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Mantra · The Vedic hymn to the cosmic person.

Purusha Suktam

सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्

In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.

What the Purusha Suktam is

Purusha is the cosmic person of Rigveda 10.90, the being whose body is the universe and whose sacrifice generates all realms, creatures and social orders. He is described as having a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet, pervading the earth on every side yet extending beyond it by the measure of ten fingers. From his mouth, arms, thighs and feet arise the four varnas; from his mind the moon, from his eye the sun, from his breath the wind. Later Vedantic and Puranic reading identifies this Purusha with the supreme self that remains after all names and forms are withdrawn. The hymn is not addressed to a temple image or a mythic hero but to that primordial person whose dismemberment is the continual act of creation itself.

The Primordial Sacrifice

Rigveda 10.90, the Purusha Sukta, presents the origin of the ordered world as a sacrificial offering in which the gods, the sadhyas and the rishis bind Purusha as the victim. Spring serves as the sacrificial butter, summer as the fuel, autumn as the oblation. Earlier verses have already said that three-quarters of his being is the immortal realm above, while one-quarter is all living and non-living things here. From the sacrifice itself the hymn derives horses, cattle, goats, sheep, the verses of the Veda, the metres, and the four human estates. The Taittiriya Aranyaka and later Smriti literature re-present the same account as the archetype of every yajna: each offering re-enacts the original division of the cosmic person. The sukta therefore stands both as cosmology and as the charter for ritual itself, locating every subsequent sacrifice inside the body of Purusha.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiसहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्

Tamilஸஹஸ்ரஶீர்ஷா புருஷஃ ஸஹஸ்ராக்ஷஃ ஸஹஸ்ரபாத்

Teluguసహస్రశీర్షా పురుషః సహస్రాక్షః సహస్రపాత్

Kannadaಸಹಸ್ರಶೀರ್ಷಾ ಪುರುಷಃ ಸಹಸ್ರಾಕ್ಷಃ ಸಹಸ್ರಪಾತ್

Malayalamസഹസ്രശീര്ഷാ പുരുഷഃ സഹസ്രാക്ഷഃ സഹസ്രപാത്

EnglishRoman transliterationsahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt

“The Purusha of a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet.”

सहस्रशीर्षा: sahasraśīrṣā — thousand-headed
पुरुषः: puruṣaḥ — the cosmic person
सहस्राक्षः: sahasrākṣaḥ — thousand-eyed
सहस्रपात्: sahasrapāt — thousand-footed

Purusha Suktam lyrics in full

As it is chanted in South India: the Taittiriya Aranyaka text (3.12), followed by the Uttara Narayana (3.13).

All 24 verses, in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, each with its meaning. Choose a script:

Download the Purusha Suktam PDFAll 24 verses with their meanings, in Sanskrit. Free to print and keep.

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Verse 1

सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात् ।
स भूमिं विश्वतो वृत्वा अत्यतिष्ठद्दशाङ्गुलम् ॥

The Purusha, the cosmic person, has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet. Covering the earth on every side, he extends beyond it by the breadth of ten fingers.

Verse 2

पुरुष एवेदं सर्वम् यद्भूतं यच्च भव्यम् ।
उतामृतत्वस्येशानः यदन्नेनातिरोहति ॥

The Purusha alone is all this, whatever has been and whatever is yet to be. He is the lord of immortality, and of all that grows by food.

Verse 3

एतावानस्य महिमा अतो ज्यायांश्च पूरुषः ।
पादोऽस्य विश्वा भूतानि त्रिपादस्यामृतं दिवि ॥

Such is his greatness, and the Purusha is greater still. All beings are one quarter of him; three quarters of him are the immortal in heaven.

Verse 4

त्रिपादूर्ध्व उदैत्पुरुषः पादोऽस्येहाऽऽभवात्पुनः ।
ततो विष्वङ्व्यक्रामत् साशनानशने अभि ॥

With three quarters the Purusha rose upward; one quarter of him came into being here again. From there he spread out in every direction, into what eats and what does not eat.

Verse 5

तस्माद्विराडजायत विराजो अधि पूरुषः ।
स जातो अत्यरिच्यत पश्चाद्भूमिमथो पुरः ॥

From him Viraj, the shining expanse, was born, and from Viraj the Purusha. As soon as he was born he reached beyond the earth, behind it and before it.

