Up until the middle of the present cen-
tury, the Juna Akhara marched with the
Niranjani Akharain the bathing (snana)
processions during the Kumbha Melaand
was thus considered a subsidiary part of
that akhara. For most of this century the
Junas were upset that they held subordi-
nate status despite the fact that they have
far more members than any other akhara.
The Junas began their attempt to gain the
status of a separate procession with the
1903 HaridwarKumbha Mela, but were
not accorded this position until 1962. The
akharas agreed that during a Haridwar
Kumbha Mela, the Junas would lead the
Sanyasiprocessions for the bathing on the
festival of Shivaratri. However, the
Niranjanis would be first for the other two
major bathing days—the new moonin
Chaitraand the Kumbha bath on April 14.
This arrangement broke down at the 1998
Kumbha Mela in Haridwar, when the Junas
demanded that they be allowed to go first
at the Chaitra bath as well, based on their
status as the largest akhara. On the day of
the second bath, this disagreement erupt-
ed into a full-scale riot between ascetic
groups and police in which many people
were hurt. There was great worry that such
violence would recur on the main bathing
day, but the day came off without incident
when the Juna Akhara boycotted the
bathing processions.
Jupiter
In Hindu astrology, a planet associated
with knowledge, power, and good charac-
ter. In Sanskrit, Jupiter’s name is guru,
and its importance in Hindu astrology
reflects the importance of the guru or reli-
gious figure in Hindu religious life. Jupiter
is the most powerful of the benevolent
planets—the others are the sun, moon,
Mercury, and Venus—although for each
person Jupiter’s powers vary according to
its place in the natal horoscope, or align-
ment of the heavenly bodies at the time of
birth, and the influence of friendly or
hostile planets. During the week, Jupiter
presides over Thursdaywhich, because of
the planet’s astrological powers, is consid-
ered an auspicious, or lucky, day.
Jutha
In its most general sense, jutha refers
to any food that has come into contact
with saliva. Such contact is believed to ren-
der that food impure and unfit
for anyone else to eat. Since eatingis tradi-
tionally done with one’s fingers, any food
on one’s plate after one has begun to eat is
considered contaminated by association,
even if it has not yet been taken into one’s
mouth. As with all bodily fluids, saliva is
considered particularly impure, a sub-
stance that “imprints” food with the nature
of the person eating it. Eating food from
the same plate is a sign of extreme close-
ness—most commonly done by husband
and wife, but also by very close friends.
Conversely, eating another’s person’s left-
overs is a sign of extreme status differ-
ence—it is done only by people who are
desperately poor, by disciples as a sign of
devotion to their guruor religious leader,
or by devotees (bhakta) receiving prasad
or sanctified food, the vehicle for grace
from their chosen deity.Jwalamukhi
(“flame mouth”) Presiding deity of the
Jwalamukhi shrine in the state of
Himachal Pradesh, and one of the nine
Shiwalik goddesses. According to the site’s
mythic charter, Jwalamukhi is one of the
Shakti Pithas, a network of sites sacred to
the goddessthat spreads throughout the
Indian subcontinent. Each Shakti Pitha
marks the site where a body part of the dis-
membered goddess Satifell to earth, tak-
ing form there as a different goddess; in the
case of Jwalamukhi the body part was Sati’s
tongue. The human tongue is an extreme-
ly powerful part of the body—connected
with speech, eating, and sex—and thus
Jwalamukhi is considered a very powerful
shrine. The cave containing the shrine has
a small vent of natural gas, which has been
lit for as long as people can remember. This
flame is believed to be a self-manifested
(svayambhu) form of the Goddess, here in
the form of her tongue. For further infor-
mation see David R. Kinsley, Hindu
Goddesses, 1986; and Kathleen Erndl,
Victory To The Mother, 1993. See also pitha.Jupiter