Mahasanghika Xmo-.ha-'sorj-gi-koX Early Buddhist school in India that anticipated the Mahayana tradition. Its emergence in the 4th century bc, about 100 years after the Buddha’s death, represented the first major schism in the Buddhist community. Though accounts of the second Bud¬ dhist council attribute the split to a dispute over rules, later texts empha¬ size differences between the Mahasanghikas and the Theravadins (see Theravada) regarding the nature of the Buddha and sainthood. The Mahasanghikas believed in a plurality of buddhas and held that the Bud¬ dha in his earthly existence was only an apparition.
Mahathir bin Mohamad Xma-'ha-ter-bin-mo-'ha-modV in full Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mohamad (b. Dec. 20,1925, Alor Setar, Kedah, Malay states) Malaysian politician, prime minister (1981-2003). The son of a schoolmaster, Mahathir studied medicine and worked as a government medical officer before entering parliament in 1964, where he became a forceful advocate of policies to ensure economic success for ethnic Malays. Once prime minister, he was reelected repeatedly; under his leadership Malaysia achieved one of the most prosperous economies in Southeast Asia, rising literacy rates, and increased life expectancies. An economic downturn in the late 1990s precipitated a split between Mahathir and his deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, whom Mahathir dismissed in 1998; opposition to this action and other policies was sup¬ pressed. Following the September 1 1 attacks of 2001 in the U.S., he offered his support in the global war against terrorism, but he opposed the U.S.- led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and was noted for his frequent criticisms of the West.
Mahavira \m9- l ha- , ve-ro\ orig. Vardhamana (b. traditionally c. 599, Kshatriyakundagrama, India— d. traditionally 527 bce, Pavapuri)
Indian reformer of the Jain monastic community, last of the 24 Tirthankaras, or saints, who founded Jainism. Born into the warrior caste, he renounced the world at age 30 for a life of extreme asceticism. He had no possessions, not even rags to cover his body or a bowl for alms or food, and after 12 years he attained kevala, the highest stage of percep¬ tion. An advocate of nonviolence and vegetarianism, he revived and reor¬ ganized Jain doctrine and established rules for its monastic order. His fol¬ lowers made five vows of renuncia¬ tion (see Jain vrata).
Mahayana \mo- l ha-'ya-n9\ One of the three major Buddhist tradi¬ tions. It arose in the 1st century ad and is widely followed today in China, Korea, and Japan, and Tibet.
Mahayanists distinguish themselves from the more conservative Thera¬ vada Buddhists of Sri Lanka, Burma,
Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
Whereas the Theravadins view the historical Buddha as a (merely) human teacher of the truth, Mahayanists see him as an earthly manifestation of a celestial Buddha. Mahayanists revere bodhisattvas, key figures in uni¬ versal salvation. Compassion, the chief virtue of the bodhisattva, is val¬
ued as highly as wisdom, the virtue emphasized by the ancient Buddhists. Within Mahayana Buddhism, some branches emphasize esoteric practices (e.g., Shingon, Tibetan Buddhism). See also Kegon, Nichiren Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, Tiantai, Zen.
mahdi Arabic "divinely guided one" In Islamic eschatology, a messianic deliverer who will bring justice to the earth, restore true reli¬ gion, and usher in a short golden age before the end of the world. Though the mahdi is not mentioned in the Qur’an and is questioned by Sunnite theologians, he is important in ShTite doctrine. The doctrine of the mahdi gained currency during the religious and political upheavals of early Islam (7th-8th century) and received new emphasis in periods of crisis (e.g., after most of Spain was reconquered by Christians in 1212, and during Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt). The title has been claimed by Islamic revolutionaries, notably in North Africa (see al-MAHDl; Mahdist movement).
Mahdi, al- orig. Muhammad Ahmad ibn al-Sayyid ( Abd Allah (b. Aug. 12, 1844—d. June 22, 1885, Omdurman, Sudan) Sudanese religious and political leader. The son of a shipbuilder in Nubia, he was brought up near Khartoum. After orthodox religious study, he turned to a mystical interpretation of Islam in the Sufi tradition, joined a religious brotherhood, and in 1870 moved to a hermitage with his dis¬ ciples. In 1881 he proclaimed a divine mission to purify Islam and the governments that defiled it, targeting the Turkish ruler of Egypt and its dependency, Sudan. In 1885, after he defeated Charles George Gordon to capture Khartoum, he established a theocratic state, but he died the same year, probably of typhus. See also mahdi; Mahdist movement; Sufism.
Mahdist Vma-d9st\ movement Religious and political movement founded by the Sudanese prophet al-MAHDi. He adopted the name al-Mahdl (meaning “Divinely Inspired One”) because of his conviction that he had been divinely chosen to lead a holy war (jihad) against Sudan’s Egyptian ruling class, who he believed had deserted the Islamic faith. His uprising began in 1881, and within four years he had conquered almost all the territory formerly occupied by Egypt, his crowning victory being the cap¬ ture of Khartoum from Gen. Charles George Gordon in 1885. Establish¬ ing a new capital at Omdurman, he became head of an armed theocracy. When he died from illness, his disciple ‘Abd Allah succeeded him. Fol¬ lowing initial victories, ‘Abd Allah’s forces were gradually hunted down by Anglo-Egyptian armies under H.H. Kitchener and almost entirely destroyed in the Battle of Omdurman. The movement sustained a small following through the next century, but its political import had been destroyed.
Mahfouz \ma-'fuz\, Naguib (b. Dec. 11, 1911, Cairo, Egypt) Egyp¬ tian writer. He worked in the cultural section of the Egyptian civil ser¬ vice from 1934 to 1971. His major work, the Cairo Trilogy (1956-57)— including the novels Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, and Sukkariyah — represents a penetrating overview of 20th-century Egyptian society. Subsequent works offer critical views of the Egyptian monarchy, colo¬ nialism, and contemporary Egypt. Other well-known novels include Midaq Alley (1947), Children of Gebelawi (1959), and Miramar (1967). He also wrote short-story collections, more than 30 screenplays, and sev¬ eral stage plays. In 1988 he became the first Arabic writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Mahican See Mohican
Mahilyow Russian Mogilyov City (pop., 2001 est.: 361,000), east- central Belarus, on the Dnieper (Dnyapro) River. It was founded in 1267 as a fortress and became a town in 1526 while under Lithuanian rule. Later passing to Poland, it became Russian in the first partition of Poland in 1772. In 1812 a major battle between Napoleon’s troops and Russian forces was fought outside the town. It was severely damaged in World War II; rebuilt after the war, it is now a major industrial city.
Mahler, Gustav (b. July 7, 1860, Kaliste, Bohemia, Austrian Empire—d. May 18, 1911, Vienna, Austria) Austrian-Jewish composer and conductor. He attended the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied piano and composition. He wrote his first significant work, the cantata Das Klagende Lied (1880), as he was eking out an existence by giving lessons. In 1880 he became a conductor, and though his dictatorial man¬ ner was disliked and critics found his interpretations extreme, by 1886 he had achieved success in Prague. He also began the first of his 10 sym¬ phonies (1888-1910), his main compositional legacy. In 1897 he was named director of the Vienna Opera; his stormy reign there was acknowl¬ edged as an artistic success. He moved to the Metropolitan Opera in 1908
Mahavira enthroned, miniature from the Kalpa-sutra, 15th-century western Indian school; in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.