Verse 6

यत्पुरुषेण हविषा देवा यज्ञमतन्वत ।
वसन्तो अस्यासीदाज्यम् ग्रीष्म इध्मः शरद्धविः ॥

When the gods performed the sacrifice with the Purusha as the offering, spring was its clarified butter, summer its fuel and autumn its oblation.

Verse 7

सप्तास्यासन्परिधयः त्रिः सप्त समिधः कृताः ।
देवा यद्यज्ञं तन्वानाः अबध्नन्पुरुषं पशुम् ॥

Seven were the enclosing sticks of this sacrifice and thrice seven the sticks of fuel, when the gods, performing the sacrifice, bound the Purusha as the offering.

Verse 8

तं यज्ञं बर्हिषि प्रौक्षन् पुरुषं जातमग्रतः ।
तेन देवा अयजन्त साध्या ऋषयश्च ये ॥

On the sacred grass they consecrated that sacrifice, the Purusha born in the beginning. With him the gods, the Sadhyas and the seers performed the sacrifice.

Verse 9

तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वहुतः सम्भृतं पृषदाज्यम् ।
पशूंस्तांश्चक्रे वायव्यान् आरण्यान्ग्राम्याश्च ये ॥

From that sacrifice, in which everything was offered, the clarified butter mixed with curd was gathered. He made the creatures of the air and the animals of the forest and the village.

Verse 10

तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वहुतः ऋचः सामानि जज्ञिरे ।
छन्दांसि जज्ञिरे तस्मात् यजुस्तस्मादजायत ॥

From that sacrifice, in which everything was offered, the verses of praise (Rik) and the chants (Saman) were born. The metres were born from it, and the sacrificial formulas (Yajus) were born from it.

Verse 11

तस्मादश्वा अजायन्त ये के चोभयादतः ।
गावो ह जज्ञिरे तस्मात् तस्माज्जाता अजावयः ॥

From it were born horses and all animals with teeth in both jaws. Cattle were born from it, and from it were born goats and sheep.

Verse 12

यत्पुरुषं व्यदधुः कतिधा व्यकल्पयन् ।
मुखं किमस्य कौ बाहू कावूरू पादावुच्येते ॥

When they divided the Purusha, into how many parts did they arrange him? What was his mouth, what were his arms, and what are his thighs and feet called?

Verse 13

ब्राह्मणोऽस्य मुखमासीत् बाहू राजन्यः कृतः ।
ऊरू तदस्य यद्वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत ॥

The Brahmana was his mouth; the Rajanya was made his arms. His thighs became the Vaishya, and from his feet the Shudra was born.

Verse 14

चन्द्रमा मनसो जातः चक्षोः सूर्यो अजायत ।
मुखादिन्द्रश्चाग्निश्च प्राणाद्वायुरजायत ॥

The moon was born from his mind, and the sun from his eye. Indra and Agni came from his mouth, and Vayu, the wind, from his breath.

Verse 15

नाभ्या आसीदन्तरिक्षम् शीर्ष्णो द्यौः समवर्तत ।
पद्भ्यां भूमिर्दिशः श्रोत्रात् तथा लोकाँ अकल्पयन् ॥

From his navel came the middle air, and from his head the sky took shape. From his feet came the earth and from his ear the directions; in this way they ordered the worlds.

Verse 16

वेदाहमेतं पुरुषं महान्तम् आदित्यवर्णं तमसस्तु पारे ।
सर्वाणि रूपाणि विचित्य धीरः नामानि कृत्वाऽभिवदन् यदास्ते ॥

I know this great Purusha, radiant as the sun, beyond all darkness. The wise one, having fashioned all forms and given them names, abides, calling them by those names.

Verse 17

धाता पुरस्ताद्यमुदाजहार शक्रः प्रविद्वान्प्रदिशश्चतस्रः ।
तमेवं विद्वानमृत इह भवति नान्यः पन्था अयनाय विद्यते ॥

He whom Dhata, the Creator, proclaimed in the beginning, and whom Shakra (Indra), knowing him, proclaimed in all four directions: one who knows him thus becomes immortal even here. There is no other path to that goal.

