12 Facts About Kapila

Kapila, referred to as Cakradhanus, is a sage in Hindu tradition.

When he came of age, Kapila is most well-known as the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.

Name Kapila appears in many texts, and it is likely that these names refer to different people.

Kapila is credited with authoring an influential sutra, called Samkhya-sutra, which aphoristically presents the dualistic philosophy of Samkhya.

Sata-pitaka Series on the Sakhas of the Yajurveda – estimated to have been composed between 1200 and 1000 BCE – mention of a Kapila Sakha situated in the Aryavarta, which implies a Yajurveda school is named after Kapila.

Related searches

Kapila is credited, in the Baudhayana Dharmasutra, with creating the four Ashrama orders: brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sanyassa, and suggesting that renouncer should never injure any living being in word, thought or deed.

Kapila is said to have made rules for renouncement of the sacrifices and rituals in the Vedas, and an ascetic's attachment instead to the Brahman.

In other Hindu texts such as the Mahabharata, Kapila is again the sage who argues against sacrifices, and for non-violence and an end to cruelty to animals, with the argument that if sacrifices benefited the animal, then logically the family who sacrifices would benefit by a similar death.

Kapila Devahuti Samvada is a text where Devahuti approaches Kapil with a dilemma.

Kapila explains the Samkhya philosophy to set her mind at ease and give her inner peace.

Kapila is mentioned in chapter VIII of the Uttaradhyayana-sutra, states Larson and Bhattacharya, where a discourse of poetical verses is titled as Kaviliyam, or "Kapila's verses".

For example, in the 12th century Hemacandra's epic poem on Jain elders, Kapila appears as a Brahmin who converted to Jainism during the Nanda Empire era.