puruṣa: what the term means and how it is translated
puruṣa पुरुषः is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 8 different ways, which is the reason this page exists: the renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken to mean.
| Transliteration | puruṣa |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | पुरुषः |
| Also written | purusha, purusa, puruṣaḥ, karma-purusha, shad-dhatu purusha, chaturvimshati purusha |
| Category, as gathered | foundational |
| Grouped here under | Foundations and categories |
| Classical citations | 8 |
| Citations checked | 2026-10-08 |
How it is translated, and whether the translation holds
Each rendering is given with the source that uses it. The assessment is ours.
Person, living being
WHO international standard terminologies on Ayurveda (WHO, 2022) · Term ID ITA-1.9.3.2.9, printed p. 18 · standard
WHO's description: 'The personal and animating principle in all sentient beings, the soul.' Recorded as a fact about WHO. Note the tension inside WHO's own entry: the English term is 'Person, living being' but the description ends in 'the soul', which is closer to ātman than to the composite puruṣa of Charaka Su 1.46-47.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
Person as the object of treatment
WHO international standard terminologies on Ayurveda (WHO, 2022) · Term ID ITA-1.9.3.2.11, Sanskrit given as cikitsya-puruṣaḥ, ṣaḍdhātupuruṣa · standard
WHO's description: 'The treatable entity (a person), consisting of five elements and soul.' This is the six-dhatu puruṣa of Charaka Sha 5.4 and Sushruta's karma-puruṣa, given its own term ID.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
Embodied being composed of 24 elements
WHO international standard terminologies on Ayurveda (WHO, 2022) · Term ID ITA-1.9.3.2.12, Sanskrit given as caturviṃśati-puruṣaḥ · standard
The Samkhya-aligned 24-fold puruṣa of Charaka Sha 1.35. That WHO needs three separate term IDs for puruṣa is the clearest possible evidence that it is not one concept.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
purusha or Being
Charaka Samhita, tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana Lesson I, aphorism 46 (= Su 1.47 modern) · translation
Public domain. Kaviratna retains the Sanskrit and offers 'Being' as the gloss.
person
Charaka Samhita, tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana Lesson I, aphorism 45 (= Su 1.46 modern): 'Mind, soul, and body, this trinity, called person...' · translation
In the immediately preceding aphorism Kaviratna uses lower-case 'person' for the same word. His English is not stable across two consecutive verses.
Purusha (individual)
Sushruta Samhita, tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907-1916) · Sharirasthana chapter I, verses 16-17 as printed · translation
Public domain. Bhishagratna retains the Sanskrit with 'individual' as the gloss.
Individual of action (Karma-Purusha)
Sushruta Samhita, tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907-1916) · Sharirasthana chapter I, verses 16-17 as printed · translation
Bhishagratna's rendering of karma-puruṣa, the puruṣa that is the subject of medicine as distinct from the metaphysical puruṣa of Samkhya. The distinction is made in the same paragraph, which is why this is the single most useful passage in the record.
Purusha (living organism)
Sushruta Samhita, tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907-1916) · Uttara-Tantra chapter LXV, aphorism 19, back-referring to Sutrasthana chapter I · translation
A third Bhishagratna gloss for the same word, in a passage where Sushruta is summarising his own earlier definition. Read directly from the archive.org scan of the Bhishagratna volumes.
The classical passages
Each citation gives its address so a reader can check it in a printed edition, our account of what the passage establishes, and the result of reading it against its source.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana Lesson I (= chapter 1):45-46 in Kaviratna's numbering (= 1.46-1.47 modern) · checked against the source
Mind, soul, and body, this trinity, called person, resteth on union like three sticks (standing with one another’s support.) Upon that (trinity) everything rests.f45 That is also called purusha or Being. It is also animate. That is also regarded as the subject matter of this Science ; and it is also for the sake of that, that this Science is promulgated.46
The tridaṇḍa (three-stick) definition: puruṣa is the union of sattva (mind), ātman (soul) and śarīra (body), and it is explicitly named the subject matter (adhikaraṇa) of āyurveda and the reason the science exists. This is the single most load-bearing statement about the term. The 'f' before 45 is the OCR of a footnote dagger.
Charaka SamhitaSharirasthana 1 (Katidhāpuruṣīya Adhyāya):16 · checked against the source
खादयश्चेतनाषष्ठा धातवः पुरुषः स्मृतः।
The six-dhatu definition: the elements beginning with kha (ether) with consciousness as the sixth are called puruṣa. A different enumeration from the Su 1.46-47 triad, in the same text.
Charaka SamhitaSharirasthana 1 (Katidhāpuruṣīya Adhyāya):35 · checked against the source
बुद्धीन्द्रियमनोर्थानां विद्याद्योगधरं परम्| चतुर्विंशतिको ह्येष राशिः पुरुषसञ्ज्ञकः।।
The 24-fold definition: this aggregate (rāśi) of twenty-four is designated puruṣa. A third distinct enumeration, and the one WHO codes separately as ITA-1.9.3.2.12.
Charaka SamhitaSharirasthana 5 (Puruṣavicaya Śārīra):4 · checked against the source
षड्धातवः समुदिताः 'लोक' इति शब्दं लभन्ते; तद्यथा- पृथिव्यापस्तेजो वायुराकाशं ब्रह्म चाव्यक्तमिति, एत एव चषड्धातवः समुदिताः 'पुरुष' इति शब्दं लभन्ते||४||
A fourth enumeration: the same six dhatus (earth, water, fire, air, space, and unmanifest brahman) aggregated get the name 'loka' and, equally, the name 'puruṣa'. This is the verse that makes puruṣa and loka co-extensive, and it is the hinge between this record and loka-puruṣa-sāmya.
