Purusa, usually written Purusha, is a Sanskrit term meaning "person" or "man" that became one of the central ideas of Indian religion and philosophy. In the Rigveda's Purusha Sukta it names the cosmic being whose sacrifice creates the universe and the four social classes. In Samkhya and Yoga it denotes pure, passive consciousness, distinct from matter, and in Vedanta it is identified with the supreme Self.
Purusa at a glance
| Sanskrit | Purusa (purusha), "person, man" |
|---|---|
| Tradition | Vedic religion, Hinduism, Indian philosophy |
| Key text | Purusha Sukta, Rigveda 10.90 (16 verses) |
| Philosophical pair | Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (matter) in Samkhya |
| Classical Samkhya text | Samkhyakarika of Ishvarakrishna (c. 200-450 CE) |
| Related terms | Atman, Brahman, Purushottama, Purusharthas |
Meaning of the word
In everyday Sanskrit purusa simply means a man or a human being. Over the course of Indian religious history the word acquired much larger meanings: a primordial cosmic person, the inner self dwelling in the body, and pure consciousness as opposed to matter. These meanings are related but not identical, and they belong to different stages and schools of thought within Hinduism. The same root also appears in purushartha, the "aims of a person" (dharma, artha, kama and moksha).
The Purusha Sukta (Rigveda 10.90)
The earliest famous use is the Purusha Sukta, hymn 90 of the tenth and latest book of the Rigveda. It describes a Purusha with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet, who pervades the earth and extends beyond it. All existing beings are said to be only one quarter of him, while three quarters are immortal in heaven, an image of a deity both immanent in and transcending the world.
The hymn then tells how the gods performed a sacrifice with Purusha himself as the offering. From this primal sacrifice came the hymns and meters of the Veda, horses, cattle and other animals, and the parts of the cosmos: the moon was born from his mind, the sun from his eye, Indra and Agni from his mouth, the wind from his breath, the sky from his head and the earth from his feet. In a much-discussed verse, the Brahmin is said to have been his mouth, the Rajanya (warrior) his arms, the Vaishya his thighs, and the Shudra was born from his feet.
This is the only Rigvedic hymn to name all four varnas. Most scholars regard it as a relatively late composition, and some have called it an interpolation, noting its language and the absence of an elaborate class system elsewhere in the Rigveda. The verse has been cited both to legitimize social hierarchy and, by modern critics and reformers, as evidence of how that hierarchy was given religious sanction. Comparative mythologists have noted parallels with other world-forming sacrifices of a primordial being, such as the Norse Ymir.
Purusha in the Upanishads
In the Upanishads the cosmic person becomes increasingly inward and abstract. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad opens one account of creation with the Self alone "in the form of a person." The Katha Upanishad speaks of a Purusha "the size of a thumb" dwelling in the heart and declares that beyond the Purusha there is nothing higher. Here Purusha is closely linked with atman, the true self, and with Brahman, the ultimate reality, themes that later fed into mystical and devotional thought.
Purusha and Prakriti in Samkhya and Yoga
The Samkhya school, traditionally founded by the sage Kapila and systematized in the Samkhyakarika of Ishvarakrishna, gives Purusha its most precise philosophical meaning. Samkhya is dualist: it recognizes two independent and eternal realities. Purusha is pure consciousness, the witness, inactive and unchanging. Prakriti is primal matter or nature, unconscious but active, made of three qualities (gunas): sattva, rajas and tamas. Mind, ego and intellect all belong to Prakriti, not to Purusha.
Unlike the single cosmic person of the Veda, classical Samkhya teaches that there are many purushas, one for each living being. Suffering arises from confusing Purusha with the activities of Prakriti, and liberation, called kaivalya (isolation), comes when this distinction is fully realized. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali adopt this framework and describe Ishvara, the Lord, as a special Purusha untouched by afflictions and karma.
Vedanta and later Hindu thought
Vedanta schools read Purusha in the light of the Upanishads, identifying it with Brahman or with the highest Self (Paramatman). The Bhagavad Gita, which uses both Samkhya and Vedantic language, describes Krishna as Purushottama, the Supreme Person beyond both the perishable and the imperishable. In Vaishnava worship Vishnu is often identified with the Purusha of the Rigvedic hymn, and the Purusha Sukta is still widely recited in temple and household rituals. Western esoteric writers, including Theosophists, later borrowed the term, sometimes loosely, for the universal spirit or the higher self in their accounts of cosmic evolution and reincarnation; see Theosophy.
Related entries
Frequently asked questions
What is the Purusha Sukta?
The Purusha Sukta is hymn 90 of the tenth book of the Rigveda. It describes a thousand-headed cosmic person whom the gods sacrifice, and from whose body the universe, the Vedic hymns, animals and the four social classes emerge. Scholars generally regard it as one of the later hymns of the Rigveda.
What is the difference between Purusha and Prakriti?
In Samkhya philosophy, Purusha is pure consciousness, passive, eternal and unchanging, while Prakriti is unconscious but active primal matter made of the three gunas. Everything in the changing world, including the mind, comes from Prakriti. Liberation comes from discerning that the true self, Purusha, is distinct from Prakriti.
Is Purusha the same as Atman or Brahman?
It depends on the school. In the Upanishads and Vedanta, Purusha is closely identified with the Self (atman) and with Brahman or the supreme Self. In classical Samkhya, however, there are many individual purushas and no single universal Brahman, so the terms are not interchangeable there.
Sources and further reading
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: October 4, 2026.