The 36 Tattvas - the map of reality
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.
Pure tattvas (śuddha) - the universal · tattvas 1–5
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).
Pure-impure tattvas (śuddhāśuddha) - the veiling · tattvas 6–12
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.
Impure tattvas (aśuddha) - the Sankhya 24 · tattvas 13–36
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.