The Order of the Emanation of the Five Elements in Taittirīyopaniṣad 2.1: A Forgotten Chapter in Indian Philosophy

Abstract

The present paper reexamines a passage on emanation of puruṣa in Taittirīyopaniṣad 2.1, which contains the earliest reference to the fixed order of the five elements (space, wind, fire, water, earth) that is widely accepted and propagated in successive philosophical texts. While later scholastic traditions explain the fixed order of the five elements by the “accumulation theory,” this explanatory model emerges several centuries after the composition of the Taittirīyopaniṣad. By comparing its emanation sequence with the description of rebirth through the path of fathers in Chāndogyopaniṣad 5.10.5–6, this study shows that Taittirīyopaniṣad 2.1 is best understood as a transformation of a liturgical model of transmigration into an elementological framework. This interpretation not only clarifies the original rationale behind the Taittirīyopaniṣad’s elemental order but also reveals a previously overlooked continuity between Vedic ritual idea and subsequent philosophical systematizations.