Within the framework of the Dravyasamgraha, pudgala is presented as the material substance, one among the six fundamental dravyas that constitute reality. It is inherently non-conscious, standing in clear contrast to jiva, the conscious principle. Its very name suggests a dynamic nature: that which is subject to integration and disintegration, ceaselessly undergoing processes of combination and separation. As a substance it is eternal, yet its modes and configurations are in constant flux, so that what is stable at the level of dravya is perpetually changing at the level of paryaya. In this way, pudgala provides a vision of matter as both ontologically enduring and phenomenally mutable.

A distinctive mark of pudgala is that it alone possesses the four sense-qualities: color (rupa), taste (rasa), smell (gandha), and touch (sparsha). These are not accidental attributes but essential, inseparable characteristics that make matter available to sensory experience. Because of these qualities, pudgala becomes the basis of all sense-objects and all physical embodiment. It occupies space, extends through spatial units, and forms the entire field of what is ordinarily called the physical world, from the most tangible bodies to the most subtle material conditions. Thus, wherever there is form, taste, smell, or touch, there is the working of pudgala.

The text also portrays pudgala as ranging from the extremely subtle to the gross. At its most minute level it exists as indivisible particles, paramanus, which then combine into aggregates, skandhas. These aggregates can be exceedingly fine, such as the karmic matter that binds to the soul, or gross and perceptible, such as bodies and external objects. The same processes of composition and decomposition govern both the subtle and the gross, so that all material forms are understood as varying configurations of these basic units. Through this lens, the diversity of the material cosmos is seen as a play of endless aggregation and disaggregation of pudgala.

Spiritually, pudgala assumes a crucial role because it is the medium through which karmic bondage occurs. Karmic particles, themselves a form of pudgala, attach to the jiva and obscure its innate purity and knowledge. At the same time, pudgala provides the material basis for the bodies through which living beings act, experience, and progress on the path. Matter is therefore neither dismissed nor demonized; it is recognized as an indispensable partner in the soul’s journey, a non-conscious yet powerful factor shaping the conditions of bondage and the possibilities of liberation.