Sharada Mathin the city of Dwaraka
on the Arabian Sea; and the Shringeri
Math in the town of Shringeri in
southern India. These maths are the
headquarters for the four major
groups in the Dashanami sect
Sanyasis, renunciant ascetics who are
devotees (bhakta) of the god Shiva.
Although most maths do not have the
status of these four, they all serve as
ascetic and religious centers.
Mathura
City and sacred site (tirtha) in the
Braj region of the state of Uttar
Pradesh, about ninety miles south of
Delhi. Mathura is known as the town
in which the god Krishnawas born.
The Krishna Janam Bhumi, purport-
edly the site of his birth, can still be
seen today. Krishna was spirited out of
Mathura on that same night because
his wicked uncle Kamsa, who was
king of Mathura, had killed all of
Krishna’s older siblings at birth. When
Krishna came of age he returned to
Mathura, killed Kansa, and claimed
his patrimony. As with sites in the
Braj region, Mathura is full of associa-
tions with Krishna’s earthly life; these
allow his devotees (bhakta) access to
him, in that they can visualize the
places he visited, and thus through
imagination take part in his mythic
deeds themselves.
Mathurakavi
(10th c.) The last of the Alvars, a group of
twelve poet-saints who lived in southern
India between the seventh and tenth
centuries. All the Alvars were devotees
(bhakta) of the god Vishnu, and their
emphasis on passionate devotion
(bhakti) to a personal god, conveyed
through hymns sung in the Tamil lan-
guage, transformed and revitalized
Hindu religious life. According to tradi-
tion, Mathurakavi was the disciple of
Nammalvar, to whom he was led from
northern India by a great light in the
southern sky. By asking a question about
the supreme spirit, Mathurakavi was
able to rouse Nammalvar from a yogic
trance in which the latter had spent
much of his life. From that point
Mathurakavi served Nammalvar as his
guru. Whereas the other Alvars were
quite prolific, Mathurakavi wrote only
ten songs, all in praise of his master. For
further information see Kamil Zvelebil,
Tamil Literature, 1975; John Stirling
Morley Hooper, Hymns of the Alvars,
1929; and A. K. Ramanujan (trans.),
Hymns for the Drowning, 1981.Matrilinear Succession
(Marumakkatayam) Most of Hindu
society is overwhelmingly patrilineal
(organized around the father’s familial
line). However, the Nayarsof the state
of Keralain southern India base soci-
ety on matrilineal succession (the
mother’s familial line). Matrilineal suc-
cession was practiced from very early
times, although it had largely disap-
peared by the middle of the twentieth
century. Under a matrilineal system,
both descent and inheritance are
passed on through the mother’s line,
which is center of the family. The
woman’s husband lives in her family
home, but has no claim upon their
children, and no claim on any of their
marital property. A man has a certain
amount of control over his own fami-
ly’s ancestral property—which he is
often called to manage—but the prop-
erty ultimately is inherited by his sis-
ter’s children, rather than his own. In
many cases the woman’s “official” hus-
band never actually consummates the
marriage, and the woman is free to
form long-term liaisons with other
men, according to her choice.Matsya
(“fish”) In the secret ritually-based reli-
gious practice known as tantra, fish is
the second of the “Five Forbidden
Things” (panchamakara), which, in
“left hand” (vamachara) tantric ritual,
are used in their actual forms, but areMatsya