Sacred Chants of a Lifetime · Track 01

पुरुषसूक्तम्

Purusha Suktham

from the Rig Veda (10.90) — the hymn of the Cosmic Being, in which the universe is envisioned as born from the self-offering of the Purusha

From the album

सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात् । स भूमिं विश्वतो वृत्वात्यतिष्ठद्दशाङ्गुलम् ॥ १॥

sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt | sa bhūmiṃ viśvato vṛtvā atyatiṣṭhad daśāṅgulam ||1

The Purusha, the Cosmic Being, has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet (sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ). He pervades the whole universe from every side (sa bhūmiṃ viśvato vṛtvā), and yet He transcends it, standing beyond it by the breadth of ten fingers (atyatiṣṭhad daśāṅgulam) — immanent in all creation and at the same time beyond all of it.

पुरुष एवेदं सर्वं यद्भूतं यच्च भव्यम् । उतामृतत्वस्येशानो यदन्नेनातिरोहति ॥ २॥

puruṣa evedaṃ sarvaṃ yad bhūtaṃ yac ca bhavyam | utāmṛtatvasyeśāno yad annenātirohati ||2

All this is the Purusha alone — whatever has been and whatever is yet to come (yad bhūtaṃ yac ca bhavyam). He is the Lord of immortality (amṛtatvasya īśānaḥ), and of all that grows and is nourished by food — of mortal life as well.

एतावानस्य महिमातो ज्यायाँश्च पूरुषः । पादोऽस्य विश्वा भूतानि त्रिपादस्यामृतं दिवि ॥ ३॥

etāvān asya mahimā ato jyāyāṃś ca pūruṣaḥ | pādo'sya viśvā bhūtāni tripād asyāmṛtaṃ divi ||3

Such is His greatness, and yet the Purusha is greater still (jyāyāṃś ca pūruṣaḥ). All beings of the universe are but one quarter of Him (pādo'sya viśvā bhūtāni); three quarters are the immortal in the highest realm (tripād asyāmṛtaṃ divi). The manifest world is only a fraction of His being.

त्रिपादूर्ध्व उदैत्पुरुषः पादोऽस्येहाभवत्पुनः । ततो विष्वङ् व्यक्रामत्साशनानशने अभि ॥ ४॥

tripād ūrdhva udait puruṣaḥ pādo'syehābhavat punaḥ | tato viṣvaṅ vyakrāmat sāśanānaśane abhi ||4

With three quarters the Purusha rose upward, beyond manifestation; one quarter of Him came into being here again and again (pādo'syehābhavat punaḥ). From this He spread in every direction, into all that eats and all that does not eat — into the animate and the inanimate alike.

तस्माद्विराळजायत विराजो अधि पूरुषः । स जातो अत्यरिच्यत पश्चाद्भूमिमथो पुरः ॥ ५॥

tasmād virāḷ ajāyata virājo adhi pūruṣaḥ | sa jāto atyaricyata paścād bhūmim atho puraḥ ||5

From Him was born Virāj, the shining cosmic egg, the radiant totality; and from Virāj the Purusha was born again — consciousness embodied within its own creation. Having been born, He exceeded the earth, behind and before, encompassing all.

यत्पुरुषेण हविषा देवा यज्ञमतन्वत । वसन्तो अस्यासीदाज्यं ग्रीष्म इध्मः शरद्धविः ॥ ६॥

yat puruṣeṇa haviṣā devā yajñam atanvata | vasanto asyāsīd ājyaṃ grīṣma idhmaḥ śarad dhaviḥ ||6

When the gods performed the cosmic sacrifice (yajña) with the Purusha Himself as the offering, spring was its clarified butter (vasanto asyāsīd ājyaṃ), summer the fuel, and autumn the oblation. Creation itself unfolds as a great act of self-offering, with the seasons as its ritual elements.

तं यज्ञं बर्हिषि प्रौक्षन्पुरुषं जातमग्रतः । तेन देवा अयजन्त साध्या ऋषयश्च ये ॥ ७॥

taṃ yajñaṃ barhiṣi praukṣan puruṣaṃ jātam agrataḥ | tena devā ayajanta sādhyā ṛṣayaś ca ye ||7

As the sacrifice, the Purusha — the first-born of creation — was consecrated on the sacred grass (barhiṣi). With Him the gods sacrificed, together with the Sādhyas, the celestial beings, and the seers (ṛṣayaś ca ye).

तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वहुतः सम्भृतं पृषदाज्यम् । पशून्ताँश्चक्रे वायव्यानारण्यान्ग्राम्याश्च ये ॥ ८॥

tasmād yajñāt sarvahutaḥ sambhṛtaṃ pṛṣadājyam | paśūn tāṃś cakre vāyavyān āraṇyān grāmyāś ca ye ||8

From that all-offered sacrifice (sarvahutaḥ) was gathered the curdled butter, and from it were brought forth the creatures of the air (vāyavyān), of the forest (āraṇyān), and of the village (grāmyāś ca ye) — all living beings arise from this one offering.

तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वहुत ऋचः सामानि जज्ञिरे । छन्दांसि जज्ञिरे तस्माद्यजुस्तस्मादजायत ॥ ९॥

tasmād yajñāt sarvahuta ṛcaḥ sāmāni jajñire | chandāṃsi jajñire tasmād yajus tasmād ajāyata ||9

From that all-offered sacrifice were born the verses of the Rig Veda (ṛcaḥ) and the melodies of the Sāma Veda (sāmāni); from it were born the sacred metres (chandāṃsi), and from it the Yajur Veda arose. Sound itself — the sacred word — is born of this offering.

