The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

(vip2019) #1

translation was intended to give the
British some idea of classical Hindu
law, but they failed to realize that
this text was composed not as a legal
manual but as a guide to religious
life. Jones died at age forty-eight from
an inflammation of the liver. His transla-
tion was published posthumously.


Joshimath


Town and sacred site (tirtha) in the
Himalayas on the banks of the
Alakananda River, in the Chamoli
district of the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Joshimath is the location of the Jyotir
math, one of the four maths, or
dwelling places for ascetics, supposedly
established by the philosopher
Shankaracharya. The Jyotir math is
home to Dashanami Sanyasis, or twice-
bornrenunciant ascetics. According to
local legend, the Jyotir Math is the place
where Shankaracharya attained the ulti-
mate realization and composed his
commentaries on the Hindu scriptures.
Aside from the Jyotir math, Joshimath is
famous for its connection to a temple
dedicated to Narasimha, the god
Vishnu’s Man-Lion avatar. This temple
was also reportedly established by
Shankaracharya and contains several
stunning sculptural images. Joshimath
is an important transit point on the
road to the temple at Badrinath, and
it is also the winter seat of Badrinath’s
presiding deity, where he (symbolically
represented by a traveling image)
resides and is worshiped during the
winter months, when Badrinath
becomes snowbound and inaccessible.
See also Narasimha avatar.


Juggernaut


Anglicized form of Jagannath, who is
the presiding deityof the temple with
the same name in the eastern Indian city
of Puri. The word “juggernaut,” which in
general English usage refers to anything
that requires blind devotion or horrible
sacrifice, comes from a widespread
myth surrounding the procession of


Jagannath, or Juggernaut, and his two
siblings around Puri during the Rath
Yatraeach summer. The cars that carry
them in the procession are enormous—
Jagannath’s measures forty-five feet high
and thirty feet wide, and travels on six-
teen wheels that are seven feet high—
and are drawn by ropes pulled by
hundreds of people. One of the staple
fictions of British colonial lore described
Jagannath’s frenzied devotees (bhakta)
committing suicideby throwing them-
selves under the car’s wheels, in order to
die in the sight of the god. Despite the
legendary status of such stories, suicides
of this sort were in fact extremely
uncommon: most of those who died
under the wheels of the Juggernaut pro-
cession were pulling the ropes when
they lost their footing, fell into the cars’
path, and were prevented from escaping
by the crushing crowds.

Juna (“Old”) Akhara


Name of one of seven subgroups of the
Nagaclass of the Dashanami Sanyasis,
renunciant ascetics who are devotees
(bhakta) of the god Shiva. The sub-
groups are known as akharasand are
similar to regiments of an army. Until
the beginning of the nineteenth century
the Nagas were primarily mercenary sol-
diers but were also active in merchan-
dise trading; neither of these
characteristics applies in contemporary
times. Members of the Juna Akhara
revere the sage Dattatreya as their “tute-
lary deity,” the primary deity from
which they learn; each of the akharas
have different tutelary deities. Some
accounts say Bhairavawas the patron
deity of the Juna Akhara in earlier times,
which would explain the fact that the
group is also known as the Bhairava
Akhara. The literal meaning of the pre-
sent name and its connection with
Bhairava imply that it is very old. In con-
temporary times it is a large organiza-
tion found only in northern India. In
some places it is given low status for
admitting members from the lower
social classes.

Juna (“Old”) Akhara
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