A Juggernaut , in current English usage, is a literal or metaphorical force regarded as mercilessly destructive and unstoppable. Its ground in social behavior is similar to that of bandwagon, but with overtones of devotional sacrifice. The first European description of this festival is found in the 14th-century...
A Juggernaut , in current English usage, is a literal or metaphorical force regarded as mercilessly destructive and unstoppable. Its ground in social behavior is similar to that of bandwagon, but with overtones of devotional sacrifice. The first European description of this festival is found in the 14th-century The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, which apocryphally describes Hindus, as a religious sacrifice, casting themselves under the wheels of these huge chariots and being crushed to death. The term is used in Charles Dickens' The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit published in 1844, to describe the love-lorn sentiments of Mr. Wells and Longfellow to Joe Klein.Bill Wilson in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous describes "self-sufficiency" in society at large as being a "bone-crushing Juggernaut whose final achievement is ruin." To the contrary, Mark Twain , describes Juggernaut as the kindest of gods. Many speakers and writers apply the term to a large machine, or collectively to a team or group of people working together , or even a growing political movement led by a charismatic leader—and it often bears an association with being crushingly destructive, with one early use of the word construing it as a synonym for Moloch..