{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/av/av19006.htm","path":"hin/av/av19006.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av19006.htm","text":"Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895]\n1Purusha hath a thousand arms, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.\n \u00a0\u00a0On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide.\n 2He with three quarters rose to heaven here reappeared a fourth\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of him.\n \u00a0\u00a0Thence he strode forth on every side to all that eats not and that\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0eats.\n 3So mighty is his grandeur, yea, greater than this is Purusha.\n \u00a0\u00a0All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths what dieth\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0not in heaven. p. 214\n 4Purusha is in truth this All, what hath been and what yet shall;\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0be\n \u00a0\u00a0Lord, too, of immortality\u2014and what hath grown with some-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0what else.\n 5When they divided Purusha how many portions did they make?\n \u00a0\u00a0What was his mouth? what were his arms? what are the names\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of thighs and feet?\n 6The Br\u0101hman was his mouth, of both his arms was the R\u0101janya\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0made.\n \u00a0\u00a0His waist became the Vaisya, from his feet the S\u016bdra was\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0produced.\n 7The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the\n \u00a0\u00a0Sun had birth.\n \u00a0\u00a0Indra and Agni from his mouth were born and V\u0101yu from his\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0breath.\n 8Forth from his navel come mid-air; the sky was fashioned from\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0his head.\n \u00a0\u00a0Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions. Thus they\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0formed the worlds.\n 9In the beginning rose Vir\u0101j: Purusha from Vir\u0101j was born.\n \u00a0\u00a0As soon as he was born he spread westward and eastward o'er\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the earth.\n 10When Gods performed the sacrifice with Purusha as their\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0offering.\n \u00a0\u00a0Spring was the butter, summer was the fuel, autumn was the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0gift.\n 11That sacrifice, first-born Purusha, they hallowed with the sprink-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0led Rains.\n \u00a0\u00a0The Deities, the S\u0101dhyas, all the Vasus sacrificed with him.\n 12From it were horses born, from it all creatures with two rows of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0teeth.\n \u00a0\u00a0From it were generated kine, from it were goats and sheep\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0produced.\n 13From that great general sacrifice Richas and S\u0101ma hymns were\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0born;\n \u00a0\u00a0Therefrom the metres were produced: the Yajus had its birth\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from it.\n 14From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered up:\n \u00a0\u00a0It formed the creatures fleet as wind, and animals both wild and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0tame. p. 215\n 15Seven fencing-logs had he, thrice seven layers of fuel were\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0prepared.\n \u00a0\u00a0When, offering sacrifice, the Gods bound as their victim Purusha.\n 16Forth from head of the high God seven-and-seventy bright\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0beams.\n \u00a0\u00a0Sprang into being, of the King Soma produced from Purusha.","title":"Atharva Veda: Book 19: Hymn 6: The purusha-S\u016bkta, on the mystical Sacrifice of Purusha","type":"page"}