al-Gharbīyah muḥāfaẓah (governorate). It lies just west of the Damietta Branch of the Nile. Because the names of a large number of Egyptian places were compounded with maḥallah (Arabic: “encampment”), exact references to the town by early Arab writers are ...
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Maḥallī, Jalāl al-Dīn al- (Egyptian writer)
...of Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (“Commentary of the Two Jalāls”), a word-by-word commentary on the Qurʾān, the first part of which was written by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī. His Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (“Mastery in the Sciences of the Qurʾān...
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maḥalwārī system (India)
one of the three main revenue systems of land tenure in British India, the other two being the zamindar (landlord) and the ryotwari (individual cultivator). The word maḥalwārī is derived from the Hindi maḥal, meaning a house or, by extension, a district....
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Mahāmāyā (Hindu goddess)
demon-destroying form of the Hindu goddess Śakti, particularly popular in eastern India. She is known by various names, such as Mahāmāyā, or Abhayā (Sanskrit: “She Who is Without Fear”), and appears to be a composite of folk beliefs with the higher traditions. Her representation is similar to that of Durgā, another form of Śakti. She i...
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Mahamaya (mother of Gautama Buddha)
the mother of Gautama Buddha; she was the wife of Raja Shuddhodana....
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mahāmudrā (Buddhist doctrine)
(Sanskrit: “the great seal”), in Tantric Buddhism, the final goal, the union of all apparent dualities. Mudrā, in addition to its more usual meaning, has in Tantric Buddhism the esoteric meaning of “female partner,” which in turn symbolizes prajna (“wisdom”). The union of the Tantric initiate with his sexual partner signifies the symbolic un...
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Mahamuni (pagoda, Myanmar)
...on 729 white marble tablets, and the tablets are set up in a square, each tablet protected by a small pagoda. The 730th pagoda is a conventional temple occupying the centre of the square. The Mahamuni, or Arakan, pagoda, south of the city, is often considered Mandalay’s most famous. Its brass Buddha (12 feet [3.7 metres] high), believed to be of great antiquity, is one of numerous spoils...
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Mahan, Alfred Thayer (United States naval officer)
American naval officer and historian who was a highly influential exponent of sea power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
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Mahan, Larry E. (American cowboy)
professional American rodeo wrangler, the first to win five consecutive Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA; later Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, PRCA) all-around cowboy championships, from 1966 through 1970. His record was later surpassed by Tom R. Ferguson....
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Mahānadi River (river, India)
river in central India, rising in the hills of southeastern Madhya Pradesh state. Its upper course runs north as an insignificant stream, draining the eastern Chhattīsgaṛh Plain. After receiving the Seonāth River, below Baloda Bāzār, it turns east and enters Orissa state, its flow augmented by the drainage of hills to the north and south. At Sambalpur the H...
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Mahānāleśvara (temple, Menāl, India)
From Mālava, the bhūmija style spread to the neighbouring regions. To the north in Rājasthān, the Mahānāleśvara temple at Menāl (c. 11th century), the Sun temple at Jhālrapātan (11th century), the Śiva temple at Rāmgarh (12th century), and the Ėṇḍeśvara temple (12th century...
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Mahānanda River (river, India-Bangladesh)
river in northern India and Bangladesh. It rises in the Darjeeling Hills in extreme northern West Bengal state. The river flows south through a rich agricultural area in Bihār state, enters West Bengal state, flows past Ingrāj Bāzār, and then continues southeastward into Bangladesh to join the Ganges River after a 225-mile (360-kilometre) course. The Mahānanda f...
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Maḥane Yehuda (district, Jerusalem)
...into cultural centres. Others include the Bukharan Quarter; Meʾa Sheʿarim, founded by Orthodox Jews from eastern and central Europe, with its scores of small synagogues and yeshivas; and Maḥane Yehuda, with its fruit and vegetable market, inhabited mainly by Jews of North African and Oriental origin. Residential quarters established between World Wars I and II include......
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Mahanidana Sutta (Buddhist work)
...life and religious practices of the period. The Ambattha Sutta (“Discourse of Ambattha”) denounces the principles of caste and the pretensions of Brahmins. The Mahanidana Sutta (“Discourse on the Great Origin”) gives the fullest canonical treatment of the doctrine of dependent origination, or the chain of causation. The famous......
