ORIENTAL SERIES.

MADIRAMA HA-BHARA TA. 183
MADIEA.
of wine.
A name of Yarum, wife of Yanma, and goddess
MADEA. Name of a country and people to the north-west
of Hindustan. Its capital was $akala, and the territory ex-
tended from the Biyas to
as far as the Jhilam.
the Chinab, or, according to others,
MADEL A sister of the king of the Madras, and second
wife of Paft^u, to whom she bore twin-sons, Nalcula and Saha-
deva ;
but the Aswins are alleged to have been their real father.
She became a satl on the funeral pile of her husband.
MAGADHA The country of South Bihar, where the Pali
language was spoken.
MAGHA. A poet, son of Dattaka, and author of tine of the
great artificial poems called, from its subject, $isupala-badha, or,
from its author, Magha-kavya.
MAGHAYAT, MAGHAYAR A name of Indra.
MAHA-BALL A title of the dwarf Bali, whose city is
called Maha-bali-pura, which name is applied to the Tamil
" Mamallai-pura," or Seven Pagodas near Madras. See Bali.
MAHA-BHAEATA. 'The great (war of the) Bharatas.'
The great epic poom of the Hindus, probably the longest in the
world. It is divided into eighteen jjarvas or books, and con-
tains about 220,000 lines. The poem has been subjected to
much modification and has received numerous comparatively
modern additions, but many of its legends and stories are of
Yedic character and of great antiquity. They seem to have long
existed in a scattered state, and to have been brought together
at different times. Upon them have been founded many of the
poems and dramas of later days, and among them is the story
of Eama, upon which the Eamaya^a itself may have been based
According to Hindu authorities, they were finally arranged and
reduced to writing by a Brahman or Brahmans. There is a
good deal of mystery about this, for the poem is attributed to
a divine source. The reputed author was Krishna Dwaipayana,
the Yyasa, or arranger, of the Yedas. He is said to have taiight
the poem to his pupil Yaisampfiyana, who afterwards recited it
at a festival to King Janamcjaya. The leading subject of the
poem is the great war bcttvcen the Kauravas and Panrfavas, who
were descendants, through Bharata, from Puru, the great an-
cestor of one branch of the Lunar race. The object of the