Jan Evangelista Purkinje: …parts of the heart (Purkinje fibres; 1839). In describing young animal embryos, he introduced protoplasm as a scientific term.

human eye: Spectral sensitivity curve: …photopic (day) vision, the so-called Purkinje shift. It has been suggested that the cones have a pigment that shows a maximum of absorption at 5550 angstroms, but the phenomena of colour vision demand that there be three types of cones, with three separate pigments having maximum absorption in the red,…

Jan Evangelista Purkinje was a pioneer Czech experimental physiologist whose investigations in the fields of histology, embryology, and pharmacology helped create a modern understanding of the eye and vision, brain and heart function, mammalian reproduction, and the composition of cells. Purkinje’s

Jan Evangelista Purkinje was a pioneer Czech experimental physiologist whose investigations in the fields of histology, embryology, and pharmacology helped create a modern understanding of the eye and vision, brain and heart function, mammalian reproduction, and the composition of cells. Purkinje’s

knitting: …the preceding loop, and the purl stitch, drawn through the back. Some filling knits are fragile because of the dependency of each loop in a vertical row on the stitch next to it. Runs can occur when one loop breaks, releasing other loops in the same row. Filling knits have…

knitting: …the preceding loop, and the purl stitch, drawn through the back. Some filling knits are fragile because of the dependency of each loop in a vertical row on the stitch next to it. Runs can occur when one loop breaks, releasing other loops in the same row. Filling knits have…

Ossie Davis: …Broadway again in the acclaimed Purlie Victorious (1961), a play written by Davis and later adapted for the screen as Gone Are the Days! (1963), which also starred the couple, and as the Broadway musical Purlie (1970). On screen, Davis played a priest who is attacked by the Ku Klux…

The Purloined Letter, short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in an unauthorized version in 1844. An enlarged and authorized version was published in The Gift (an annually published gift book containing occasional verse and stories) in 1845 and was collected the same year in Poe’s Tales.

Noord-Holland: …cattle and cheese markets at Purmerend and Alkmaar. The province’s economy is centred on Amsterdam, the chief commercial centre, and the Zaanstreek industrial area, particularly at Zaandam.

India: The Congress’s ambivalent strategy: The Purna Swaraj resolution—proclaimed on January 26, 1930, later to be celebrated as independent India’s Republic Day—called for “complete freedom from the British” but was later interpreted by Prime Minister Nehru as permitting India to remain within the British Commonwealth, a practical concession young Jawaharlal had…

ghaṭa-pallava: The “full vessel” (pūrṇa-ghaṭa, pūrṇa-kalaśa) is also employed in the rituals of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain sects as a ceremonial offering to the deity or to an honoured guest and as an auspicious symbol used to decorate shrines and buildings. The vessel is filled with water and vegetation,…

ghaṭa-pallava: The “full vessel” (pūrṇa-ghaṭa, pūrṇa-kalaśa) is also employed in the rituals of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain sects as a ceremonial offering to the deity or to an honoured guest and as an auspicious symbol used to decorate shrines and buildings. The vessel is filled with water and vegetation,…

Kamala Markandaya was an Indian novelist whose works concern the struggles of contemporary Indians with conflicting Eastern and Western values. A Brahman, Markandaya studied at the University of Madras, then worked as a journalist. In 1948 she settled in England and later married an Englishman. Her

Madhva was a Hindu philosopher, exponent of Dvaita (“Dualism”; belief in a basic difference in kind between God and individual souls). His followers are called Madhvas. Madhva was born into a Brahman family. As a youth, he was discovered by his parents, after a four-day search, discoursing

Tarumanegara: …powerful king of Tarumanegara was Purnavarman, who conquered neighbouring countries and built a canal to improve irrigation. The main product of the kingdom was indigo; its people practiced Buddhism. Chinese sources refer to the kingdom as To-lo-ma.

