JUGGERNAUT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Juggernaut

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/dʒˈəgərnˌɔt/ Listen

noun

Juggernaut, Jaganatha, Jagannatha, Jagannath n. (Hinduism) A particular form of Vishnu, or of Krishna, whose chief idol and worship are at Puri, in Orissa. The idol is considered to contain the bones of Krishna and to possess a soul. The principal festivals are the Snanayatra, when the idol is bathed, and the Rathayatra, when the image is drawn upon a car adorned with obscene paintings. Formerly it was erroneously supposed that devotees allowed themselves to be crushed beneath the wheels of this car. It is now known that any death within the temple of Jagannath is considered to render the place unclean, and any spilling of blood in the presence of the idol is a pollution.

Juggernaut n.

One of the names under which Vishnu, in his incarnation as Krishna, is worshiped by the Hindus. See also Jagannath. (Written also Juggernnath, Jaganath, Jagannath, Jaganatha, Jagannatha, etc) Note: The principal seat of the worship of Juggernaut (Jagannath) is at Pûri in Orissa. At certain times the idol is drawn from the temple by the multitude, on a high car with sixteen wheels. The idol is considered to contain the bones of Krishna and to possess a soul. The principal festivals are the Snanayatra, when the idol is bathed, and the Rathayatra, when the image is drawn upon a car adorned with obscene paintings. Formerly it was erroneously supposed that fanatical devotees threw themselves under the wheels of this car, to be crushed as a sacrifice to the god. It is now known that any death within the temple of Jagannath is considered to render the place unclean, and any spilling of blood in the presence of the idol is a pollution. As a result of this erroneous belief, however, the word juggernaut is now used principally in the figurative sense 2.

Any large, unstoppable force, power, or popular movement which defeats or destroys any person who gets in its way or attempts to stop it; as, for years the Notre Dame football team was an unstoppable juggernaut; after the early primaries, Johnson's campaign became a juggernaut, crushing all rivals.

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Etymology of 'Juggernaut'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Juggernaut" Quotes from Famous Books

... rising together from the slough into which they had been driven by the ruthless Juggernaut of Conquest. The panic of '73 meant little to the people of this fair commonwealth; they had so little then to lose, and they had lost so much. The town of S—-, toward which these weary travelers turned their steps, was stretching ...

— The Rose in the Ring • George Barr McCutcheon

... unveil the suffering and deformity being borne by posterity at the present time, through this slavery, the world would be thrilled with an indescribable horror. Health, comfort, and human life have paid the penalty of a criminal servitude to the modern juggernaut, before whose car millions of our women are bowing in abject servility, knowing full well that at each turn of its wheel new pains or fresh diseases will be inflicted. And what power controls and gives life to this mistress of modern civilization? ...

— The Arena - Volume 4, No. 22, September, 1891 • Various

... of view. The implication they contain is that all deprivation is brought upon us by the Will of God, and that our wisest course is to beat ourselves down before that which we cannot modify. Beneath the car of this Juggernaut we must flout our judgments and crush our affections. As He knows so well where to hit us we must stifle our moans when He does so. As He knows so well what will ring our hearts we must be content to ...

— The Conquest of Fear • Basil King

... prohibit the sacrifice of human life to propitiate the Hindu gods. It has suppressed the thugs, who, as you have read, formerly went about the country killing people in order to acquire holiness; it has prohibited the awful processions of the car of Juggernaut, before which hysterical fanatics used to throw their own bodies, and the bodies of their children, to be crushed under the iron wheels, in the hope of pleasing some monster among their deities. The suppression of infanticide, which is still encouraged by the Brahmins, is now receiving the ...

— Modern India • William Eleroy Curtis

... Rents; Boston Civilization; Psychic Blundering; Beecher's Mediumship; A Scientific Cataract; Obstreperous and Pragmatic Vulgarity; Hygiene; Quinine; Life and Death; Dorothea L. Dix; The Drift of Catholicism; Juggernaut The Principal Methods of Studying the Brain Responses ...

— Buchanan's Journal of Man, January 1888 - Volume 1, Number 12 • Various

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