[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v2.c4.26 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.26 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.26 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c4.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.26) Puruṣa, or Pūruṣa, is the generic term for ‘man’ in the Rigveda¹ and later.² Man is composed of five parts according to the Atharvaveda,³ or of six according to the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa,⁴ or of sixteen,⁵ or of twenty,⁶ or of twenty-one,⁷ or of twenty-four,⁸ or of twenty-five,⁹ all more or less fanciful enumerations. Man is the first of animals,¹⁰ but also essentially an animal (see Paśu). The height of a man is given in the Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra¹¹ as four Aratnis (‘cubits’), each of two Padas (‘feet’), each of twelve Aṅgulis (‘finger’s breadths’); and the term Puruṣa itself is found earlier¹² as a measure of length. - [Previous: v2.c4.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.24) - [Next: v2.c4.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.27) - [Up: v2.c4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.26) · Pramāṇa