MAHDI. 700 mailis may be mentioned, who expect the return of a Mahdi, Mohammed ibn Ismail of the family of All. The Karmathians also took their origin from this idea. (See Mohammkuax Sects.) Even orthodo.x Islam lias been alVceled, and had its Mahdi in the person of Ibn Tumart (1121), the founder of the Alniohade BerU'r power. Tlie modem ilahdi is a product of one of the many religious orders (the Sammaniyyah) which, as a protest against the encroaihuient of the Christian civilization, honeycomb tlie Moslem world, and are especially numerous in Xorthern Africa. Born in 1844 or 1848 in the Province of Dongola, he took the name Jlohammcd Ahmed, asserting that his father was descended from Hosein and liis mother from Abbas, lie studied at Kereri. four miles north of Omduiinan, at Khartum and in Berber. In 1870 he allied him- self with the Sammani order, passing part of his time with his uncle, a shipbuilder on the island of Aba in the White Xile, where he lived an ascetic life. He then entered a minor order at Musallemia on the Blue Nile. In these circles the year 1882 (a.h. 1300) was supposed to be the Mahdi year, ilohammed soon Ijecame famous in the country between the White and the Blue Niles. He was joined in Kordofan by a Bak- kara Bedouin named Abd Allah, who afterwards became his Caliph. He was proclaimed Mahdi in El-Obeid in 1880, but returned to Aba to con- tinue his ascetic life. In May, 1881. he came forward openly and sent circulars to the chiefs of Islam preaching the Jihad, or Holy War. the conversion of all unbelievers, a return to the sim- ple faith of the Prophet. sim|)li<ity in dress and manners, and a sort of social comnnuiism and asceticism. Afraid of the Egyptian Governnient. he collected a band of Dijera and Kinaru Be- douins and proclaimed the .Jihad. In .Tuly. 1881, a small expedition sent against him was de- stroyed on the island. Imitating the Prophet, he left Aba. his Jlecca, and came to JIasa in South- ern Kordofan. which he ])roclaimed his Medina. For his subseciuent movements, see SrD.!s". He died of smallpox. Consult: Darmesteter, The Mahdi (New York. 1885) : G. Hoffmann, ilahdi- ihum (Kiel. ISnit) ; Snouck Hurgronje. in Revue Coloniale Inlerimtionale (188G): Enist Miiller, Beitriiqe xrnr Mahdihhre drs Islums (Heidelberg, i!ion. MAHE, ma'ha'. The principal island of the Seychelles (q.v. ). MAHE. A French tow n and colony in India, at the mouth of the MahC' River on the west coast, five miles south of Tellicherri. It is of little commercial importance (^lap: India. C 6). It was settled in 1722 and was taken by the English in 1761 and again in 1779; it was finally restored to France in 181.5. Area, 2 square miles: population, in 1890, 9078. MAHICAN, m:i-he'kan (American Indian, Wolf). An important Algonquian tribe or con- federacy formerly occupying most of the Hudson River Valley and extending eastward into Massa- chusetts. They were closely connected with the Delaware and Munsee on the south and with the Mohegan and Wappinger on the east, all of these being known collectively to the French as Loup. or Wolf Indians. When first known their council fire was at Schodac. on an island near Albany, and their territory contained some forty villages. In consequence of the inroads of the Iroquois MAHLER. they removed their capital in 1664 to Westen- huck, the modern Stockbridge, Mass. By succes- sive sales and removals, as the white settlements pressed upon them, they lost their territory and tribal identity, most of them becoming merged with the Delaware. In 1736 those remaining in western Massachusetts were gathered into a mis- sion at Stockbridge, and became known as the Stockbridge Indians. They are the only ilahican who have preserved their identity. A few others remained about their ancient homes on the Hudson for some years after the Revolution, but finally disappeared unnoticed. Those uf Stockbi'idge removed later to the Iroquois coun- try in New York, and are now settled, together with a part of the Munsee, upon a reservation near Green Bay, Wis., the combined tribes num- bering about 5.50, all completely civilized. MAHI KANTHA, mii'he kan'tha. The col- lective name given to thirty-nine native States of Gujarat. India, grouped under a political agency attached to Bombay. Their combined area is 9300 square miles, of which the chief State, Idar, occupies nearly one-half. The region, in- habited chiefly by aboriginal Bliils and Koils, is sparsely productive, and sulTer<'d severely during the famine of 1899-1900. A railway opened in 1897 extends from Ahmcdabad to .hmednagar. Population, in 1891, 581.568; in 1901, 361,508. MAHIM, ma-hem'. A town and railway sta- tion of the island of Bombay, seven miles north of the city of Bombay, situated on the south side of the channel sejiarating the island from Sal- sette at the point where they are connected by :i causeway (Map: India, B 5). The passage is commanded by a fort. The town is inhabited chiefly by Christians of Portuguese descent, who have a church and other relics of former pros- perity. The only orphanage in the province, a Scotch institution founded in 1859, is located here. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in fishing, the place being famous for its oysters Population, 9000. MAHIWDA, ma-hen'da. The apostle who in- troduced Buddhism into Ceylon in the third cen- tury B.C. He is said to have been a son of Asoka (q.v.), and his birthplace was the town of Vedisa-Magara (now Besnagar) in the Prov- ince of Ujjain. Western India, of which his father was viceroy at the time. He was thirty- two years of age when he set out on his mission to Ceylon, accompanied by other Buddhist mis- sionaries; and it was his sister who is said to have brought the branch of the sacred Bo-tree (q.v.) to Ceylon. His death occurred at a place not far from Anuradhapura, at the age of sixty, B.C. 193. MAHLER, ma'ler. Gu.stav (I860-). An Aistrian musical conductor and composer, born at Kalischt. Bohemia. He studied at the Iglau Gymnasium, and in 1877 went to Vienna, where he became a student at the university and at the conservatory. After graduation he acted as conductor of various theatres at Cassel (1883- 85) ; at Prague, as Anton Seidl's successor (1885-86); at Leipzig (1886-88): at the Royal Opera, Budapest (1881-91); at Hamburg (1891-97) : and in the latter year became direct- or of the Court opera at Vienna. His composi- tions are not remarkable, though his many songs have been well received. Of bis larger works a symphony in C minor is the best.
