Purusha
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In Hinduism, Purusha ("Cosmic Man") is the "self" which pervades the universe. The Vedic divinities are considered to be the human mind's interpretation of the many facets of Purusha. According to the Rigvedic Purusha sukta, Purusha was dismembered by the devas -- his mind is the Moon, his eyes are the Sun, and his breath is the wind.
In the Rigveda, Purusha is described as a primeval giant, not unlike the Norse Ymir, that is sacrificed by the gods (see Purushamedha) and from whose body the world and the varnas (castes) are built. He is described as having a thousand heads and a thousand feet. He emanated Viraj, the female creative principle, from which he is reborn in turn before the world was made out of his parts.
In the sacrifice of Purusha, the Vedic chants were first created. The horses and cows were born, the Brahmins were made from Purusha's mouth, the Kshatriyas from his arms, the Vaishyas from his thighs, and the Shudras from his feet.[2] The Moon was born from his spirit, the Sun from his eyes, the heavens from his skull. Indra and Agni emerged from his mouth. The Dalits, or Untouchables, were not considered to be born of Purusha, and thus are seen as lying outside the cosmic system completely.
The parallel to Norse Ymir is often considered to reflect the myth's origin in Proto-Indo-European religion.
In Samkhya, a school of Hindu philosophy, Purusha is pure consciousness. It is thought to be our true identity, to be contrasted with Prakrti, or the material world, which contains all of our organs, senses, and intellectual faculties.
[edit] Caste System
Varna refers to the Hindu belief that most humans were created from different parts of the body of the divinity Purusha and according to which part they were created from it defines their social standing for issues such as who they can marry and what jobs they can do.[1].
