Banju Ening. The coasts are clothed with tropical vegetation; but the soil is better fitted for pastoral than agricultural purposes. Fishing and cattle-rearing are the chief means of subsistence. Besides rice and maize, Madura yields coco-nut oil and jati. The manufacture of salt for the government, abolished in other places, continues in Madura. Hence perhaps the name is derived (Sansk. mandura, salt). Petroleum is found in small quantities.
The principal town is Sumenep; and there are populous Malay, Arab and Chinese villages between the town and the European settlement of Maringan. On a hill in the neighbourhood lies Asta, the burial-place of the Sumenep princes. Pamekasan is the seat of government. Bangkalang is a large town with the old palace of the sultan of Madura and the residences of the princes of the blood; the mosque is adorned with the first three suras of the Koran, thus differing from nearly all the mosques in Java and Madura, though resembling those of western Islam. In the vicinity once stood the Erfprins fort. Arisbaya (less correctly Arosbaya) is the place where the first mosque was built in Madura, and where the Dutch sailors first made acquaintance with the natives. The once excellent harbour is now silted up. Sampang is the seat of an important market. The Kangean and Sapudi islands, belonging to Madura, yield timber, trepang, turtle, pisang and other products.
Madura formerly consisted of three native states—Madura or Bangkalang, Pamekasan and Sumenep. The whole island was considered part of the Java residency of Surabaya. The separate residency of Madura was constituted in 1857; it now consists of four “departments”—Pamekasan, Madura, Sumenep and Sampang.
See P. J. Veth, Java, vol. iii.; Kielstra, “Het Eiland Madoera,” in De Gids (1890); H. van Lennep, “De Madoereezen,” in De Indische Gids (1895), with detailed bibliography.
MADURA, a city and district of British India, in the Madras
Presidency. The city is situated on the right bank of the river
Vaigai, and has a station on the South Indian railway 345 m.
S.E. of Madras. Pop. (1901), 105,984. The city was the capital
of the old Pandyan dynasty, which ruled over this part of India
from the 5th century B.C. to the end of the 11th century A.D.
Its great temple forms a parallelogram about 847 ft. by 729 ft.,
and is surrounded by nine gopuras, of which the largest is
152 ft. high. These ornamental pyramids begin with doorposts
of single stones 60 ft. in height, and rise course upon
course, carved with rows of gods and goddesses, peacocks, bulls,
elephants, horses, lions, and a bewildering entanglement of symbolical
ornament all coloured and gilded, diminishing with distance
until the stone trisul at the top looks like the finest
jeweller’s work. The temple, which contains some of the finest
carving in southern India, is said to have been built in the reign
of Viswanath, first ruler of the Nayak dynasty. Its chief feature
is the sculptured “Hall of a Thousand Pillars.” The palace of
Tirumala Nayak is the most perfect relic of secular architecture
in Madras. This palace, which covers a large area of ground,
has been restored, and is utilized for public offices. The Vasanta,
a hall 333 ft. long, probably dedicated to the god Sundareswara,
and the Tamakam, a pleasure-palace, now the residence of the
collector, are the other principal buildings of this period.
The last of the old Pandyan kings is said to have exterminated the Jains and conquered the neighbouring kingdom of Chola; but he was in his turn overthrown by an invader from the north, conjectured to have been a Mahommedan. In 1324 a Moslem army under Malik Kafur occupied Madura, and the Hindus were held in subjection for a period of fifty years. Subsequently Madura became a province of the Hindu Empire of Vijayanagar. In the middle of the 16th century the governor Viswanath established the Nayak dynasty, which lasted for a century. The greatest of the line was Tirumala Nayak (reigned 1623–1659), whose military exploits are recorded in the contemporary letters of the Jesuit missionaries. He adorned Madura with many public buildings, and extended his empire over the adjoining districts of Tinnevelly, Travancore, Coimbatore, Salem and Trichinopoly. His repudiation of the nominal allegiance paid to the raja of Vijayanagar brought him into collision with the sultan of Bijapur, and after a lapse of three centuries Mahommedans again invaded Madura and compelled him to pay them tribute. After the death of Tirumala the kingdom of Madura gradually fell to pieces, being invaded by both Mahommedans and Mahrattas. About 1736 the district fell into the hands of the nawab of the Carnatic, and the line of the Nayaks was extinguished. About 1764 British officers took charge of Madura in trust for Mahommed Ali (Wallah Jah), the last independent nawab of the Carnatic, whose son finally ceded his rights of sovereignty to the East India Company in 1801.
