MAHRATTAS, ma-rat'az, a native Hindu race, supposed to be descendants of the Per sians, and occupying a large tract of central and western India. They have always been a dis tinct nation or people, and still consider them selves as such, even though now largely under British or Mohammedan jurisdiction. They came into prominence about the middle of the 17th century, when the chief, Sevaji extended his conquests in various directions, had himself crowned king in 1674 and established the Mah ratta Empire. After his death long minorities and the incompetency of the sovereigns caused the powers of the state to fall into the hands of the Peshwa or Prime Minister, who became the acknowledged head of a Mahratta confederacy. The first trouble with the British broke out in 1775 and was not settled until 1782. This happened during the admin tration of Warren Hastings (q.v.). The next outbreak came in 1803-05 and resulted not only in the acquisition of territory by the British but also in strengthening their power. Meanwhile the confederacy had held together till 1795, but internal wars and disturbances re duced the Peshwa to the position of a British dependent, and Scindia, Holkar and the Rajah of Berar were able to take the position of inde pendent sovereigns. The confederacy came to a final end in 1818, after the third collision wherein the Peshwa himself took up arms against the British, and Scindia, Holkar, the Guicowar of Baroda, and the Rajah of Kolapore became dependent princes under British protec tion. The state of Gwalior came under British control in 1844. Though devout worshipers of Brahma, no distinction of caste exists among them. Consult Grant-Duff, 'History of the Mahrattas' (Bombay 1863) ; Kincaid, C. A. and Parasnis, R., 'A History of the Maratha People' (Vol. I, London 1919); Ranade, (Rise of the Maratha Power' (ib. 1900) ; (Imperial Gazetteer of India' (Oxford 1909).
MAI, Angelo, an'ji-16 mfi'e or mi, CARDI NAL, Italian classical scholar: b. Schilpario, near Bergamo, Italy, 7 March 1782; d. Albano. 8 Sept. 1854. His abilities attracted the notice of Father Mozzi, a Jesuit, who instructed him in Latin, Greek and mathematics. On the estab
lishment of a Jesuit college at Colonio, in the duchy of Parma, he accompanied Father Mozzi thither in 1799, and a few years afterward was made professor of Latin and Greek in the Jesuit college at Naples (1804). He was transferred to Milan (1808), where he became an associate of the Ambrosian College. and one of the cur ators of the Ambrosian Library. One special department to which he devoted himself was the examination of the palimpsests ((I:v.) and through his industry in deciphering these, two volumes of fragments of Cicero's orations, of Lysimachus and of Isztis, a fragment of the (Vidularia> (a lost comedy of Plautus), and a collection of the letters and other writings of Cornelius Fronto, the preceptor of Marcus Aurelius, were recovered and given to the world In 1819 he was appointed chief keeper of the Vatican Library at Rome, and discovered be neath a manuscript of Saint Augustine's (Enar rationes in Psalmos) obliterated fragments or Cicero's treatise (De Republica,' amounting \r, about a fourth of the original, which he pub lished in 1822 with a critical commentary. A colossal work was then undertaken by Mai, the editing of the various unpublished manuscripts in the Vatican, sacred and profane. It com prises 10 quarto volumes, under the title of (Scriptortim Veterum Nova Colleotio e Vati canis Codicibus Edita) (1828-38), and consists of numerous fragments, previously believed to he lost, of the ancient historians, such as Poly bins, Diodorus Siculus, Dionysius of Halicar nassus, Dion Cassius, Appian and others, be sides the various writings of the Fathers. In 1838 he was created a cardinal. A new collec tion, (Spicilegium Romanum,> was published in 10 volumes between 1839 and 1844, and a pa tristic series, called 'Nova Patrum Bibliotheca,' issued between 1845 and 1853, closed his list of publications. Consult his life by G. Poletto (Siena 1887) ; also Prina, B., (Biografia del car dinale Angelo Mai' (Bergamo 1882) ; Sandys, E. E., 'A History of Classical Scholarship) (Vols. I, III, Cambridge 1908).