Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mahān puruṣaḥ: The Macranthropic Soul in Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads

  • Published:
Journal of Indian Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The concept of the mahant- ātman-, or “vast self”, found in some of the Early and Middle Upaniṣads, has, at least since the days of Hermann Oldenberg, been explored by a number of scholars, most notably by van Buitenen (Hist Relig 4(1):103–114, 1964). These studies have usually emphasized the cosmic implications of this concept; the vast ātman- being the non-individualized spirit that brings forth and pervades the universe, then enters the bodies of all created beings as their animating principle. As such it precedes the mahān (ātmā), or mahat, of the Sāṃkhya philosophy. The present paper argues that the concept of a mahant- puruṣa- or “vast (soul-)person”, appearing parallel to the vast ātman in these texts, is in fact older, being traceable to Middle Vedic texts; the emergence of the Upaniṣadic ātman doctrine has eventually led to its replacement by the mahān ātmā. Originally, it is argued, the adjective mahant- stressed the difference between this “vast” puruṣa, who is said to dwell in the sun, and the minute puruṣa within man, who is seen as the tiny “person” in one’s pupil, or resides in the heart, having the size of a thumb. In contradistinction to the ātman, the puruṣa is a thoroughly anthropomorphic soul-concept, a “person” within the person. The ultimate identity between this tiny soul-person and the puruṣa in the sun is a recurring, but little studied, motif in the micro-macrocosmic speculations of the Brāhmaṇa texts. This “vast”, solar puruṣa is sometimes identified with the Puruṣa or primeval man of Ṛgveda 10.90, from whose body the universe was formed, and much of the imagery surrounding the vast puruṣa of Middle and Late Vedic literature seems to derive from this hymn.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

AiĀ:

Aitareya Āraṇyaka

AiU:

Aitareya Upaniṣad

AV:

Atharvaveda

BĀU:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad

Bhg:

Bhagavadgītā

ChU:

Chāndogya Upaniṣad

JB:

Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa

JUB:

Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa

KauU:

Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad

KU:

Kaṭha Upaniṣad

MaiU:

Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad

Mbh:

Mahābhārata

MNU:

Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad

MU:

Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad

PU:

Praśna Upaniṣad

RV:

Ṛgveda

RVKh:

Ṛgveda-Khila

ŚĀ:

Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka

ŚB:

Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa

ŚvU:

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad

TĀ:

Taittirīya Āraṇyaka

TB:

Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa

TU:

Taittirīya Upaniṣad

VS:

Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā

References

  • Abegg, E. (1956 [1921]). Der Pretakalpa des Garuḍa-Purāṇa. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

  • af Edholm, E. (1991). Den tumslånga själen. Till de indiska själsföreställningarnas historia. In L. Bäckman et al. (Eds.), Studier i religionshistoria tillägnade Åke Hultkrantz (pp. 143–173). Löberöd: Bokförlaget Plus Ultra.

  • Arbman, E. (1926–1927). Untersuchungen zur primitiven Seelenvorstellung mit besonderer Berücksichtigung auf Indien. Le Monde Oriental 20(1926), 85–226, and 21(1927), 1–185.

  • Bailey, H. W. (1958). Iranica et Vedica. Indo-Iranian Journal, 2(2), 149–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakker, H. (1982). On the Origin of the Sāṃkhya Psychology. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd- und Ostasiens, 26, 117–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya, D. (1978). The doctrine of four in the early Upaniṣads and some connected problems. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 6, 1–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biardeau, M. (1969). Études de mythologie hindoue (II). Bulletin de l’École français d’Extrême-Orient, 55, 59–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloomfield, M. (1906). A vedic concordance. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodewitz, H. W. (1973). Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa I, 1–65: Translation and commentary with a study Agnihotra and Prāṇāgnihotra. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodewitz, H. W. (1985). Yama’s second boon in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, 29, 5–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodewitz, H. W. (1991). Light, soul and visions in the veda. Poona: Bhandarkar Institute Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodewitz, H. W. (1992). King Prāṇa. In A. W. van den Hoek et al. (Eds.), Ritual, state and history in South Asia: Essays in honour of J.C. Heesterman (pp. 50–64). Leiden: Brill.

  • Bodewitz, H. W. (2002). Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad: Translation and commentary with an appendix Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka IX–XI. Groningen: Egbert Forsten.

    Google Scholar 

  • Böhtlingk, O., & Roth, R. (1855–1875). Sanskrit-Wörterbuch. 1–7. St. Petersburg: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften.

  • Boland, M. (1997). Die Wind-Atem-Lehre in den älteren Upaniṣaden. Münster: Ugarit Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollée, W. B. (1999). Adda or the oldest extant dispute between Jains and Heretics (Sūyagaḍa 2, 6): Part two. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 27(5), 411–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brahmasūtra with Śāṅkarabhāṣya. Works of Śaṅkara in Original Sanskrit vol. 3. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1985.

