a Mohammedan sect in India, who take their name from believing their Wali or saint to have been the promised Mehdi or Mahadi. A pretender arose, who claimed to be the twelfth Imam. He was born at Benares, in the year A.D. 1443, and declared himself to be the Mahadi, at the black stone at Mecca, about A.D. 1495. He died at Khorassan, in the year A.D. 1505, after which his followers dispersed, without, however, giving up their belief in the reappearance of their leader as the long-expected Mahadi. They were subjected to a severe persecution by Aurungzebe, but are still found in small communities in various parts of India.