johar

English

Alternative forms

• jauhar
• juhar

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒəʊhɑː/

Noun

johar (uncountable)

1. (historical) The Rajput practice whereby women are sacrificed in a fire to avoid their being captured by an enemy.
   • 1993, Leigh Minturn, Sita's Daughters, page 230:

     Probably the most famous immolation of women was the johar, or mass suicide, at Fort Chittor in the thirteenth century, when the Rajput women in the fort were burned to avoid being captured by a licentious Mogul invader.

   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 10:

     No flames here, though; the last ones were quenched over two hundred years ago when Rani Padmini and her women jumped into the johar fires the day Alauddin Khilji captured Chittor.

   • 2003, Paul K Davis, Besieged, page 112:

     Soon, light from three large fires illuminated the darkness. This was johar: the Rajputs were collectively burning their families rather than have them captured and tortured.

Anagrams

• Harjo

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay johar.

Noun

johar

1. Senna siamea; Siamese cassia.

Karaim

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *jok-karɨ.

Noun

johar

1. top, upper part

References

• N. A. Baskakov, S.M. Šapšala, editor (1973), “johar”, in Karaimsko-Russko-Polʹskij Slovarʹ, Moscow: Moskva, →ISBN