The Sacrifice of Purusa

 The bronchial tree which is referred to as the samsara vrksa may also be conceived as the body of a man as the various parts of a tree are often compared to the the different portions of the human body such as the trunk, the limbs and the crown. The bigger and heavier branches stemming from the trunk that support the superior and the lighter ones are often compared to hands (for their "holding" and supporting role) for instance.  The commentary [] on the Gita also says [] which is picked up by Govinda Misra for incorporating into his verse translation ("deha rupe sthita..."). It is this "deha" (body) that is known in ancient intellectual circles as the "virat purusa," the "great cosmic person" (more appropriately, "respiratory man" as the context is microcosmic) , one of the most pivotal concepts in ancient Indian thought.

There is the primary bronchus playing the role of the main axis of the body of this tree. By virtue of its supporting role it may be compared to the trunk of an actual tree. It is connected to an upper lobe bronchus, the middle (or the lingular) lobe bronchus and the lower lobe bronchus.

Now this may be regarded as the initial state of the virat purusa--the bronchial tree represented metaphorically as a body. The primary and the secondary bronchi only. For the further development of this "body" a series of "sacrifices" need to be carried out. These "sacrifices" are in truth the dichotomizations of the bronchial conduits that are necessary for the development of the bronchial tree and which will enable it to achieve the desired teleological endpoint. The ancient anatomists have imagined the pulmonary nerves as splitting and dividing the "primordial man" (virat purusa) and it is this conception that has been expressed (poetically) in various passages of the ancient texts such as Purusa Sukta, the creation hymn of the Rg Veda.

This sacrifice of purusa is similar to the development of an embryo. In so far as the respiratory apparatus is a philosophical model meant to illustrate certain general principles, it can also indicate the process of division or differentiation that goes on during the period of organogenesis. The growth of the bronchial tree through this process of sacrifice (dichotomization) thus reflects the growth of the embryo.