Sushruta SamhitaSharirasthana 1 (Sarvabhūtacintā Śārīra):16-17 as printed on the retrieved page · checked against the source
The view is further corroborated by a dictum of the Sruti which holds that Purusha (individual) is nothing but a combination of a self-conscious self and the five kinds of matter (Maha- bhutas) formed into an organic body. This Purusha or individual, which is called Individual of action (Karma- Purusha), falls within the scope of the science and art of medicine.
Sushruta's karma-puruṣa: the six-component individual (five mahabhutas plus the conscious self) is the puruṣa that medicine treats, as distinct from the Samkhya puruṣa discussed in the same chapter. The verse numbers 16-17 are printed on the retrieved page alongside the passage. Wisdomlib's Sushruta is Bhishagratna and quotable.
Sushruta SamhitaSharirasthana 1 (Sarvabhūtacintā Śārīra):22-23 as printed on the retrieved page · checked against the source
The Purusha forms the twentyfifth principle. These twentyfive fundamental principles of cosmogony have been dealt with in the present treatise (Shalya-Tantra) as well as in the other treatise (Shalaky-Tantra and Sankhya Philosophy).
The Samkhya sense of puruṣa in the same chapter of the same text: the 25th tattva. Sushruta holds both senses at once and distinguishes them, which is direct textual evidence that the ambiguity is original, not an artefact of translation.
Sushruta SamhitaSharirasthana 1 (Sarvabhūtacintā Śārīra):10 as printed on the retrieved page · checked against the source
But the Purusha (units or atoms of consciousness), devoid of the threefold virtues of Sattva etc. are nonconcerning hence non-producing and bereft of the seed- attributes of lying inherent in all as the primary cause of evolution. They are mere witnesses to the joys and miseries of life, and do not participate in their enjoyment though imprisoned in the human organism.
The metaphysical puruṣa as nirguṇa witness, in the same chapter that later gives the treatable karma-puruṣa. Bhishagratna's syntax here is awkward but the passage is quoted exactly as printed.
Sushruta SamhitaUttara-Tantra 65:19 in Bhishagratna's numbering · checked against the source
it is said in the chapter on Vedotpatti (Chapter I, Sutra-Sthana) that "Purusha" (livng organism) is the sum-total of the "Maha-bhutas" (or the five primary elements— wc, earth, water, fire, air and ether) and the Sariri (or the soul), that medical treat- ment should be made of him (Purusha) and that he is the subject matter of every action)
Sushruta's own internal back-reference, confirming that the treatable puruṣa definition sits in Sutrasthana chapter 1 as well as Sharirasthana 1. Read from the archive.org OCR of Bhishagratna vol. III; 'livng' and 'wc' are OCR corruptions, reproduced as retrieved. The URL given is the item page for the volume I read; the plain-text stream is at the same item.
Not to be confused with
- ātman
- Ātman is one constituent of the Charaka triad (Su 1.46) and the sixth dhatu of Sha 1.16. WHO's description of puruṣa ends with 'the soul', which risks collapsing the two. The whole force of Su 1.46-47 is that puruṣa is a union, not a component.
- śarīra
- The body alone. Puruṣa includes mind and self, which is why cikitsā is said to be of the puruṣa and not of the śarīra.
- karma-puruṣa
- Sushruta's own narrowing: the six-component individual that medicine treats, as opposed to the 25th-tattva puruṣa of Samkhya. Sushruta Sha 1 uses both in one chapter and names the narrower one explicitly.
- rogī / ātura
- The patient. Puruṣa is the subject of the science whether healthy or ill (Su 1.47 says the science exists for its sake), so it is not a clinical role term.
- Samkhya puruṣa
- The inactive, attribute-free conscious witness (Sushruta Sha 1.10, 22-23). Identical word, different referent, in the same chapter as the medical sense.
- loka
- Charaka Sha 5.4 says the same six aggregated dhatus receive both names. They are co-referential in that verse and distinct everywhere else, which is the ambiguity loka-puruṣa-sāmya rests on.
Renderings that do not hold
- man. Puruṣa in these definitions is not gendered; the definitions are of a living individual. 'Man' also invites the archaic generic, which obscures that Sushruta's karma-puruṣa is a technical composite.
- soul. Renders ātman, one constituent. Directly contradicted by Su 1.46, where mind, soul and body together are called person.
- body. Renders śarīra. Loses the mind and self that make puruṣa the object of treatment.
- the cosmic person. Imports the Puruṣa Sukta / Vedic macranthropos. Charaka Sha 5 does compare puruṣa to loka, but it defines puruṣa as the individual composite, not as a cosmic being.
- patient. Narrows to the clinical encounter. Su 1.47 makes puruṣa the subject matter of the science as such.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Whether Charaka's four enumerations of puruṣa (the tridaṇḍa triad of Su 1.46-47, the six-dhatu of Sha 1.16, the 24-fold of Sha 1.35, and the six-dhatu-shared-with-loka of Sha 5.4) are meant as alternative descriptions of one thing or as four different technical senses. Charaka Sharirasthana 1 opens by asking 'katidhā puruṣaḥ' (in how many ways is puruṣa?), which suggests the plurality is deliberate, but I did not retrieve a commentator on it.
- The Sanskrit of Charaka Su 1.46-47 was not retrieved - only Kaviratna's English. The Devanagari should be added from carakasamhitaonline.com before publication.
- Whether NAMASTE codes puruṣa.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, puruṣa
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/purusha/, CC BY 4.0.
The whole lexicon is downloadable from the index.
Machine-readable source: Markdown.
Data exported 2026-10-08.
Educational reference only. A term entry explains what a word means and how it has been translated. Nothing here is advice, and nothing here describes how any condition should be treated.