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Mahānubhāva (Brahmanical sect)
With Bengali, Marathi is the oldest of the regional literatures in Indo-Aryan, dating from about ad 1000. In the 13th century, two Brahminical sects arose, the Mahānubhāva and the Varakari Panth, both of which put forth vast quantities of literature. The latter sect was perhaps the more productive, for it became associated with bhakti, when that movement stirred....
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Mahapadma (ruler of Magadha)
...the death of Ajatashatru (c. 459 bce) and a series of ineffectual rulers, Shaishunaga founded a new dynasty (see Shaishunaga dynasty), which lasted for about half a century until ousted by Mahapadma Nanda. The Nandas are universally described as being of low origin, perhaps Sudras. Despite these rapid dynastic changes, Magadha retained its position of strength. The N...
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Mahāpadmapati (ruler of Magadha)
...the death of Ajatashatru (c. 459 bce) and a series of ineffectual rulers, Shaishunaga founded a new dynasty (see Shaishunaga dynasty), which lasted for about half a century until ousted by Mahapadma Nanda. The Nandas are universally described as being of low origin, perhaps Sudras. Despite these rapid dynastic changes, Magadha retained its position of strength. The N...
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Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Buddhist literature)
...origin of Buddhist funeral observances can be traced back to Indian customs. The cremation of the body of the Buddha and the subsequent distribution of his ashes are told in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (“Sutta on the Great Final Deliverance”). Early Chinese travelers such as Faxian described cremations of venerable monks. After cremation the ashes and bones....
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“Mahaparinirvana-sutra” (Buddhist literature)
...origin of Buddhist funeral observances can be traced back to Indian customs. The cremation of the body of the Buddha and the subsequent distribution of his ashes are told in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (“Sutta on the Great Final Deliverance”). Early Chinese travelers such as Faxian described cremations of venerable monks. After cremation the ashes and bones....
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Mahaprabhu, Chaitanya (Bengali mystic)
...1896–1977). This movement is a Western outgrowth of the popular Bengali bhakti (devotional) yoga tradition, or Krishna Consciousness, which began in the 16th century. Bhakti yoga’s founder, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1485–1534?), advocated the pursuit of mystical devotion through repetitive chanting, especially of the Hare Krishna mantra:Hare Krishna, Hare......
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Mahaprajapati (foster mother of the Buddha)
...or a buddha; one astrologer said that there was no doubt, the child would become a buddha. His mother died seven days after his birth, and so he was reared by his mother’s sister, Mahaprajapati. As a young child, the prince was once left unattended during a festival. Later in the day he was discovered seated in meditation under a tree, whose shadow had remained motionless......
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mahāpuruṣa (Indian religion)
in Hindu, Jaina, and Buddhist belief, an individual of extraordinary destiny, distinguished by certain physical traits or marks (lakṣanas). Such men are born to become either universal rulers (cakravartins) or great spiritual leaders (such as buddhas or the Jaina spiritual leaders, the Tirthankaras). In the case of Gautama Buddha, soothsayers were able to re...
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Mahar (Indian caste)
a caste-cluster, or group of many endogamous castes, living chiefly in Mahārāshtra state, India, and in adjoining states. They mostly speak Marāṭhī, the official language of Mahārāshtra. In the early 1980s the Mahar community was believed to constitute about 9 percent of the total population of Mahārāshtra—by far the largest, m...
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maharaja (Hindu title)
(from mahat, “great,” and rājan, “king”), an administrative rank in India; generally speaking, a Hindu prince ranking above a raja. Used historically, maharaja refers specifically to a ruler of one of the principal native states of India. The feminine form is maharani (maharanee)....
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mahārāja (Hindu title)
(from mahat, “great,” and rājan, “king”), an administrative rank in India; generally speaking, a Hindu prince ranking above a raja. Used historically, maharaja refers specifically to a ruler of one of the principal native states of India. The feminine form is maharani (maharanee)....
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Maharaja Sayajirao University (university, Vadodara, India)
(from mahat, “great,” and rājan, “king”), an administrative rank in India; generally speaking, a Hindu prince ranking above a raja. Used historically, maharaja refers specifically to a ruler of one of the principal native states of India. The feminine form is maharani (maharanee).......