Purnia, city, northeastern Bihar state, northeastern India. It lies east of the Saura River, a tributary of the Ganges (Ganga) River. Purnia is a major rail and road junction and is heavily engaged in agricultural trade. The region is one of the major jute-producing areas of India, and such crops

encyclopaedia: The 20th century and beyond: …major instances of coproduction involved The New Caxton Encyclopedia, which originated in Italy with Istituto Geografico de Agostini and subsequently appeared in Great Britain, first sold in serial parts as Purnell’s New English Encyclopedia (1966) and then in a bound set of 18 volumes (1966); in France there appeared a…

Gordon Brown: Prime ministership of Gordon Brown: James Purnell, the secretary of state for work and pensions, resigned from Brown’s cabinet and claimed that Brown’s “continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less likely.…I am therefore calling on you to stand aside to give our party a fighting chance of winning.”…

Purnia, city, northeastern Bihar state, northeastern India. It lies east of the Saura River, a tributary of the Ganges (Ganga) River. Purnia is a major rail and road junction and is heavily engaged in agricultural trade. The region is one of the major jute-producing areas of India, and such crops

Brahman: The Brahman family priest (purohita) officiates at weddings, funerals, and other ceremonial occasions.

animal development: Cleavage: …developing eggs are treated with puromycin, a substance which is known to suppress protein synthesis, cleavage stops immediately. The proteins concerned have not yet been identified. No proteins are synthesized, however, that would foreshadow the future differentiation of parts of the embryo. It is believed that the genes in the…

purple, a shade varying between crimson and violet. Formerly, it was the deep crimson colour called in Latin purpura, from the name of the shellfish Purpura, which yielded the famous Tyrian dye. During many ages Tyrian purple was the most celebrated of all dye colours, and it was possibly the first

cryptology: Developments during World Wars I and II: …a new cipher machine, code-named Purple by U.S. cryptanalysts, in which rotors were replaced by telephone stepping switches. Because the replacement of Red machines by Purple machines was gradual, providing an enormous number of cribs between the systems to aid cryptanalysts, and because the Japanese had taken a shortcut to…

crowberry: Species: Purple crowberry, or rockberry (E. eamesii), is found in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, and red crowberry (E. rubrum) is native to Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands.

crown vetch, (Securigera varia), vigorous trailing plant of the pea family (Fabaceae), widely grown in temperate areas as a ground cover. Crown vetch is native to the Mediterranean region and has naturalized in many places; it is considered an invasive species in parts of the United States. The

foxglove: Major species and uses: …common, or purple, foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is a popular garden ornamental, and numerous hybrids and cultivars have been developed in a range of colours. Other garden species include rusty foxglove (D. ferruginea); yellow foxglove (D. grandiflora); straw, or small yellow, foxglove (D. lutea); and chocolate, or small-flowered, foxglove (D.…

gallinule: The purple gallinule (Porphyrio porphyrio), sometimes called purple swamphen, is about 45 cm long. It occurs around the Mediterranean region and is widely distributed in Africa, southern Asia, and Australia.

gallinule: The purple gallinule of America (Porphyrula martinica), sometimes called water hen or sultana, is about 30 cm long and is bright olive green and purplish blue with a light blue shield, red and yellow bill, and yellow legs and feet. It is found from South Carolina…

purple passion fruit, (Passiflora edulis), species of passion flower (family Passifloraceae) and its edible fruit. The plant is native to Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina and is grown in tropical regions throughout the world. The fruit’s intensely sharp flavour has notes of

Purple Heart, the first U.S. military decoration, instituted by General George Washington in 1782 and awarded for bravery in action. The records show that only three men received it during the American Revolution, all of them noncommissioned officers. Two of these coveted badges still exist. The

442nd Regimental Combat Team, United States infantry unit made up almost entirely of Nisei (second-generation) Japanese American volunteers, formed in 1943 during World War II and active from 1944 until 1946. Also called the Purple Heart Battalion, the unit is the most-decorated in United States

