In Samkhya, pradhāna (Sanskrit: प्रधान) is the "primal matter," "the first principle from which all material things have evolved.[1] It is an alternate term for prakriti ('material nature' and material desires) in a state of equilibrium of the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas, the three modes of prakrti. When purusha (primal consciousness) comes in contact with prakriti, the balance is distorted, and the 23 principles ('the world') evolves from prakriti.[2]
Badarayana’s Brahma sutras state that pradhana is asabadam, 'not mentioned in the Upanishads', and therefor to be rejected as the first cause.[3] Instead, the later Advaita tradition postulates Brahman as the intelligent, conscious first principle and material and efficient cause of the universe.