  • Bremmer, J. (1983). The early Greek concept of the soul. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brereton, J. P. (2006). The composition of the Maitreyī dialogue in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 126(3), 323–345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronkhorst, J. (2013 [2007]). Greater Magadha: Studies in the culture of early India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Brown, W. N. (1978). The sources and nature of puruṣa in the Puruṣasūkta (Ṛg Veda 10.90). In R. Rocher (Ed.), India and Indology: Selected articles by W. Norman Brown (pp. 5–10). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. (First publ. 1931.)

  • Caland, W. (1970 [1919]). Das Jaiminīya-Brāhmaṇa in Auswahl. Wiesbaden: Dr. Martin Sändig.

  • Coomaraswamy, A. K. (1946). áty atiṣṭhad daśāṅgulám. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 66(2), 145–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coomaraswamy, A. K. (1997). Svayamātṛṇṇā: Janua Coeli. In R. Lipsey (Ed.), The door in the sky: Coomaraswamy on myth and meaning (pp. 6–61). Princeton: Princeton University Press. (First publ. 1939.)

  • Crawley, A. E. (1909). The idea of the soul. London: Adam and Charles Black.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deussen, P. (1906). Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie. Erster Band, Erste Abteilung. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus.

  • Deussen, P. (1923). Sechzig Upanishad’s des Veda. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumont, P.-É. (1951). The Special kinds of Agnicayana (or special methods of building the Fire-Altar) according to the Kaṭhas in the Taittirīya-Brāhmaṇa: The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth prapāṭhakas of the third kāṇḍa of the Taittirīya-Brāhmaṇa with translation. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 95(6), 628–675.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edgerton, F. (1965). The beginnings of Indian Philosophy. London: George Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eggeling, J. (1882–1900). The Satapatha-Brâhmana according to the text of the Mâdhyandina School (5 Vols.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Sacred Books of the East, Vols. 12, 26, 41, 43, 44.)

  • Esnoul, A.-M. (1968). Notes sur quatre upaniṣad. In Mélanges d’indianisme a la mémoire de Louis Renou (pp. 279–288). Paris: Éditions E. de Boccard.

  • Falk, M. (2004 [1939]). Il mito psicologico nell’ India antica. Milan: Adelphi.

  • Figl, J., & Klein, H.-D. (Eds.). (2002). Der Begriff der Seele in der Religionsgeschichte. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, H. (1965). Studien über Seelenvorstellungen in Ozeanien. Munich: Klaus Renner Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frauwallner, E. (1925). Untersuchungen zum Mokṣadharma. Die nichtsāṃkhyistischen Texte. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 45, 51–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frauwallner, E. (1926). Untersuchungen zu den älteren Upaniṣaden. Zeitschrift für Indologie und Iranistik, 4, 1–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frauwallner, E. (1984). History of Indian Philosophy (Vol. I, V. M. Bedekar, Trans.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Frauwallner, E. (2003). Geschichte der indischen Philosophie. I. Band (A. Pohlus, Ed.). Aacher: Shaker Verlag. (1st ed. 1953.)

  • Frazer, J. G. (1911). The Golden Bough. II: Taboo and the Perils of the Soul. London: Macmillan.

  • Freedman, Y. (2012). Altar of words: Text and ritual in Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2. Numen, 59(4), 322–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gopatha Brāhmaṇa. Ed. D. Gaastra: Das Gopatha Brāhmaṇa, Leiden: Brill, 1919 (e-text available at http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/1_veda/2_bra/gopbra_u.htm). Chap. 1.1 critically ed. by H. C. Patyal, in T. N. Dharmadhikari et al. (Eds.), Vedic texts: A revision. Professor C.G. Kashikar Felicitation Volume (pp. 16–23). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990.

  • Gonda, J. (1963). The vision of the Vedic poets. The Hague: Mouton & Co.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gonda, J. (1975a). Pratiṣṭhā. In Selected studies II: Sanskrit word studies (pp. 340–376). Leiden: Brill.

  • Gonda, J. (1983). The creator and his spirit. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, 27, 5–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotō, T. (1996). Zur Lehre Śāṇḍilyas. Zwischen Brāhmaṇa und Upaniṣad. In N. Balbir & G.-J. Pinault (Eds.), Langue, style et structure dans le monde indien. Centenaire de Louis Renou. Actes du Colloque international (Paris, 25–27 janvier 1996) (pp. 71–89). Paris: Éditions Champion.

