Juggernaut

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A juggernaut ( American pronunciation (help·info)) is a term used to describe a force regarded as unstoppable, that will crush all in its path. It is especially applied to a large machine or collectively to a team or group of people working together. In the United Kingdom, it is most commonly used as an alternative name for a large articulated lorry.

[edit] Etymology

The word is derived from the Sanskrit जगन्नाथ Jagannātha^[1] (meaning "Lord of the universe") which is one of the many names of Krishna from the ancient Vedic scriptures of India. One of the most famous of Indian temples is the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Orissa, which has the Ratha Yatra ("chariot procession"), an annual procession of chariots carrying the murtis (statues) of Jagannâth (Krishna), Subhadra and Balabhadra (Krishna's elder brother). During the British colonial era, certain Englishmen promulgated a falsehood that Hindu devotees of Krishna were lunatic fanatics who threw themselves under the wheels of these chariots in order to attain salvation. Such a description can also be found in the popular 14th-century work The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. This is also described in Melmoth the Wanderer. In rare instances in the festival's past, people were crushed accidentally as the massive 45-foot-tall, multi-ton chariot slipped out of control, with others suffering injury in the resulting stampedes. This sight led the Britons of the time to contrive the word "juggernaut" to refer to examples of unstoppable, crushing forces.^{[citation needed]}

It also has connection to drunks in the Victorian era, as the term was used to describe Hyde in Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.^[2]

[edit] Notes