Pulastya Lineage and Kakutstha Lineage

Question

Two terms have come up — Pulastya-kula-nandana and Kakutstha-kula-bhushana. Their meanings are somewhat clear, but could you explain them a bit more precisely?

Answer

Yes. In the text, Ravana is described as Pulastya-kula-nandana — belonging to the Pulastya lineage. Now, who is Pulastya?

In the Puranas, words are often written in a way that hides their original form. Here, in Pulastya, the real root is Pur — not Pul. The syllable i means expansion or spreading out. So Pulastya (or Purastya) means “that which spreads toward the body.”

In other words, it refers to our consciousness flowing outward toward the physical form.

Now, Ravana represents bodily pride (Dehabhimaan) — the identification with the body. When we forget our true Self and turn our awareness toward the body, that is when the Ravana-like ego is born within us.

So when the scripture says Ravana is Pulastya-vanshi — “of the Pulastya lineage” — it does not refer to a family ancestry in the ordinary sense of forefathers or bloodline. It means that Ravana (bodily pride) arises from that prior inner condition in which our awareness was already flowing toward the body and its pleasures. That state is the true “Pulastya lineage.”

Now, let’s look at Kakutstha-kula-bhushana — the term used for Rama.
This is exactly the opposite in meaning.

The word Kakutstha comes from Kakuda, which refers to the raised hump on the back of a bull or an ox. The root stha means “to be established” or “to stay.” So Kakutstha means “one who is established on the high place,” or “one who abides on elevated ground.”

This “elevated place” symbolizes lofty and noble thoughts.

Rama represents knowledge — self-awareness, the realization of the true Self. And this self-knowledge arises only when our consciousness rests upon higher, purer, nobler thoughts.

So Kakutstha means “one who abides in elevated thought.”
When we live in such elevated understanding, self-realization naturally awakens within us — that is when we truly become Rama, aware of our divine nature as pure consciousness, not as the body.

Thus, Pulastya-vanshi Ravana represents the consciousness that flows downward toward the body, giving rise to ego and attachment.
And Kakutstha-vanshi Rama represents the consciousness that rises upward and abides in noble, pure, and elevated thought — leading to self-knowledge and liberation.