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maharajah (Hindu title)
(from mahat, “great,” and rājan, “king”), an administrative rank in India; generally speaking, a Hindu prince ranking above a raja. Used historically, maharaja refers specifically to a ruler of one of the principal native states of India. The feminine form is maharani (maharanee)....
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Maharashtra (state, India)
state of India that occupies a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau in the western peninsular part of the subcontinent. Its shape roughly resembles a triangle, with the 450-mile (725-kilometre) western coastline forming the base and the interior narrowing to a blunt apex some 500 miles to the east. It has an area of 118,809 square miles (307,713 square kilometres). It is bounded by the states...
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Maharashtrian theatre (Indian theatrical style)
...Urdu, toured all over India. Their spectacular showmanship, based on a dramatic structure of five acts with songs, dances, comic scenes, and declamatory acting, was copied by regional theatres. The Maharashtrian theatre, founded in 1843 by Visnudas Bhave, a singer-composer-wood-carver in the court of the Raja of Sāngli, was developed by powerful dramatists such as Khadilkar and Gadkari,....
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Mahārāṣṭrī language (language)
According to Prākrit grammarians, Mahārāṣṭrī (“From the Mahārāshtra Country”) is the Prākrit par excellence. It is the language of kāvyas (epic poems) such as the Rāvaṇavaha (also called Setubandha) from no later than the 6th century ad. Mahārāṣ...
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Maharishi Dayanand (Hindu leader)
Hindu ascetic and social reformer who was the founder (1875) of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement advocating a return to the temporal and spiritual authority of the Vedas, the earliest scriptures of India....
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Maharlika Highway (highway, Philippines)
...Thousands of miles of roads of various types have also been constructed on Mindanao, Mindoro, and Palawan and in the Visayas. A major achievement in road construction in the country is the Pan-Philippine Highway (also called the Maharlika Highway), a system of paved roads, bridges, and ferries that connects the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao....
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mahasammata (Mauryan chieftain)
...of private property and of family and finally to immoral behaviour. In this condition of chaos, the people gathered together and decided to elect one among them (the mahasammata, or “great elect”) in whom they would invest authority to maintain law and order. Thus, the state came into being. Later theories retained the element of a......
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Mahasanghika (Buddhist school)
(from Sanskrit mahāsaṅgha, “great order of monks”), early Buddhist school in India that, in its views of the nature of the Buddha, was a precursor of the Mahāyāna tradition....
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Mahāsaṅghika (Buddhist school)
(from Sanskrit mahāsaṅgha, “great order of monks”), early Buddhist school in India that, in its views of the nature of the Buddha, was a precursor of the Mahāyāna tradition....
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Mahasarakham (Thailand)
town, northeastern Thailand. Maha Sarakham is located at a road junction on a bend of the Chi River. Rice is widely grown in the surrounding region, particularly in shallow river valleys, and freshwater fishing is also important. Pop. (1993 est.) 41,812....
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Mahasarakhan (Thailand)
town, northeastern Thailand. Maha Sarakham is located at a road junction on a bend of the Chi River. Rice is widely grown in the surrounding region, particularly in shallow river valleys, and freshwater fishing is also important. Pop. (1993 est.) 41,812....
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Mahasena (king of Sri Lanka)
...monastery, which eventually included Hinayana, Mahayana, and even Vajrayana monks. Although these cosmopolitan tendencies were resisted by the Mahavihara monks, they were openly supported by King Mahasena (276–303 ce). Under Mahasena’s son, Shri Meghavanna, the “tooth of the Buddha” was taken to the Abhayagiri, where it was subsequently maintained and v...
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mahasiddha (Buddhism)
in the Tantric, or esoteric, traditions of India and Tibet, a person who, by the practice of meditative disciplines, has attained siddha (miraculous powers); a great magician....
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Mahāśrī (Japanese deity)
Painting of the period emulated T’ang prototypes. Noteworthy is an image of the deity Kichijōten (Mahāśrī), housed in Yakushi Temple. This work on hemp depicts in full polychromy a full-cheeked beauty in the high T’ang style, which was characterized by slightly elongated, pleasantly rounded figures rendered with long curvilinear brushstrokes. A horizontal ...
