Jajman
Common form of the Sanskritword
yajamana, “patron of the sacrifice.”
From the time of the earliest Vedic sacri-
fices, there was a sharp distinction
between the people who performed the
sacrifice (basically hired technicians)
and the people who actually paid the
money to sponsor it and were consid-
ered the rite’s true beneficiaries. In con-
temporary times, jajman is the term
used by pandas, the priests at pilgrim-
age places (tirtha), to refer to their pil-
grim clients, with whom they have a
hereditary relationship. This usage
admits the reality that the pilgrims are
their patrons, since the priests’ liveli-
hood comes from serving them, but the
term also carries associations of mutual
obligation. Pandas are entitled to fees
from their pilgrim clients but must also
render services to them, while pilgrims
are bound to uphold this hereditary
relationship but can depend on their
pandas for help.
Jallianwala Bagh
A park (bagh) in the center of the
northern Indian city of Amritsar at
which several thousand people were
killed or wounded in 1919. A crowd had
gathered at this park despite a strict
ban on public meetings established the
day before. The British officer in
charge, General Dyer, interpreted the
gathering as willful defiance of the law
and commanded his men to fire on the
crowd. This incident was highly signifi-
cant in the struggle for Indian indepen-
dence (finally achieved on August 15,
1947), for it undercut British claims
that their presence was necessary to
keep the country from chaos and, in
the minds of many Indian leaders,
removed any moral authority by which
the British could justify their rule.
Jamadagni
In Hindu mythology, a great sage and
father of Parashuram avatar. Like many
sages, Jamadagni is a man of explosive
and incendiary temper. In one of the
most famous episodes, when his wife
Renuka returns home late because
she has spent some time watching a
king and his wife sport in the water,
Jamadagni orders his sonsto kill her. All
of them refuse except Parashuram, who
cuts off his mother’s head. Jamadagni is
pleased with Parashuram and tells him
to choose whatever reward he wants.
Parashuram requests that his mother be
restored to life again, which she is.
Jamadagni is also famous as the
owner of a divine cowthat can pro-
vide all sorts of food on demand. The
local king grows covetous of the cow
and offers to buy it. When Jamadagni
refuses to sell her, the king’s men grow
angry, kill Jamadagni, and take the
cow back to the palace. It is in retalia-
tion for this heinous act that
Parashuram attempts to exterminate
the kingly class (kshatriyas) from the
face of the earth.Jambhavan
In the Ramayana, the earlier of the
two great Indian epics, Jambhavan
is one of the ministers of Sugriva,
king of the monkeys. Jambhavan is
generally described as a bear, although
in some sources he is said to be a mon-
key. In the search for Rama’s
kidnapped wife Sita, it is Jambhavan
who convinces the monkey-god
Hanumanto attempt to jump over the
ocean to Lanka, reminding Hanuman of
his birth, deeds, and the divine boons
he has been given. Although at first
Hanuman doubts his ability, he is con-
vinced by Jambhavan’s encouragement
and, with a mighty spring, leaps over the
sea to Lanka, where he eventually dis-
covers Sita.Jambudvipa
(“rose-apple”) In traditional mythic
geography, the first and innermost of
the seven concentric landmasses
(dvipas) making up the visible world. At
the center of Jambudvipa stands MountJambudvipa