मनन Manana · ReflectStep 2 of /18
Puruṣa Sūkta · Ṛgveda 10.90.1
Verse 1A thousand heads, a thousand eyes
सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात् ।
स भूमिं विश्वतो वृत्वात्यतिष्ठद्दशाङ्गुलम् ॥
sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt |
sa bhūmiṃ viśvato vṛtvāty atiṣṭhad daśāṅgulam ||
Meaning
Puruṣa has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. He wraps around the whole earth, and still reaches beyond it, by the width of ten fingers.
Word by word
Words joined in recitation are shown split. Where sounds change at the joins, the dictionary form is given under the word.
Reflection
Let's start with the name. Puruṣa simply means 'person', or 'man'. But this is no ordinary person. A thousand, for the rishis, was a way of saying 'more than you can count'. So picture every head, every pair of eyes, every pair of feet in the world, and imagine they all belong to one being. That is Puruṣa. He covers the earth completely, and then the rishi adds a small, strange detail: he reaches beyond it by ten fingers. In other words, the world can't hold him. He is in everything, and still bigger than everything. Hold on to that idea. The whole hymn grows from it.
Your reflection
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