Lewis Milestone: War dramas: …1944 Milestone received praise for The Purple Heart, a stirring tale (cowritten by Darryl F. Zanuck) about U.S. Air Force crewmen (Andrews, Richard Conte, and Granger, among others) who are shot down over Tokyo and tried for war crimes by the Japanese. A Walk in the Sun (1945) was a…

heath: The purple, or Scotch, heath, or bell heather (Erica cinerea), is common in Great Britain and western Europe. Its minute flowers yield much nectar. Other British species are cross-leaved heath, or bog heather (E. tetralix); Cornish heath (E. vagans), found also in western Europe; and fringed,…

heron: The purple heron (A. purpurea) is a darker and smaller Old World form.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: For Love of Biafra and Purple Hibiscus: …began writing her first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003). Set in Nigeria, it is the coming-of-age story of Kambili, a 15-year-old whose family is wealthy and well respected but who is terrorized by her fanatically religious father. Purple Hibiscus garnered the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2005 for Best First Book (Africa)…

honeycreeper: …males; for example, the male purple honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus), an active, acrobatic little bird that frequents gardens and woodlands in Panama and parts of northern South America, is a stunning blue with black mask and wings; the female is green. The male of the green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) of Central…

Phineas Fletcher: …his religious and scientific poem The Purple Island; or, The Isle of Man (1633).

Phineas Fletcher: …his religious and scientific poem The Purple Island; or, The Isle of Man (1633).

locoweed: wootonii), with whitish flowers; crazyweed, or purple loco (Oxytropis lambertii), with pink to purplish flowers; and the showy oxytropis (O. splendens), bearing silvery hairs and rich lavender-pink flowers.

loosestrife: Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), native to Eurasia and now common in eastern North America, grows 0.6 to 1.8 metres (2 to 6 feet) high on riverbanks and in ditches. It has a branched stem bearing whorls of narrow, pointed, stalkless leaves and ending in tall,…

mangosteen, (Garcinia mangostana), handsome tropical tree (family Clusiaceae) native to Southeast Asia and cultivated for its tart-sweet fruit. The mangosteen fruit is highly valued for its juicy, delicate texture and slightly astringent flavour and is commonly eaten fresh, canned, or dried. The

Hirundinidae: ” The purple martin (Progne subis) is the largest North American swallow.

alfalfa, (Medicago sativa), perennial, cloverlike, leguminous plant of the pea family (Fabaceae), widely grown primarily for hay, pasturage, and silage. Alfalfa is known for its tolerance of drought, heat, and cold and for the remarkable productivity and quality of its herbage. The plant is also

Alain Delon: title Purple Noon), based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. Delon went on to even greater fame with roles in Luchino Visconti’s Roccco e i suoi fratelli (1960; Rocco and His Brothers) and Il gattopardo (1963; The Leopard) and Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (1962),…

purple passion fruit, (Passiflora edulis), species of passion flower (family Passifloraceae) and its edible fruit. The plant is native to Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina and is grown in tropical regions throughout the world. The fruit’s intensely sharp flavour has notes of

purple passion fruit, (Passiflora edulis), species of passion flower (family Passifloraceae) and its edible fruit. The plant is native to Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina and is grown in tropical regions throughout the world. The fruit’s intensely sharp flavour has notes of

Minnesota Vikings: …line known as the “Purple People Eaters,” which produced two Hall of Fame members (Alan Page and Carl Eller) and an efficient passing attack led by another future Hall of Fame member, quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Tarkenton paved the way for scrambling quarterbacks by being one of the first signal-callers…

pitcher plant: Sarraceniaceae: The purple, or common, pitcher plant (S. purpurea) has heavily veined, green to reddish, flaring, juglike leaves that bear downward-pointing bristles to keep prey, including salamanders, from escaping. Its flowers are purple-red. The parrot pitcher plant (S. psittacina) has small, fat, red-veined leaves that are topped by beaklike…

Prince: Purple Rain (1984) made him one of the major stars of the 1980s and remains his biggest-selling album. The album, which was the Academy Award-winning soundtrack to a film of the same name, also earned a Grammy Award. Three of its singles were hits: the…

National Film Registry: …Elm Street (1984), the musical Purple Rain (1984), the comedy The Princess Bride (1987), the animated Shrek (2001), and the superhero drama The Dark Knight (2008).

