The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1131 page)

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Authors: John Bowker

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Jahannam:
J
hil
y(y)a
(Arab.,
j
hil
, ‘untaught’). The state of ignorance understood to have characterized Arabian society prior to Islam. The
j
hil
is the ignorant person with (because of lack of the truth) an accompanying wildness or uncouthness. In Islam today there are those who see in W. secularism a new j
hil
ya and who anathematize some expressions of Islam itself by this term.
Jahnu
.
A Hindu prince who drank the Ganges (
Ga
g
) when it flooded his sacrificial ground. The
is
and gods propitiated him, and he allowed the water to flow out of his ear, hence to be known in personified form as J
hnav
, daughter of Jahnu. Hence also it is the name of the cave at the source of the Ganges.

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