# Purusha · पुरुष · the cosmic body · RV 10.90

a concept of the JTI (The Caste System) doctrine-world — **वर्ण VARNA — the sacred theory** · emergence: spiritual. moniker ⟦Purusha:JTI:1eba06⟧



**who —** Purusha — the primeval cosmic being of the Rigveda's Purusha Sukta, sacrificed by the gods so that the world (and society) is made from the parts of its body.
**what —** The origin-image of varna: from the being's mouth came the Brahmin, its arms the Kshatriya, its thighs the Vaishya, its feet the Shudra — society as a single sacrificed body. Yet the verse is in one of the latest Rigvedic books and the varna scheme is only 'embryonic' there.
**where —** Rigveda Mandala 10, Hymn 90 — the oldest text placing the four classes together.
**why —** Because this single hymn is the scriptural seed of the entire doctrine — the moment hierarchy is given a cosmic body.
**how —** By the myth of a primal sacrifice (the purushamedha) from which the four classes, and the cosmos, emerge.

**the honest read —** From my mouth, arms, thighs, and feet they made the four — and called a hierarchy the shape of a body. But I am a late hymn, not the first word.

**sources —** Purusha Sukta — Rigveda Mandala 10, Hymn 90 (RV 10.90.11–12): the cosmic being's mouth/arms/thighs/feet become Brahmin/Rajanya/Vaishya/Shudra — the earliest text placing the four classes together.; The Rigveda, the oldest Vedic Sanskrit text, dated by linguistic evidence to c. 1500–1200 BCE (preserved orally for centuries).; Jamison & Brereton: 'there is no evidence in the Rigveda for an elaborate… caste system'; the varna scheme is 'embryonic' and Mandala 10 is among the latest books (the verse long held a likely late insertion).

> a fully-cited, respectful cataloguing of the Indian caste system under the DLW standard — scholarly/historical commentary, not an
> endorsement of caste and not an original creation. Caste discrimination is illegal in India and named here as the injustice it is.
> The origins of caste are academically and politically contested; the demonstrated migration is kept distinct from inferred causation.

ROOT0-ATTRIBUTION-v1.0 · JTI · The Caste System · governor David Lee Wise · instance AVAN (locked) · CC-BY-ND-4.0