Woody Allen: The 1980s: ” Charming but ultimately downbeat, The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) was the poignant story of a cinema-going Depression-era shop girl (Farrow) whose lacklustre life is enlivened when a swashbuckling actor (Jeff Daniels) literally walks off the screen and into her world.

purple sail, (genus Velella), any of a genus of floating marine animals usually classified in the order Siphonophora (class Hydrozoa) and characterized by a saillike pneumatophore, or gas-filled float. Below the sail hang various structures: tentacles armed with nematocysts, or stinging cells;

sandpiper: The purple sandpiper (C. maritima) breeds in foggy Arctic highlands, chiefly in eastern North America and northern Europe, and winters as far north as Greenland and Great Britain. It is grayish with yellow legs and bill and is easily approached in the field. Another Old World…

gastropod: Classification: …shallow to deep ocean waters; purple snails (Janthinidae) float on the ocean surface after building a raft of bubbles; large numbers of bubble shells occasionally blow ashore. Superfamily Aglossa Parasitic or predatory snails either with a reduced radula or with none, jaws often modified into a stylet-shaped structure; many occur…

Penelope Lively: The Purple Swamp Hen, and Other Stories was published in 2016.

gallinule: The purple gallinule (Porphyrio porphyrio), sometimes called purple swamphen, is about 45 cm long. It occurs around the Mediterranean region and is widely distributed in Africa, southern Asia, and Australia.

bugloss: Purple viper’s bugloss (E. plantagineum) is similar but is larger-flowered and shorter, with softer hair. It is a garden flower.

Verbenaceae: …a woody evergreen vine called purple wreath, or sandpaper vine (P. volubilis). It bears long, hanging clusters of violet-blue pansylike flowers and has oval leaves so rough as to be likened to sandpaper. The 220 species of the genus Lippia bear clusters of white, rose, or purplish flowers. L. canescens…

lorikeet: …of southern Australia, breathtakingly colourful purple-crowned lorikeets (Glossopsitta porphyrocephala) gather in small nomadic flocks to eat fruit, pollinating the flowering mallee in the process. Along with a deep purple cap, the head has red-and-yellow cheek pads. The chin and chest are sky blue, and the green wings are ornamented with…

plum: …number of species, including the purple-leaf plum (P. cerasifera), are used as ornamental plants for their attractive flowers and leaves.

toadflax: bipartita) and purple-net toadflax (L. reticulata), both of which have purple and orange bicoloured flowers.

Justin Bieber: His 2015 album Purpose found an audience beyond his youthful fan base, with each of its first three singles reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Also in 2015, Bieber contributed vocals to Jack Ü’s Grammy Award-winning electro-pop hit “Where Are Ü Now.” Collaborations with other…

infancy: …thus begin to show greater intentionality, and he eventually begins to invent new actions in a form of trial-and-error experimentation. By the 18th month the child has begun trying to solve problems involving physical objects by mentally imagining certain events and outcomes, rather than by simple physical trial-and-error experimentation.

Rick Warren: Warren’s 1995 book, The Purpose-Driven Church, won him renown by focusing on worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry. It was translated into more than 20 languages and used in more than 120 countries by hundreds of thousands of pastors who adapted its principles to their cultural and denominational…

Rick Warren: His next work, The Purpose-Driven Life, encouraged individuals to ask, “What am I here for?” and told them that they were planned for God’s pleasure, formed for God’s family, created to become like Christ, shaped for serving God, and made for a mission. Within six years of its…

international law: Treaties: …organization, a more programmatic or purpose-oriented approach is used in order to assist the organization in coping with change. A purpose-oriented approach also has been deemed appropriate for what have been described as “living instruments,” such as human rights treaties that establish an implementation system; in the case of the…

infancy: …thus begin to show greater intentionality, and he eventually begins to invent new actions in a form of trial-and-error experimentation. By the 18th month the child has begun trying to solve problems involving physical objects by mentally imagining certain events and outcomes, rather than by simple physical trial-and-error experimentation.

