Pṛthivī (Element)

Pṛthivī · pṛthivī, “the earth, the broad one”

Pṛthivī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Pṛthivī.

Grammar: feminine noun, from pṛthu (broad, wide): “the broad one”, the earth.

Meaning: earth as one of the five mahābhūtas (great elements): earth, water, fire, air and ākāśa. Its quality is gandha (smell), its sense is the nose, and from it comes the solid part of the body.

In the scriptures: in the Brahma Purāṇa, the munis ask Vyāsa to tell them of yoga and sāṅkhya. He teaches that the five mahābhūtas, the first creation of Svayambhū Brahmā, are contained in the bodies of beings, and from each comes a part of the body: from earth the body, its solid part; from water the liquid part; from fire the eyes; from air the five vital airs, prāṇa, apāna and the rest; and from ākāśa the hollow of the belly (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 236).

When the munis ask him to tell adhyātma more fully, Vyāsa says: “O vipras, the five mahābhūtas, pṛthivī, water, fire, air and ākāśa, and the Paramātmā who dwells in them and is the creator of beings: this is adhyātma.” For each element he gives its quality, its sense and its place in the body:

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 237

In the prākṛta pralaya, the dissolution at the end of two parārdhas, Vyāsa tells the munis that the elements dissolve one into the next. First water takes away the quality of smell of the earth, and the earth takes the form of water; then the waters, with a great roar and great speed, flow and fill everything up to the Lokāloka mountain. Then fire takes the taste of water, air the form of fire, and ākāśa the touch of air, until all dissolves into Mahat and Prakṛti (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 233).

Related terms: Mahābhūta · Gandha · Āp · Agni · Vāyu · Ākāśa · Tanmātra · Prākṛta Pralaya

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 233, 236–237