Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/791

* MAHKATTAS. 703 MAIDEN. caturtha, 'four'), a fourth of the land revenues. Sivaji's son, Sambaji, succeeded him in lOSO, and after vigorously following out his father's policy was taken prisoner by Aurungzebe (q.v.) in 1689, and put to death. The incapacity of the subse- quent rulers gave free rein to the intrigues and am- bitions of their Brahman prime ministers or pesh- tcas. (See Peshwa.) Soon the Peshwa became the hereditary sovereign, Sivaji's descendant being degraded to the position of a titular monarch. In this respect Mahratta history is of special inter- est as presenting a struggle between the priestly and warrior castes, with the victory finally won by the Brahnians. Early in the eighteenth cen- tury five Mahratta States were formed — Baroda, Gwalior, Indore, Xagpur, and the Peshwa's do- minions (the capital of which was Poona). The usual internecine wars followed, and ultimately the East India Companj' was compelled to inter- fere. The invasion of the Empire of Delhi by the Persian Nadir Shah in IT-'jg afforded the Mahrattas an opportunity, of which they eagerly availed themselves, to wrest additional territory from the Mogul Emperor. From this time they discharged the office of arbiters in the quarrels between the Emperor, his Vizier, and his rebel- lious subjects; but the defeat they sustained in January, 1761. at the hands of Ahmed Shah, the ruler of Afghanistan, on the field of Panipat, greatly weakened their power for a time. The wars between the British and the Mahrattas be- gan in 1779 during the administration of Warren Hastings. The Mahratta War of 180.3-05 was marked by the brilliant victories of Wellesley, Lake, and others over the armies of Gwalior, Indore. and Nagpur, and resulted in large ac- quisitions of territory by the British. In 1817 the Peshwa of the Mahrattas took up arms against the British, who were also attacked by the Raja of Xagpur and by the ruler of Indore. The Brit- ish speedily broke the power of the enemy and annexed the Peshwa's dominions to the Presi- dency of Bombay. Indore became a vassal State of the British, who at a later period annexed Nagpur. The Mahratta State of Gwalior, which had risen to great power in the eighteenth cen- tury, came under British control in 1843-44. The three Mahratta States of Indore. Gwalior, and Baroda refrained from participation in the Sepoy Mutiny of 18.';7. The ruler of Indore bears the name of Holkar (q.v.), that of Gwalior is called Sindia (q.v.), and that of Baroda is known as the Gaekwar (q.v.). See Grant-Duff, Eistori/ of the Jlohrattas (Bombay, 1863). MAHRISCH-OSTRAU, ma'rish A'strou. A town in the Crownland of iloravia, Austria, on the Ostrawitza, a tributary of the Oder. 60 miles southwest of Cracow. Its manufactures are varied and include iron, malt, tin. zinc, bricks, parallin. soap, and rosoglio. petroleum, and rum. In the vicinity are the large Rothschild Iron Works of Witkowitz. The coal-mining and the coke industry are also important, and employ more than -2.1.000 men (in the communitv). Pop- ulation, in 1890. 19,243; in 1900, 30,125. MAHWA, m-i'wa. A tropical tree. See BuT- ter-Tki:i:. MAI, mi, Ancelo, Cardinal (1782-18.54). A distinguished antiquary and philologist. He was born in the village of Schilpario. in Lombardy, March 7, 1782. He was educated and lived till 1808 in establishments belonging to the Jesuits, but obtained an apiwintment, first as associate and ultimately as a doctor, in the celebrated Ambrosian Library at Milan. In 1813 he pub- lished a translation and commentary of Isoerates, De Permtttaiione : but his reputation is due much more to his publications of the palimpsests or re- w-ritten manuscripts, the first specimens of which he issued at Milan. (See P.limpsest.) His ear- liest publications in that line were fragments of Cicero's Orations; of the Vidularia, a lost play of Plautus; of Letters of Fronto. Marcus Aurelius's preceptor; the Chronicon of Eusebius, and other less important works, which, however, were entirely eclipsed by his well-known edition and restoration of the De RepuUica of Cicero, published in 1820. Meanwhile, Mai had been in- vited to Rome by Pius VII., and named chief keeper of the Vatican Library. He at once turned his attention to the unedited manuscripts of the Vatican, and after a short examination of this noble collection, undertook, as the mission of his life, the task of publishing those among them which had been overlooked by earlier edi- tors, or had escaped their notice. This task he steadily pursued ; and although he was appointed in 1833 to the onerous ofliee of secretary of the propaganda, and, in 1838, to the cardinalate it- self, his Roman publications form a collection of an extent and importance almost unexampled in modern times. His first series was in ten 4to volumes, entitled Scriptorum Yeterum Nova Col- lectio, eVaticanis Codicibus Edita (Rome. 1825). It consists, like the great collections of Mabillon, Montfaueon, D'Achery, and others, of miscel- laneous unpublished works, partly sacred, partly profane, and indifferently in the Greek and the Latin languages, comprising an entire volume of palimpsest fragments of the Greek historians Polybius, Diodorus, Dion, Dionysius, and others. The succeeding collections, viz. Classici Auctores ex Codicibus Vaticanis (10 vols. 8vo. 1838); Spicilegium Romanum (10 vols. 8vo, 1839-44); and Vora Patrutn Bibliotheea (6 vols. 4to. 1853), are all on the same plan, and all equally replete with new and interesting materials. MAIA (Lat., from Gk. Mara). In Greek myth- ology-, the daughter of Atlas by Pleione, a daugh- ter of Oceanus. She became the mother of Hermes by Zeus. On account of the similarity of name she was identified by the Romans with Maia Majestas, an ancient Italian spring-goddess, who was also called Bona Dea, Ops, and Fauna. In this aspect she was regarded as Vulcan's wife, and a pregnant sow was sacrificed to her on the first of May. This name is also given to the star 20 Pleiadum. MAIDEN, The. A name given to a machine for beheading criminals, which was in use in Scotland from about the middle of the sixteenth century to nearly the end of the seventeenth century. It is said to have been introduced into Scotland by the regent ilorton : but he was not its first victim, as is popularly stated. Fifteen years before he was put to death by it (1581) it was employed to behead Thomas .Scott of Cambusmichael. one of the murderers of Riz- zio. It was first called indifferently 'the maiden' and 'the widow.' A frightful instrument of pun- ishment used in Germany in the Middle .ges was called 'the virgin.' But it had no resemblance to the maiden, which was similar to the French guillotine (q.v.). although it had no turning- plank on which to bind the criminal.