"Juggernaut" comes from the Hindi word "Jagannath," meaning "lord of the world." Jagannath is a title of the Hindu god Krishna, a form of the god Vishnu. During Krishna's chief festival, his statue is mounted on an enormous wooden chariot and wheeled through the streets. Westerners long believed that the god's followers would throw themselves in front of this chariot in sacrifice, but later investigation showed that most deaths were accidental and resulted from the crowds of people all trying to touch the vehicle. Nevertheless, "juggernaut," the English form of the god's title, came to mean "a massive force or object that crushes everything in its path."