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PURUSHA SUKTHAM
Vedic religion did not have a concept of a Supreme God who was the creator of the universe and who is immanent and yet transcends his creation. Isam, Isvar, Paramatma, Maheswara, Parameswara, Prabhu, Bhagavan etc. denoting a Supreme Being do not occur in the pre-christian part of Rig Veda.
Purusha Suktham in its original form as it appears in the Rig Veda X does not call Purusha by any other name other than Purusha. All other appellation as to who this Purusha is the imagination and inklings of the later interpreters. If there was another person in the Rig Veda who could be equated with this Purusha, it would have been obviously done assuming it as the work of one single seer. Though the original Purusha suktha mantra occurs in Rig Veda, it also occurs in Vajaneya Samhitha of Shukla Yajur Veda, Taiteeriya Samhitha of Krishna Yajurveda and also with slight differences in Sama Veda as well as Atharva Veda.
Historically these mantras were in existence in a scattered manner probably written down individually by the purohits(Priests) who used these mantras in their yajnas (sacrifices). They were collected, divided and edited according to tradition by Veda Vyasa. The name simply means editor of Vedas. Many great sages have given details of how this great Suthra should be used in Fire Sacrifices and many sages have written commentaries on Purusha Suktham.
The currently available text has 24 mantras or stanzas. The first 18 mantras are called by later Hindu interpreters as Prathama anuvAkam (which consists of the sixteen stanzas of Rg Vedic Suktam) and the rest as Uttara anuvAkam -six stanzas - or Vaishnavanuvaka being the interpolation by the Vaishnavites. It is also called Purva (old) Narayana and Uttara (later) Narayana following the meaning of Narayana as Form of Man. These second part is known as "Vishnu Suktam'. It is in these later interpretations and appendations that later Hindu gods have come to be associated with the Purusha. Nowhere within the original Purusha Suktham is any reference to Vishnu or any other Hindu god. In order to bring in Vishnu, the uttara Narayana part is added later to the mantra by the Vaishnavites, where in the twenty fourth verse Purusha is referred to as the spouse of Lakshmi. Here is the verse,
hrishcha te lakshmishcha patnyau ahoratre parshve nakshatrani rupam ashvinau vyattam
The goddesses Hri (modesty) and Sri (Lakshmi, wealth) are your wives. Day and night are your limbs. The stars are your form. The Ashvins are your opened mouth. Even here Vishnu is not directly named. If only we know the Purana Story which were built later in the centuries could we associate
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