Verse 18

यज्ञेन यज्ञमयजन्त देवाः तानि धर्माणि प्रथमान्यासन् ।
ते ह नाकं महिमानः सचन्ते यत्र पूर्वे साध्याः सन्ति देवाः ॥

Through sacrifice the gods worshipped the sacrifice; these were the first ordinances. Those great ones attained the heavenly vault, where the ancient Sadhyas, the gods, dwell.

Uttara Narayana 1

अद्भ्यः सम्भूतः पृथिव्यै रसाच्च विश्वकर्मणः समवर्तताधि ।
तस्य त्वष्टा विदधद्रूपमेति तत्पुरुषस्य विश्वमाजानमग्रे ॥

He came forth from the waters and from the essence of the earth, and arose from Vishvakarman, the maker of all. Tvashta goes on shaping his form; that was the origin of the whole world of the Purusha in the beginning.

Uttara Narayana 2

वेदाहमेतं पुरुषं महान्तम् आदित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ।
तमेवं विद्वानमृत इह भवति नान्यः पन्था विद्यतेऽयनाय ॥

I know this great Purusha, radiant as the sun, beyond darkness. One who knows him thus becomes immortal even here; there is no other path to that goal.

Uttara Narayana 3

प्रजापतिश्चरति गर्भे अन्तः अजायमानो बहुधा विजायते ।
तस्य धीराः परिजानन्ति योनिम् मरीचीनां पदमिच्छन्ति वेधसः ॥

Prajapati moves within the womb; though unborn, he is born in many forms. The wise know his source; the creators seek the station of Marichi and the other seers.

Uttara Narayana 4

यो देवेभ्य आतपति यो देवानां पुरोहितः ।
पूर्वो यो देवेभ्यो जातः नमो रुचाय ब्राह्मये ॥

He who shines for the gods, who is the foremost priest of the gods, who was born before the gods: salutation to that radiant one, born of Brahman.

Uttara Narayana 5

रुचं ब्राह्मं जनयन्तः देवा अग्रे तदब्रुवन् ।
यस्त्वैवं ब्राह्मणो विद्यात् तस्य देवा असन् वशे ॥

Bringing forth that radiant one born of Brahman, the gods said at the beginning: the brahmana who knows you thus will have the gods under his sway.

Uttara Narayana 6

ह्रीश्च ते लक्ष्मीश्च पत्न्यौ अहोरात्रे पार्श्वे ।
नक्षत्राणि रूपम् अश्विनौ व्यात्तम् ।
इष्टं मनिषाण अमुं मनिषाण सर्वं मनिषाण ॥

Hri (modesty) and Lakshmi are your two consorts; day and night are your two sides. The stars are your form, and the two Ashvins your open mouth. Grant what we desire; grant us that; grant us everything.

The syllable people get wrong

In sahasraśīrṣā the syllable śīr contains a long ī followed at once by the retroflex ṣ. Speakers commonly shorten the vowel and flatten the retroflex ṣ into an ordinary “sh”, producing “shir-sha.” Both the length of ī and the tongue-curl of ṣ must be retained if the Vedic contour of the opening word is to remain intact.

When the Purusha Suktam is chanted

Weekday. Thursday

Questions

Within the Rigveda the Purusha is an independent cosmological principle. Later layers—especially the Taittiriya Aranyaka, the Mahabharata and the Puranas—explicitly equate him with Narayana or Vishnu, reading the thousand-headed person as the same being who reclines upon the waters. The sukta itself does not name Vishnu; the identification is a subsequent theological development that allows the hymn to be recited inside Vaishnava worship.

The verse states that three parts of the cosmic person ascend beyond the mortal sphere while one part becomes the totality of earthly existence. Classical commentators understand this as the distinction between the unmanifest, imperishable aspect of the self and the manifest universe that can be measured, named and sacrificed. The ten fingers’ breadth by which he exceeds the world marks the margin that ritual and knowledge continually seek to cross.

It is recited at the conclusion of the purusha-medha and in certain agnishtoma sequences, and it appears among the hymns employed for the consecration of sacred ground. Its presence in the Taittiriya Aranyaka also places it inside the daily and fortnightly recitations of the Krishna Yajurveda schools, where it functions as both cosmogonic narrative and as an affirmation of the identity between the sacrificer and the cosmic person.

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