Maya \Ma"ya\ (m[aum]"y[aum]), n.
   1. (Hindu Philos.) The name (in Vedantic philosphy) for the
      doctrine of the unreality of matter, called, in English,
      idealism; hence, nothingness; vanity; illusion.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Hindu Philos.) the Hindu goddess personifying the power
      that creates phenomena. --[RHUD]
      [PJC]

   3. (Hindu Philos.) the power to produce illusions. --[RHUD]
      [PJC]

	

	Maya \Ma"ya\ (m[aum]"y[.a]), prop. n.; pl. Maya or Mayas.
   1. the Indian people occupying the area of Veracruz, Chiapas,
      Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of
      Guatemala and a part of Salvador. The Maya peoples are
      dark, short, and brachycephalic, and at the time of the
      discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any
      other American people. They cultivated a variety of crops,
      were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton
      fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were
      workers of gold, silver, and copper. Their architecture
      comprised elaborately carved temples and palaces, and they
      possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of
      hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to
      about 700 a. d.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]

   2. the language of the Mayas.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]

	

	Maya
     n 1: a member of an American Indian people of Yucatan and Belize
          and Guatemala who had a culture (which reached its peak
          between AD 300 and 900) characterized by outstanding
          architecture and pottery and astronomy; "Mayans had a
          system of writing and an accurate calendar" [syn: Mayan]
     2: an ethnic minority speaking Mayan languages and living in
        Yucatan and adjacent areas
     3: a family of American Indian languages spoken by Mayan
        peoples [syn: Mayan, Mayan language]