Ma'harai (Hebrew J/a/iam^', "^^Ji^, hasty; Sept. Maxapat and Moopni v. r. Mapat and Mfj/pn), a Ne- tophathite, and one of David's chief -warriors (2 Sam. xxUi, 28 ; 1 Chron. xi, 30) ; being a descendant of Ze- rah, and the tenth captain of a contingent of 24,000 men (1 Chron. xxvii, 13). B.C. 1014.
Maha-Rudra is another name of Siva (q. v.). See Rudra.
Maha-sanghika is the name of one of the two great divisions of the Buddhistic Church which arose about two hundred years after the death of the Buddha Sakyamuni, or about 343. See Sthavika. Out of this school arose, in the course of the next centuries, numerous sects. For the tenets common to all, and for those peculiar to each of these sects, the special student of the Buddhist religion will at present most advan- tageously consult the work of Prof. W. Wassiljew, i>(-r Bucklhis/niis, seine Doqmen, Geschirhte und Literatur (St. Petersburg, 18G0). — Chambers, Cyclop, s. v.
Ma'hath (Heb. Ma'chath, nPI^, prob. for HPHp, grasping ; Sept. MaaS), the name of two Levites.
1. A Kohathite, son of Amasai and father of Elkanah (1 Chron. vi, 35) ; apparently the same elsewhere (1 Chron. vi, 25) called Aiiimoth (q. v.). B.C. cir. 1375. See Samuel.
2. Another Kohathite, one of those who cleansed the Temple in the reformation instituted by Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix, 12), and was appointed by that king one of the subordinate overseers of the sacred revenues (2 xxxi, 13). B.C. 72G.
Maha-vansa is the title of two celebrated works written in Pali, and relating to the early history of Ceylon (q. v.). The older work was probably composed
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by the monks of tlie convent Uttaravihara at Anura- diulpura, tlio capital of Ceylon. Its date is uncertain, but it apparently preceded the reign of Dhatusena (459- 477), as that monarch ordered it to be road in pub- lic, a circumstance which seems to prove the celebrity it already enjoyed in his time. The later work of the same name is an improved edition and continuation of the former. Its author, Mahunuma, was the son of an aunt of the king Dhatusena, and he brings down the history of Ceylon, like his predecessor, to the death of Mahasena. A first volume of the text of the latter work, "in Roman characters, with a translation sub- joined, and an introductory essay on Pali Buddhistic literature," was published by the Hon. George Tumour (Ceylon, 1837). See also Lassen, Indische Alterthums- ivnde, ii, 15 sq. (Bonn, 1852). — Chambers, Cyclop, s. v.
Maha-vira (literally " the great hero"), also called Vim and Vardhamuna, is the twenty-fourth or last Jina, or deified saint, of the Jainas (q. v.), described as of a golden complexion, and having a lion for his sym- bol. His legendary history is given in the Kalpa-Su- ira (q. v.) and the Mahavira-Charitra. According to these, JMahavira's birth occurred at a period infinitely remote ; it was as Nayasdra, the head man of a village, that he first appeared in the country of Yijaya, subject to Satrumardana. He was next born as Marichi, the grandson of the first Jaina saint liishabha; he then came to the world of Brahma, was reborn as a worldly- minded Brahmana, and after several other births — each being separated from the other by an interval passed in one of the Jaina heavens, and each period of life ex- tending to many hundreds of thousands of years^he quitted the state of a deity to obtain immortality as a saint, and was incarnate towards the close of the fourth age (iww past), when seventy-five years and eight and a half months of it remained. After he was thirty years of age he renounced worldly pursuits, and departed, amid the applause of gods and men, to practice auster- ities. , Finally, he became an Arhat or Jina ; and at the age of seventy-two years, the period of his liberation having arrived, " he resigned his breath," and his body was burned by Indra and other deities, who erected a splendid monument on the spot, and then returned to their respective heavens. At what period these events occurred is not stated, but, judging from some of the circumstances narrated, the last Jina expired about five hundred years before the Christian a^ra. Other author- ities make the date of this event about a century and a half earlier.
The works above referred to state, with considerable detail, the conversions worked by Mahavlra. Among the pupils were Indrabhtiti (also called Gautama, and for this reason, but erroneously, considered as the same with the founder of the Buddhist religion), Agnibhiiti, Vayubhiiti — all three sons of Vasubhuti, a Brahmana of the (Jotama tribe, and others. These converts to Jaina principles are mostly ma<le in the same manner: each comes to the saint prepared to overwhelm him with shame, when he salutes them mildly, and, as the Jainas hold, solves their metaphysical or religious doubts. Thus Indrabhfiti doubts whether there be a living prin- ciple or not; Vayubhiiti doubts if life be not body; Mandita has not made up his mind on the subjects of bondage and liberation ; Achalabhratri is sceptical as to tke distinction between vice and virtue, and so on. Ma- bavira removes all their difficidties, and, by teaching them the Jaina truth, converts them to the doctrine of his sect. For a summarj' account of the life of this saint, see H. T. Colebrooke's MincdUineous Essay.f, ii, 213 sq.; H.H.Wilson's Worlds, i, 291 sq. — Chambers, Cyclop, s. V.