Puruṣa
mythological figure · 3 works · 5 mentions · 10 anchored passages
also in the atlas: Puruṣa the idea
he of a thousand selves · the Person · the man · the primeval god · the unborn one
in the texts
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
The thousand-limbed cosmic being whose sacrificial dismemberment produces the world and social classes.
from Virāj the Puruṣa arose;
Such are his grandeurs — and greater yet is the Puruṣa;
The Puruṣa alone is all this — what has been and what shall be;
Rigveda
The primordial cosmic being sacrificed by the gods to produce the universe, the Vedas, and the four social orders.
The moon was born from his mind;
from Virāj the Puruṣa was born again.
Three quarters of the Puruṣa rose upward;
Yājñavalkya Smṛti
The cosmic Person of a thousand forms from whose body the four varṇas and the elements of the universe emerge; identified with the supreme Self.
The earth was born from his feet, and heaven from his head;
That same supreme `Puruṣa` is both without beginning and with a beginning;
from his loins the atmosphere, and the universe with all that moves and is still.