Rath Yatra 2025: Know origin of word ‘juggernaut’
New Delhi/Puri: India has given many words to the English language. But perhaps none as weighty as ‘juggernaut’.
Derived from Lord Jagannath, the word goes back to the early 19th century to mean any large and overpowering force or object — an allusion to the massive chariot of Lord Jagannath that is pulled by pilgrims every year across a three-kilometre journey in an annual spectacle of devotion in Puri. This year’s yatra, which started on June 27, will culminate on July 5.
Along with juggernaut, Indian languages have embellished English with many other words such as shampoo, mulligatawny soup, cummerbund, Jodhpurs and dacoit.
According to researcher and historian Anil Dhir, the word juggernaut is the collision between two forces, an encounter between two worlds: the English-speaking West and India.
“Rev Claudius Buchanan was the first British official to popularise the word ‘juggernaut’ in both Britain and the United States in the early 1800s. Buchanan was an Anglican chaplain stationed in India and a staunch supporter of Christian missions to India,” Dhir told PTI.
The reverend used the word with a negative connotation.
“He viewed the word ‘juggernaut’ as something dangerous, violent, and a bloody religious cult. This is because in the 1800s many people committed suicide after coming under the wheels of Lord Jagannath’s chariots during the Rath Yatra festival,” he added.
According to Bhaskar Mishra, a researcher in Jagannath culture, the word Jagannath is a combination of two words – ‘jagat’ (universe) and ‘nath’ (master).
Despite its origins in religious texts, the word over the last three centuries has come to be used for an inexorable force that rolls over everything in its path.
The earliest known use of the noun juggernaut is in the mid 1600s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. OED’s earliest evidence for juggernaut is from 1638, in writer W Bruton’s noted work “Newes From The East-Indies”, or “A Voyage To Bengalla”.
Apart from lending itself to a popular south India food chain, juggernaut has been popularised by Marvel Comics too.
Juggernaut, a fictional character in “X-Men” comic books, has superhuman strength and durability.
Then Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik called upon investors at the Make in Odisha conclave December 1, 2022 and said, “Come, join the juggernaut.”
The word Jagannath has also lent itself to another English word, ‘jaconet’.
Jaconet is a lightweight, cotton fabric that originally came from Puri. The word found itself in English vocabulary somewhere around the mid 18th century.
According to the Oxford dictionary, jaconet is a corruption of “Jagannathi or Jagannathpuri in Cuttack, where it was originally manufactured”.
There are several other words too that trace their origins to Hindi.
The word shampoo goes back to the 18th century. It came from the Hindi word ‘champo’, which means to press or massage. Dacoit is a rather simple variation of ‘dakaiti’ in Hindi, which means robbery.
Jodhpurs, named after the city in Rajasthan, allude to trousers meant to be worn for horse riding. Loose around the thighs and ending in a snug cuff, the pants were popularised by prince Pratap Singh of Jodhpur who wore them to polo matches hosted by Queen Victoria in England during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations of 1897.
Similarly, the word khaki, which is a light shade of tan, has come to be associated with a wide range of uniforms worn by many armies around the world to provide camouflage in sandy terrain.
Mulligatawny soup, which must have been quite a tongue twister for its early English adapters, originates from Tamil cuisine. The name comes from the Tamil word ‘milagu’ (black pepper) and ‘thanneer’ (water) – literally meaning pepper water.
The word cummerbund is the Anglicised form of Hindustani kamarband, which originally comes from the Persian.
The word entered the English vocabulary in the early 17th century from India, according to Oxford University Press’ Lexico dictionary. It combines the words ‘kamar’ (waist) and ‘band’ (to close or fasten). In English, cummerbund is a waistband worn as part of a tuxedo or other formal dress for a man.
Language, as they say, is a river: flowing and absorbing everything that it encounters. At the end of the day, it’s all “tickety-boo” (Theek hai, babu).
The Oxford dictionary says it’s perhaps from Hindi “thik hai ‘all right’.”
PTI
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