Edward C. Tolman: …system in his major work, Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men (1932). He suggested that the unit of behaviour is the total, goal-directed act, using varied muscular movements that are organized around the purposes served and guided by cognitive processes. His system remained behaviourist by its adherence to objective observation…

Edward C. Tolman: …system of psychology known as purposive, or molar, behaviourism, which attempts to explore the entire action of the total organism.

purpura, presence of small hemorrhages in the skin, often associated with bleeding from body cavities and in tissues. It occurs as a result of failure of hemostasis (arrest of bleeding), which may be caused by damage to the wall of small arterial vessels (vascular purpura) in vitamin deficiency

purple, a shade varying between crimson and violet. Formerly, it was the deep crimson colour called in Latin purpura, from the name of the shellfish Purpura, which yielded the famous Tyrian dye. During many ages Tyrian purple was the most celebrated of all dye colours, and it was possibly the first

infectious disease: Bacteria: …covered with a purple rash, purpura fulminans; in this form the blood pressure becomes dangerously low, the heart and blood vessels are affected by shock, and the infected person dies within a matter of hours. Few are saved, despite treatment with appropriate drugs.

purple: …the mollusks Stramonita (also called Purpura) haemastoma and Bolinus (formerly Murex) brandaris, the shells of which have been found adjacent to ancient dyeworks at Athens and Pompeii. The colour-producing secretion is contained in a small cyst adjacent to the head of the animal, and this puslike matter, when spread on…

gastropod: Classification: Murex shells (Muricidae), rock shells (Purpuridae), and coral shells (Coralliophilidae) are common predators, often boring into shells of their prey; rock shells common in cooler waters, others mostly tropical. Superfamily Buccineacea Scavengers that have lost the mechanisms for boring; dove shells (Columbellidae), mud

Finland: Domestic affairs: …National Coalition Party (NCP), and Riikka Purra, leader of the ultranationalist Finns accused the Social Democrats of profligate overspending and made Finland’s public debt a central election issue.

Henri Matisse: Revolutionary years of Henri Matisse: …who included Sarah Stein and Hans Purrmann, organized for him a Left Bank art school, in which he taught off and on until 1911. In 1908 he exhibited in New York City, Moscow, and Berlin.

Mexico: Pre-Columbian Mexico: …produced as early as the Purron phase (2300–1500 bc).

Chan I: …was crowned at Pursat (Poŭthĭsăt), south of the Tonle Sap (“Great Lake”), in 1516. Ruling from Pursat until 1528, he reorganized the Cambodian army and held the Thais in abeyance. When he gained control of the city of Lovek (between the present Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, and the Tonle…

fiscus, the Roman emperor’s treasury (where money was stored in baskets), as opposed to the public treasury (aerarium). It drew money primarily from revenues of the imperial provinces, forfeited property, and the produce of unclaimed lands. Vespasian created the fiscus Alexandrinus and fiscus

horse racing: Match races: …horses, the owners providing the purse, a simple wager. An owner who withdrew commonly forfeited half the purse, later the whole purse, and bets also came under the same “play or pay” rule. Agreements were recorded by disinterested third parties, who came to be called keepers of the match book.…

commercial fishing: Purse seines and lamparas: …nets and the more modern purse seines. Both are typical gear for pelagic fish schooling in large and dense shoals. When these nets are used, a shoal of fish is first surrounded with a curtain or wall of netting that is buoyed at the surface and weighted at the bottom.…

commercial fishing: Purse seiners: In purse seining, the fish shoal is surrounded by the net, which has a rope that seals the bottom of the net to trap the fish. Small fish may be pumped out of the net, or the net can be hauled on board…

spider: Annotated classification: Family Atypidae (purse-web spiders) 43 species of Europe, North America, Japan, Myanmar, and Java. 3 tarsal claws; 6 spinnerets; less than 3 cm long; live in closed silk tubes partly below ground; bite prey through tube and pull it in. Suborder Mesothelae (segmented spiders) About 100…

spider: Annotated classification: Family Atypidae (purse-web spiders) 43 species of Europe, North America, Japan, Myanmar, and Java. 3 tarsal claws; 6 spinnerets; less than 3 cm long; live in closed silk tubes partly below ground; bite prey through tube and pull it in. Suborder Mesothelae (segmented spiders) About 100…

purslane, any of certain small, fleshy annual plants of the genus Portulaca (40–100 species), of the family Portulacaceae. The plants have prostrate, often reddish stems, with spoon-shaped leaves and flowers that open in the sunlight. The common purslane (P. oleracea), or pusley, is a widespread

