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A tattva is a "thatness" — a category or level of reality. Sankhya counts 25 tattvas from Prakriti to the five elements. Kashmir Shaivism adds 11 more above them, tracing the whole of existence as a single descent of Consciousness (Shiva) into world and matter — and the spiritual path as the re-ascent back to the source. The 36 tattvas are the most complete map of reality in the Indian tradition.
The five pure tattvas are the levels of pure Consciousness before any sense of separation. Here "I" and "this" are still one; the universe exists only as the Lord's own self-aware radiance.
pure Consciousness (prakāśa) — the changeless light of awareness, the "I am".
the Power of Consciousness (vimarśa) — its self-awareness and will to manifest.
the first faint stir of "I am this" — the universe dimly sensed as one's own being (icchā, will).
the "this" becomes clear and the "I" its ground — the lordship of knowledge (jñāna).
pure knowledge — "I" and "this" held in perfect balance, the level of action (kriyā).
Maya and her five "cloaks" (kañcukas) contract the infinite into the finite individual. Here the one Consciousness forgets its fullness and becomes a limited soul (Purusha) — the root of bondage.
the power of veiling that splits the one into many and hides the Self from itself.
limited agency — the all-doer becomes a doer of little (vs Shiva's sarva-kartṛtva).
limited knowledge — the all-knower becomes a knower of little.
attachment — the ever-full one now feels desire and lack.
time — the eternal is bound into past, present, future.
limitation of order/causality — the free one is bound by law, space and fate.
the individual soul — Consciousness wrapped in the five cloaks; the experiencer.
From Prakriti down, this is the field of Sankhya: nature, the inner instrument (mind), the powers of knowing and acting, the subtle elements and the gross elements. The objective world the soul experiences.
primordial nature — the unmanifest balance of the three guṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas).
intellect — discernment, judgment, decision.
ego — the sense of "I" that appropriates experience.
mind — the coordinating faculty that processes the senses.
hearing — power of knowing through sound (jñānendriya).
touch — power of knowing through the skin.
sight — power of knowing through the eye.
taste — power of knowing through the tongue.
smell — power of knowing through the nose.
speech — power of action through expression (karmendriya).
hands — power of action through grasping.
feet — power of action through movement.
excretion — power of action through elimination.
generation — power of action through procreation.
sound — the subtle essence (tanmātra) of hearing.
touch — subtle essence of contact.
form — subtle essence of sight.
taste — subtle essence of flavour.
smell — subtle essence of odour.
space/ether — the first gross element (mahābhūta).
air — the element of movement.
fire — the element of heat and transformation.
water — the element of cohesion and flow.
earth — the element of solidity; the densest tattva.