MAHAVAMSA

mahavamsa, the _great chronicle_, a history of ceylon from the 5th century b.c. to the middle of the 5th century a.d., written in pali verse by mahanama of the dighasanda hermitage, shortly after the close of the period with which it deals. in point of historical value it compares well with early european chronicles. in india proper the decipherment of early indian inscriptions was facilitated to a very great extent by the data found only in the mahavamsa. it was composed on the basis of earlier works written in sinhalese, which are now lost, having been supplanted by the chronicles and commentaries in which their contents were restated in pali in the course of the 5th century. the particular one on which our mahavamsa was mainly based was also called the mahavamsa, and was written in sinhalese prose with pali memorial verse interspersed. the extant pali work gives legends of the buddha and the genealogy of his family; a sketch of the history of india down to asoka; an account of buddhism in india down to the same date; a description of the sending out of missionaries after asoka's council, and especially of the mission of mahinda to ceylon; a sketch of the previous history of ceylon; a long account of the reign of devanam-piya tissa, the king of ceylon who received mahinda, and established buddhism in the island; short accounts of the kings succeeding him down to duttha gamiin (dadagamana or dutegemunu); then a long account, amounting to an epic poem, of the adventures and reign of that prince, a popular hero, born in adversity, who roused the people, and drove the tamil invaders out of the island. finally we have short notices of the subsequent kings down to the author's time. the mahavamsa was the first pali book made known to europe. it was edited in 1837, with english translation and an elaborate introduction, by george turnour, then colonial secretary in ceylon. its vocabulary was an important part of the material utilized in childer's _pali dictionary_. its relation to the sources from which it drew has been carefully discussed by various scholars and in especial detail by geiger. it is agreed that it gives a reasonably fair and correct presentation of the tradition preserved in the lost sinhalese mahavamsa; that, except in the earliest period, its list of kings, with the years of each reign, is complete and trustworthy; and that it gives throughout the view, as to events in ceylon, of a resident in the great minster at anuradhapura. see _the mahavamsa_, ed. by geo. turnour (colombo, 1837); ed. by w. geiger (london, 1908); h. oldenberg, in the introduction to his edition of the _dipavamsa_ (london, 1879); o. franke, in _wiener zeitschrift fur die kunde des morgenlandes_ (1907); w. geiger, _dipavamsa und mahavamsa_ (leipzig, 1905, trans. by ethel m. coomaraswamy, colombo, 1908). (t. w. r. d.) mahayana ("great vehicle"), the name given to the later buddhism, the popular religion which embraced all the people and had its pantheon of buddhas and bodhisatvas, with attendant deities and demons, spacious temples and images, pompous ceremonial and noisy festivals. it was thus contrasted with the hinayana ("little vehicle") of the primitive buddhism which had been only for the select few. (see buddhism.) mahdi (arab. "he who is guided aright"), a title assumed by the third abbasid caliph (see caliphate: _abbasids_, § 3). according to moslem traditionists mahomet declared that one of his descendants, the imam of god, who would fill the earth with equity and justice, would bear the name of al-mahdi. the sunnis hold that this mahdi has not yet appeared. the name of mahdi is also given by the shi'ite mahommedans to the last of the imams of the house of 'ali. it was under the name of al-mahdi that mokhtar proclaimed 'ali's son mahommed as the opponent of the caliph abdalmalik, and, according to shahrastani, the doctrine of the mahdi, the hidden deliverer who is one day to appear and fill the oppressed world with righteousness, first arose in connexion with a belief that this mahommed had not died but lived concealed at mount radwa, near mecca, guarded by a lion and a panther. the hidden imam of the common shi'ites is, however, the twelfth imam, mahommed abu'i-qasim, who disappeared mysteriously in 879. the belief in the appearance of the mahdi readily lent itself to imposture. of the many pretenders to this dignity known in all periods of moslem history the most famous was the first caliph of the fatimite dynasty in north africa, 'obaidallah al-mahdi, who reigned 909-933. after him was named the first capital of the dynasty, the once important city of mahdia (q.v.). another great historical movement, headed by a leader who proclaimed himself the mahdi (mahommed ibn abdallah ibn tumart), was that of the almohades (q.v.). in 1881 mahommed ahmed ibn seyyid abdullah (q.v.), a dongolese, proclaimed himself al-mahdi and founded in the eastern sudan the short-lived empire overthrown by an anglo-egyptian force at the battle of omdurman in 1898. concurrently with the claim of mahommed ahmed to be the mahdi the same title was claimed by, or for, the head of the senussites, a confraternity powerful in many regions of north africa. mahdia (also spelt _mehdia_, _mehedia_, &c.), a town of tunisia, on the coast between the gulfs of hammamet and gabes, 47 m. by rail s.s.e. of susa. pop. about 8000. mahdia is built on a rocky peninsula which projects eastward about a mile beyond the normal coast line, and is not more than a quarter of a mile wide. the extremity of the peninsula is called ras mahdia or cape africa--africa being the name by which mahdia was designated by froissart and other european historians during the middle ages and the renaissance. in the centre of the peninsula and occupying its highest point is a citadel (16th century); another castle farther west is now used as a prison and is in the centre of the native town. the european quarter and the new port are on the south-west side of the peninsula. the port is available for small boats only; steamers anchor in the roadstead about a quarter of a mile from the shore. on the south-east, cut out of the rock, is the ancient harbour, or _cothon_, measuring about 480 ft by 240 ft., the entrance being 42 ft. wide. there are manufactories of olive oil, but the chief industry is sardine fishing, largely in the hands of italians. mahdia occupies the site of a phoenician settlement and by some authorities is identified with the town called turris hannibalis by the romans. hannibal is said to have embarked here on his exile from carthage. after the arab conquest of north africa the town fell into decay. it was refounded in 912 by the first fatimite caliph, 'obaidallah-al-mahdi, after whom it was named. it became the port of kairawan and was for centuries a city of considerable importance, largely owing to its great natural strength, and its position on the mediterranean. it carried on an active trade with egypt, syria and spain. the town was occupied by the normans of sicily in the 12th century, but after holding it for about twelve years they were driven out in 1159 by the almohades. in 1390 a joint english and french force vainly besieged mahdia for sixty-one days. in the early part of the 16th century the corsair dragut seized the town and made it his capital, but in 1550 the place was captured by the spaniards, who held it until 1574. before evacuating the town the spaniards dismantled the fortifications. under the rule of the turks and, later, the beys of tunis mahdia became a place of little importance. it was occupied by the french in 1881 without opposition, and regained some of its former commercial importance. during 1908 numbers of bronzes and other works of art were recovered from a vessel wrecked off mahdia in the 5th century a.d. (see _classical review_, june 1909). mahe, a french settlement in the malabar district of madras, india, situated in 11° 43 n. and 75° 33 e., at the mouth of a river of the same name. area, 26 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 10,298. it is the only french possession on the west coast of india, and is in charge of a _chef de service_, subordinate to the governor-general at pondicherry. it is now a decaying place.