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Mahasthamaprapta (bodhisattva)
...Amitayus (Sanskrit: “Infinite Lifespan”). He is flanked in the Pure Land he created in fulfillment of his vows by Avalokitesvara (Chinese: Guanyin; Japanese: Kannon) on his left and Mahasthamaprapta on his right, who assist Amitabha in bringing the faithful to salvation....
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Mahasthan (ancient city, Bangladesh)
The site of Mahasthan (identified by inscriptions as Pundravardhana), capital of the Pundra dynasty, lies just north of the city; it dates from the time of the Mauryan empire (c. 321–185 bce) and also flourished during the subsequent Gupta (early 4th to late 6th century ce) and Pala (late 8th to mid-12th century) periods. Pop. (2001) 154,807....
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Mahathir bin Mohamad (prime minister of Malaysia)
Malaysian politician, who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, overseeing his country’s transition to an industrialized nation....
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Mahathir bin Mohamad, Datuk Seri (prime minister of Malaysia)
Malaysian politician, who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, overseeing his country’s transition to an industrialized nation....
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Mahathir bin Mohamed (prime minister of Malaysia)
Malaysian politician, who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, overseeing his country’s transition to an industrialized nation....
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Mahathir bin Muhammed (prime minister of Malaysia)
Malaysian politician, who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, overseeing his country’s transition to an industrialized nation....
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Mahatma Gandhi (work by Rolland)
...in which he exposed the cruel effects of political sectarianism. In the 1920s he turned to Asia, especially India, seeking to interpret its mystical philosophy to the West in such works as Mahatma Gandhi (1924). Rolland’s vast correspondence with such figures as Albert Schweitzer, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, and Rabindranath Tagore was published in the Cahiers Romain......
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Mahault de Flandre (queen consort of England)
queen consort of William I the Conqueror, whom she married c. 1053. During William’s absences in England, the duchy of Normandy was under her regency, with the aid of their son, Robert Curthose (see Robert II [Normandy]), except when he was in rebellion against his father. The embroidery of the Bayeux tapestry was once wrongly attributed to her....
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“Mahāvaipulya-Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra” (Buddhist text)
voluminous Mahāyāna Buddhist text that some consider the most sublime revelation of the Gautama Buddha’s teachings. Scholars value the text for its revelations about the evolution of thought from primitive Buddhism to fully developed Mahāyāna....
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Mahavairocana (Buddha)
(“Great Illuminator”), the supreme Buddha, as regarded by many Mahāyāna Buddhists of East Asia and of Tibet, Nepal, and Java....
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Mahāvairocana-sūtra (Buddhist text)
text of late Tantric Buddhism and a principal scripture of the large Japanese Buddhist sect known as Shingon (“True Word”). The text received a Chinese translation, under the title Ta-jih Ching, about ad 725, and its esoteric teachings were propagated a century later in Japan by Kūkai. These teachings, which have been called cosmotheism, centre upon Mah...
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Mahāvaṃsa (historical chronicle)
(Pāli: “Great Chronicle”), historical chronology of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), written in the 5th or 6th century, probably by the Buddhist monk Mahānāma. It deals more with the history of Buddhism and with dynastic succession in Ceylon than with the island’s political or social history and covers the period from about the 6th century bc to t...
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Mahāvastu (Buddhist literature)
(Sanskrit: “Great Story”), important legendary life of the Buddha, produced as a late canonical work by the Mahāsaṅghika school of early Buddhism and presented as a historical introduction to the vinaya, the section of the canon dealing with monastic discipline. Its three sections treat the Buddha’s former lives, the events from his entering the womb of Q...
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Mahavihara (monastery, Sri Lanka)
Buddhist monastery founded in the late 3rd century bce in Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka). The monastery was built by the Sinhalese king Devanampiya Tissa not long after his conversion to Buddhism by the Indian monk Mahendra. Until about the 10th century, it was a great cultural and religious centre and the chief st...
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Mahavihara (Buddhist monastic centres)
Also during the Gupta period, there emerged a new Buddhist institution, the Mahavihara (“Great Monastery”), which often functioned as a university. This institution enjoyed great success during the reign of the Pala kings. The most famous of these Mahaviharas, located at Nalanda, became a major centre for the study of Buddhist texts and the refinement of Buddhist thought,......
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