तस्मादश्वा अजायन्त ये के चोभयादतः । गावो ह जज्ञिरे तस्मात्तस्माज्जाता अजावयः ॥ १०॥

tasmād aśvā ajāyanta ye ke cobhayādataḥ | gāvo ha jajñire tasmāt tasmāj jātā ajāvayaḥ ||10

From it horses were born, and all creatures with two rows of teeth; from it cows were born, and from it goats and sheep (ajāvayaḥ) — the nourishing animal kingdom flows from the same source.

यत्पुरुषं व्यदधुः कतिधा व्यकल्पयन् । मुखं किमस्य कौ बाहू का ऊरू पादा उच्येते ॥ ११॥

yat puruṣaṃ vyadadhuḥ katidhā vyakalpayan | mukhaṃ kim asya kau bāhū kā ūrū pādā ucyete ||11

When they divided the Purusha, into how many parts did they arrange Him? What became of His mouth? What of His arms? What are His thighs and His feet called? The hymn asks how the One became the many.

ब्राह्मणोऽस्य मुखमासीद्बाहू राजन्यः कृतः । ऊरू तदस्य यद्वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत ॥ १२॥

brāhmaṇo'sya mukham āsīd bāhū rājanyaḥ kṛtaḥ | ūrū tad asya yad vaiśyaḥ padbhyāṃ śūdro ajāyata ||12

His mouth became the brāhmaṇa (the keepers of wisdom and the word); His arms were made the rājanya (the protectors); His thighs the vaiśya (the providers and sustainers); from His feet the śūdra (the supporters of all) was born. Every part of the social order emanates from the same Divine body — each sacred, each essential, interconnected in one cosmic harmony.

चन्द्रमा मनसो जातश्चक्षोः सूर्यो अजायत । मुखादिन्द्रश्चाग्निश्च प्राणाद्वायुरजायत ॥ १३॥

candramā manaso jātaś cakṣoḥ sūryo ajāyata | mukhād indraś cāgniś ca prāṇād vāyur ajāyata ||13

The moon was born from His mind (candramā manaso jātaḥ); the sun from His eyes (cakṣoḥ sūryo ajāyata); from His mouth came Indra and Agni, and from His life-breath (prāṇād) the wind, Vāyu, was born. The cosmos mirrors the Cosmic Being: mind and moon, sight and sun, breath and wind.

नाभ्या आसीदन्तरिक्षं शीर्ष्णो द्यौः समवर्तत । पद्भ्यां भूमिर्दिशः श्रोत्रात्तथा लोकाँ अकल्पयन् ॥ १४॥

nābhyā āsīd antarikṣaṃ śīrṣṇo dyauḥ samavartata | padbhyāṃ bhūmir diśaḥ śrotrāt tathā lokāṃ akalpayan ||14

From His navel came the mid-space (antarikṣaṃ); from His head the heavens arose (śīrṣṇo dyauḥ); from His feet the earth (padbhyāṃ bhūmiḥ), and from His ear the directions (diśaḥ śrotrāt). Thus the worlds were fashioned.

सप्तास्यासन्परिधयस्त्रिः सप्त समिधः कृताः । देवा यद्यज्ञं तन्वाना अबध्नन्पुरुषं पशुम् ॥ १५॥

saptāsyāsan paridhayas triḥ sapta samidhaḥ kṛtāḥ | devā yad yajñaṃ tanvānā abadhnan puruṣaṃ paśum ||15

Seven were the enclosing sticks of the sacred fire, and thrice seven (twenty-one) were the pieces of kindling, when the gods, performing the sacrifice, bound the Purusha as the offering. The sevens evoke the seven metres, the seven worlds — the complete architecture of the ritual cosmos.

यज्ञेन यज्ञमयजन्त देवास्तानि धर्माणि प्रथमान्यासन् । ते ह नाकं महिमानः सचन्त यत्र पूर्वे साध्याः सन्ति देवाः ॥ १६॥

yajñena yajñam ayajanta devās tāni dharmāṇi prathamāny āsan | te ha nākaṃ mahimānaḥ sacanta yatra pūrve sādhyāḥ santi devāḥ ||16

By the sacrifice the gods sacrificed to the sacrifice — offering the offering to itself; these were the first ordinances (tāni dharmāṇi prathamāny āsan). Those great ones attained the summit of heaven (nākaṃ mahimānaḥ sacanta), where the ancient Sādhyas and the gods abide. Self-offering is the first law of existence, and through it the Divine is reached.

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

āūṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||

Aum, peace within body, peace within the mind, peace in the spiritual realm.

ॐ

Next chant: Shiva Manasa Puja

Back to the album

Good to know

About this chant

What is the Purusha Suktham?

A highly revered Vedic hymn — Rig Veda 10.90 — dedicated to Purusha, the cosmic being or universal soul. It presents the Vedic vision of creation, with the universe born from the self-offering of Purusha, and opens the album Sacred Chants of a Lifetime.

What does the Purusha Suktham mean?

Through the metaphor of yajna — sacrifice — it describes Purusha as both the sacrifice and the sacrificer: the self-sustaining nature of the cosmic order. The verse-by-verse English rendering on this page follows the Devanagari text and its transliteration.

When is the Purusha Suktham chanted?

In Vedic rituals and ceremonies it is chanted to invoke the universal essence of Purusha; in spiritual practice it accompanies meditation, as a reflection on the interconnectedness of the universe and the unity of existence.