  • Hanefeld, E. (1976). Philosophische Haupttexte der älteren Upaniṣaden. Wiesbaden: Otto Harassowitz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasenfratz, H.-P. (1986). Die Seele. Einführung in ein religiöses Grundphänomen. Zürich: Theologische Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillebrandt, A. (1942 [1921]). Aus Brāhmaṇas und Upaniṣaden. Jena: Eugen Diederichs Verlag.

  • Hillebrandt, A. (1987). Vedisch yakṣá. In R. P. Das (Ed.), Kleine Schriften (pp. 331–337). Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. (Originally published in Aus Indiens Kultur: Festgabe Richard von Garbe, ed. J. von Negelein, Erlangen 1927, 17-23.)

  • Hultkrantz, Å. (1953). Conceptions of the soul among North American Indians. Stockholm: The Ethnographical Museum of Sweden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hume, R. E. (1984 [1921]). The thirteen principal Upanishads. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

  • Jacob, G. A. (1971 [1891]). A concordance to the principal Upaniṣads and Bhagavadgītā. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Jacobi, H. (2004 [1895]). Jaina Sūtras (Vol. II). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. (Sacred Books of the East, Vols. 22, 45.)

  • Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa of the Sāmaveda. Eds. R. Vira and L. Chandra, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986 [1954].

  • Jayatilleke, K. N. (2010 [1963]). Early Buddhist theory of knowledge. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Johnston, E. H. (1974 [1937]). Early Sāṃkhya: An essay on its historical development according to the texts. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Joshi, K. L. (2004). Atharvaveda Saṃhitā: Sanskrit Text, English Translation, Notes & Index of Verses. English translation according to W.D. Whitney and Bhāṣya of Sāyaṇācārya. Delhi: Parimal Publications.

  • Jurewicz, J. (2010). Fortress (púr, pura) in the Veda as a Metaphor for the Self (ātmán). In D. Stasik & A. Trynkowska (Eds.), The city and the forest in Indian literature and art (pp. 13–35). Warsaw: Dom Wydawniczy Elipsa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kane, P. V. (1968). History of Dharmaśāstra (Vol. IV). Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, S. T. (1978). Language, epistemology, and mysticism. In S. T. Katz (Ed.), Mysticism and philosophical analysis (pp. 22–74). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keith, A. B. (1975 [1908]). The Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka: With an Appendix on the Mahāvrata. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.

  • Keith, A. B. (2005 [1909]). The Aitareya Āraṇyaka: With introduction, translation, notes, indexes, and an appendix containing the Portion Hitherto Unpublished of the Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers.

  • Kiehnle, C. (1997). The lotus of the heart. Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik, 21, 91–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knipe, D. M. (1975). In the image of fire: Vedic experiences of heat. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuiper, F. B. J. (1983). Ancient Indian cosmogony (J. Irwin, Ed.). New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.

  • Larson, G. J. (2001). Classical Sāṃkhya: An interpretation of its history and meaning (3rd revised ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Lincoln, B. (1986). Myth, cosmos, and society: Indo-European themes of creation and destruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mahābhārata. 19 vols. Eds. V. S. Sukthankar et al. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1927–1966.

  • Malinar, A. (2007). The Bhagavadgītā: Doctrines and contexts. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mayrhofer, M. (1986). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monseur, E. (1905a). L’âme pupilline. Revue de l’histoire des religions, 51, 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monseur, E. (1905b). L’âme poucet. Revue de l’histoire des religions, 51, 361–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murakami, S. (1977). Aṅguṣṭhamātra Puruṣa. Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies, 25, 626–633.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberlies, T. (1988). Die Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad: Eine Studie ihrer Gotteslehre. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, 32, 35–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberlies, T. (1995). Die Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad: Einleitung—Edition und Übersetzung von Adhyaya I. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, 39, 61–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberlies, T. (1996). Die Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad: Einleitung—Edition und Übersetzung von Adhyaya II–III. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, 40, 123–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberlies, T. (1998). Die Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad: Einleitung—Edition und Übersetzung von Adhyaya IV-VI. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, 42, 77–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oertel, H. (1896). The Jaiminīya or Talavakāra Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 16, 79–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oldenberg, H. (1894). Die Religion des Veda. Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldenberg, H. (1919). Vorwissenschaftliche Wissenschaft. Die Weltanschauung der Brāhmaṇa-Texte. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldenberg, H. (1997). The Doctrine of the Upaniṣads and the Early Buddhism (S. B. Shrotri, Trans.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. (German original 1908.)

  • Olivelle, P. (1997). Orgasmic rapture and Divine Ecstasy: The semantic history of ānanda. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 25(2), 153–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olivelle, P. (1998). The early Upaniṣads: Annotated text and translation. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivelle, P. (2006). Heart in the Upaniṣads. Rivista di Studi Sudasiatici, 1, 56–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preisendanz, K. (2005). Soul, body and person in ancient India. In H.-D. Klein (Ed.), Der Begriff der Seele in der Philosophiegeschichte (pp. 119–176). Wiesbaden: Königshausen & Neumann.