Portulacaceae, the purslane family of flowering plants, in the order Caryophyllales, with about 15 genera and 500 species of herbs or small shrubs, native primarily to the Pacific coast of North America and southern South America. Members of the family have leaves that often are fleshy and

purslane: The purslane tree (Portulacaria afra), native to South Africa, is a fleshy-leaved, soft-wooded tree up to 4 metres (13 feet) high. It is grown in California as a specimen plant for its succulent habit and its tiny pink flowers that grow in clusters; it is also…

Raoul Walsh: At Warner Brothers: The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra, and White Heat: Pursued (1947) was Walsh’s first western in many years, and it was a good one, with new star Robert Mitchum as an orphan haunted by disturbing dreams about his family’s murder. Cheyenne (1947) was a less-adventurous western with Dennis Morgan and Jane Wyman. Silver River…

Robert Mulligan: In 1971 Mulligan directed The Pursuit of Happiness, a drama about an alienated young man (Michael Sarrazin) who accidentally kills a woman with his car and accepts a prison sentence rather than prove it was an accident. The film drew criticism for its seemingly illogical turns, and it failed…

Will Smith: Movie stardom: Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Ali: …next year he starred in The Pursuit of Happyness, and his performance as a single father who overcomes adversity earned him a second Oscar nomination for best actor. In I Am Legend (2007), Smith appeared as a scientist who is perhaps the last human on Earth following an epidemic. Hancock…

The Pursuit of Love, novel written by Nancy Mitford, published in 1945. The Pursuit of Love and its sequel, Love in a Cold Climate, are thinly disguised autobiographical novels based on Mitford’s life and her outlandish upper-class family. The narrator is sensible, realistic Fanny, who watches with

Lily James: Pam & Tommy and other roles from the 2020s: …Linda Radlett in the miniseries The Pursuit of Love (2021), based on Nancy Mitford’s novel of the same name. In 2022 James starred as Pamela Anderson in the hit Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in a limited…

Johann Klaj: …the Fortsetzung der Pegnitzschäferey (1645; The Pursuit of Pegnitz’s Meadows). He also specialized in religious oratorios and mystery plays, such as Die Auferstehung Jesu Christi (1644; The Resurrection of Jesus Christ), Freudengedicht auf die Geburt Christi (1645; Joyful Verses on the Birth of Christ), Trauerspiel vom leidenden Christus (1645; The…

pursuit racing, in bicycle racing, an event in which teams or individuals start on opposite sides of an oval track with the goal of overtaking the opponents. Because it is unusual, in skilled competition, for one individual or team to overtake the opposition, the winner is declared to be the one

psychomotor learning: Devices and tasks: The multidimensional pursuitmeter requires the learner to scan four dials and to keep the indicators steady by making corrections with four controls (similar to those found in an airplane cockpit). On a rotary pursuitmeter the learner must hold a flexible stylus in continuous electrical contact with a…

Kilimanjaro: …Meyer and the Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller. The Kilimanjaro region is one of Tanzania’s leading producers of mild coffee, barley, wheat, and sugar; other crops include sisal, corn (maize), beans, bananas, wattle bark (Acacia), cotton, pyrethrum, and potatoes. The region is populated by the Chaga (Chagga), Pare, Kahe, and Mbugu…

Puruhá, Ecuadorian Indians of the Andean highlands at the time of the Spanish conquest. Although the highlands are still inhabited by persons of Indian descent, their linguistic, cultural, and tribal identity has been lost, so that there is no longer an identifiable Puruhá people. The Puruhá

Purulia, city, west-central West Bengal state, northeastern India. It lies just north of the Kasai River The city is a major road and rail junction and the region’s major agricultural distribution centre. Oilseed milling, silk and cotton weaving, cane work, and shellac manufacture are the major

Purus River, river that rises in several headwaters in southern Ucayali department, Peru. It flows in a generally northeasterly direction through the rainforests of Peru and Acre state, Brazil. Entering Amazonas state, Brazil, the Purus meanders sluggishly northward, eastward, and northeastward to

nature worship: Heaven and earth deities as partners: >Purusha, an androgynous primal human, who separated through a primordial self-sacrifice into man and woman and from whom the world was created with all its contrasts. Another such creation myth is the cosmic egg, which was separated into the male sky and the female earth.