Indriya

Indriya, “a faculty of sense or action”

Grammar: neuter noun. With jñāna (knowing) it forms jñānendriya, “an organ of knowing”; with karma (action), karmendriya, “an organ of action”.

Meaning: a faculty of the embodied being through which it knows or acts. There are ten: the five jñānendriyas (organs of knowing) and the five karmendriyas (organs of action).

In the scriptures: Hayagrīva, teaching Brahmā the adhivāsa of a mūrti, tells the order in which the tattvas came forth from Vāsudeva. From buddhi came ahaṅkāra, and from ahaṅkāra, manas. From manas arose the five vishayas (objects of the senses): śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa and gandha. From these arose the five indriyas with the power of knowing: tvak (the skin), śrotra (the ear), ghrāṇa (the nose), netra (the eye) and jihvā (the tongue). These are called the jñānendriyas. Pāda (the feet), pāyu (the organ of excretion), pāṇi (the hands), vāk (speech) and upastha (the organ of generation) are the five karmendriyas. After them come the five mahābhūtas, from which the gross body is born (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 59).

In the tattva-nyāsa that follows, each indriya is given its own bīja-akshara. Of the organs of knowing, ḍhaṃ is placed on the skin, ḍaṃ on the eyes, ṭhaṃ on the tongue and ṭaṃ on the nose, and a bīja on the ears. Of the organs of action, bījas are placed on speech and on the hands, jaṃ on the feet, chaṃ on the pāyu and caṃ on the upastha (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 59).

Related terms: Jñānendriya · Karmendriya · Tattva · Tanmātra · Manas · Nyāsa

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 59