The District of Madura has an area of 8701 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 2,831,280, an increase of 8.5% in the decade. It consists of a section of the plain stretching from the mountains east to the sea, coinciding with the basin of the Vaigai river, and gradually sloping to the S.E. The plain is broken by the outlying spurs of the Ghats, and by a few isolated hills and masses of rock scattered over the country. The most important spur of the Ghats is known as the Palni hills, which project E.N.E. across the district for a distance of about 54 m. Their highest peaks are more than 8000 ft. above sea-level, and they enclose a plateau of about 100 sq. m., with an average height of 7000 ft. On this plateau is situated the sanatorium of Kodaikanal, and coffee-planting is successfully carried on. The other principal crops of the district are millets, rice, other food-grains, oil-seeds and cotton. Tobacco is grown chiefly in the neighbourhood of Dindigul, whence it is exported to Trichinopoly, to be made into cigars. There are several cigar factories and a number of saltpetre refineries. The only other large industry is that of coffee-cleaning. Madura is traversed by the main line of the South Indian railway. It has four small seaports, whose trade is chiefly carried on with Ceylon. The most important irrigation work, known as the Periyar project, consists of a tunnel through the Travancore hills, to convey the rainfall across the watershed.
See Madura District Gazetteer (Madras, 1906).
MADVIG, JOHAN NICOLAI (1804–1886), Danish philologist,
was born on the island of Bornholm, on the 7th of August 1804.
He was educated at the classical school of Frederiksborg and the
university of Copenhagen. In 1828 he became reader, and in
1829 professor, of Latin language and literature at Copenhagen,
and in 1832 was appointed university librarian. In 1848
Madvig entered parliament as a member of what was called the
“Eider-Danish” party, because they desired the Eider to be the
boundary of the country. When this party came into power
Madvig became minister of education. In 1852 be became director
of public instruction. Some years later, from 1856 to 1863,
Madvig was president of the Danish parliament and leader of
the National Liberal party. With these brief interruptions the
greater part of his life was devoted to the study and teaching
of Latin and the improvement of the classical schools, of which
he was chief inspector. As a critic he was distinguished for learning
and acumen. He devoted much attention to Cicero, and
revolutionized the study of his philosophical writings by an
edition of De Finibus (1839; 3rd ed., 1876). Perhaps his most
widely known works are those on Latin grammar and Greek
syntax, especially his Latin grammar for schools (Eng. trans.
by G. Woods). In 1874 his sight began to fail, and he was
forced to give up much of his work. He still, however, continued
to lecture, and in 1879 he was chosen rector for
the sixth time. In 1880 he resigned his professorship, but
went on with his work on the Roman constitution, which was
completed and published before his death. In this book Madvig
takes a strongly conservative standpoint and attacks Mommsen’s views on Caesar’s programme of reforms. It is a clear exposition, though rather too dogmatic and without sufficient regard for the views of other scholars. His last work was his autobiography, Livserindringer (published 1887). Madvig died at Copenhagen on the 12th of December 1886.
See J. E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship (1908), iii., 319-324.
MAECENAS, GAIUS (Cilnius), Roman patron of letters, was probably born between 74 and 64 B.C., perhaps at Arretium. Expressions in Propertius (ii. 1, 25–30) seem to imply that he
