The Vedic Puruna and Vaishnavism: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

There are few images in the history of the religions of the world that are as striking as that of the Vedic Purußa, the thousand-headed giant, whose hymn was incorporated into the huge collection of ancient hymns called the Âg Veda at the very end of its compilation: a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, covering the whole earth and yet rising above it by ten fingers. Whoever Nåråyana, the author or “seer” of the hymn, was. he had a profound influence on the directions that the later Hindu tradition was to take. No doubt there is much that is mysterious about the hymn for us today. If one were to speak truthfully, one would admit that most
of the hymn is mysterious. Still, somehow it managed to capture and shape the religious imaginations of generation after generation of Hindu, student and thinker alike, all of whom, no doubt, were required to memorize it at some point in their educations.