  • Radhakrishnan, S. (1953). The principal Upaniṣads. London: George Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reat, N. R. (1990). Origins of Indian Psychology. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinvang, R. (2000). The dialogue between Yājñavalkya and Maitreyī in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4 and 4.5. Acta Orientalia, 61, 145–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renou, L. (1997). On the Word ātmán. In N. Balbir & G.-J. Pinault (Eds.), Choix d’études indiennes II (pp. 877–883). Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient. (First publ. in Vāk 2 1952, 151–157.)

  • Rig Veda: A Metrically Restored Text. Eds. B. van Nooten and G. Holland, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1994.

  • Ruben, W. (1961 [1955]). Beginn der Philosophie in Indien. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.

  • Ṣaḍviṃśa Brāhmaṇa: Ṣaḍviṃśa Brāhmaṇa with Vedārthaprakāśa of Sāyaṇa. Ed. B. R. Sharma. Tirupati: Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, 1967.

  • Śāstrī, G. (1992 [1964]). Ten Principal Upaniṣads with Śāṅkarabhāṣya. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (Mādhyandina). Ed. A. Weber. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series No. 96, 1964 [1849].

  • Scheftelowitz, I. (1966 [1906]). Die Apokryphen des Ṛgveda. Darmstadt: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung.

  • Slaje, W. (2001a). Water and Salt (I): Yājñavalkya’s saindhava dṛṣṭānta (BĀU II 4, 12). Indo-Iranian Journal, 44, 25–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaje, W. (2001b). Water and salt (II): ‘Material’ causality and Hylozoic thought in the Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī dialogue? Indo-Iranian Journal, 44, 299–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaje, W. (2002). Water and salt (III): An analysis and new translation of the Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī dialogue. Indo-Iranian Journal, 45, 205–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staal, F., et al. (2010 [1983]). Agni: The vedic ritual of the fire Altar. I–II. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Taittirīya Āraṇyaka. Ed. with Sāyaṇa’s commentary by R. L. Mitra. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1872.

  • Tylor, E. B. (1873). Primitive culture. I–II. London: John Murray.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Buitenen, J. A. B. (1962). The Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad: A Critical Essay, with Text, Translation, and Commentary. ‘s-Gravenhage: Mouton & Co.

  • van Buitenen, J. A. B. (1964). The Large Ātman. History of Religions, 4(1), 103–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Buitenen, J. A. B. (1978). The Mahābhārata: 4. The Book of Virāṭa. 5. The Book of the Effort. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Vājasaneyi-Mādhyandina-Śukla-Yajurveda-Saṃhitā. Ed. J. L. Śāstri. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999 [1971].

  • Varenne, J. (1960). La Mahā Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad. Édition critique, avec une traduction française, une étude, des notes et, en annexe, la Prāṇāgnihotra Upaniṣad. Tome premier: texte, traduction, notes. Paris: Éditions E. de Boccard.

  • von Negelein, J. (1902). Bild, Spiegel und Schatten im Volksglauben. Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, 5, 1–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Negelein, J. (2014 [1912]). Der Traumschlüssel des Jagaddeva. Ein Beitrag zur indischen Mantik. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

  • Weller, F. (1953). Versuch einer Kritik der Kaṭhopaniṣad. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Widengren, G. (1945). The Great Vohu Manah and the Apostle of God: Studies in Iranian and Manichaean Religion. Uppsala: A.-B. Lundequistska Bokhandeln.

    Google Scholar 

  • Widengren, G. (1969). Religionsphänomenologie. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wijesekera, O. H. De A. (1994a). The Philosophical Import of Vedic Yakṣa and Pali Yakkha. In Buddhist and Vedic Studies: A Miscellany (pp. 131–142). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Wijesekera, O. H. De A. (1994b). Upaniṣadic terms for sense-functions. In Buddhist and Vedic Studies: A Miscellany (pp. 155–166), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Yoga Upaniṣads: The Yoga Upaniṣad-s with the Commentary of Śrī Upaniṣad-Brahmayogin, ed. A. Mahadeva Sastri, Adyar: The Adyar Library and Research Centre, 1983 [1920].

Download references

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Emeritus Professor Folke Josephson for reading and commenting on a preliminary draft of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gothenburg, Sweden

    Per-Johan Norelius

Authors
  1. Per-Johan Norelius
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Per-Johan Norelius.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Norelius, PJ. Mahān puruṣaḥ: The Macranthropic Soul in Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads. J Indian Philos 45, 403–472 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-017-9316-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-017-9316-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation