ॐ Hindu Of Universe ॐ

“God’s light is within you, It never leaves you.”

Kapila Muni – Founder of the Samkhya Philosophy
Kapila Muni is a renowned sage from ancient times who established the Sankhya Philosophy, which holds a significant place in the philosophical tradition of ancient India. His teachings are described in the Srimad Bhagavatam or Bhagavad Purana.

The Sankhya philosophy describes the structure of the material universe. It formulates the principles underlying the methodology of spiritual knowledge, the highest stage of which is the comprehension of the Absolute Truth.

Birth and Later life
According to Srimad Bhagavatam, the sage is the son of Kardama Muni, one of the Prajapatis, the progenitors of humanity, and Devahuti, the daughter of Swayambhuva Manu. The couple was aware of the divine origin of their son.

Even before Kapila was born, Lord Brahma Himself appeared before Devahuti and revealed that an incarnation of the Supreme Lord would be born from her womb and that the Lord, incarnated as her son, would give her spiritual knowledge. However, the sage’s precise birth time and place cannot be determined. Many years later, the golden-haired Kapila Muni was born with eyes sparkling like lotus petals and feet marked with lotus marks.

According to 16 samskaras of Hindus, a man with an adult son usually renunciates (sannyasa) and leaves home, thus cutting off all ties with family and worldly life. At the same time, he entrusts the care of his wife to his son. Kardama Muni knew that his son was an incarnation of the Supreme Lord. Yet, following the Vedic tradition and desiring to emphasize its importance, he left home and accepted the renounced order of life.

Later, Lord Kapila revealed the Sankhya philosophy to his mother Devahuti and instructed her in Krishna-bhakti (devotion), after which she achieved liberation from the bondage of the material world and found pure love for Krishna.

Kapila Muni is also said to be the incarnation of the Fire God (Agni), and according to Shrimad Bhagvat, Kapila Muni is Lord Vishnu’s fifth incarnation.

Kapila Muni, Raja Sagar and the Holy River Ganga
Raja Sagar was Lord Rama’s ancestor and the king of the Ikshvaku dynasty. He found out that performing 100 Aswhamedha Yagyas would give one control over the whole earth and decided to perform them as per the guidance of Sage Aurva. Lord Indra, the only one to complete 100 Yagyas, was afraid of losing his power to a mortal, so he hid the horse used in the sacrifice near Sage Kapil Muni’s hermitage.

Raja Sagar unable to find his sacrifice animals, sent his 60,000 sons, the Sagar Putras, to find the missing horse. When they reached Kapil Muni’s ashram, they mistook the sage for the thief and started to insult him, interrupting his meditation. Kapil Muni became angry and turned the 60,000 Sagar Putras to ashes, sending their souls to hell.

The horses were standing at Kapil Muni’s ashram until Angshuman finally found them. Anshuman (descendant of Raja Sagar) performed austerities and the sage allowed him to take the horse back. The sage told Angshuman that the souls of his ancestors could only be freed by performing Shraddhas with the holy water of the Ganges. As there was a severe drought before and all the water from the ocean was drunk by Kapil Muni, Angshuman could not complete Shraddhas.

King Bhagirath, a later descendant, took on the task of freeing the souls and prayed to Lord Brahma to bring the Ganges to earth. Brahma agreed and asked Lord Vishnu to allow it. He warned that the Ganges would destroy everything if it was not controlled, and asked Lord Shiva to bear its force. Shiva agreed and the Ganges descended to earth gently after losing its force in the labyrinth of Shiva’s hair. With Ganga’s water, Bhagirath finally performed the death rites of Sagar raja’s 60000 sons and freed their souls from Patal Lok.

The myths transform into legends, tales, and convictions. Tieing up with historical figures, River Ganges was named Bhagirathi in honor of Bhagirath, the ocean – Sagar after Sagar Raja, and an island – Sagardwip. Millions of pilgrims from around the world visit the Gangasagar Mela during Makar Sankranti to seek Moksha. They believe that a dip in the holy water will remove their sorrows and sins. They visit Kapil Muni’s ashram and chant the hymn “Sab Tirth Bar Bar Ganga Sagar Ekbar”.

What is Sankhya Philosophy?
Sankhya philosophy describes the basic categories and principles of the physical world; in this sense, we can apply the term “metaphysics” to it. The word Sankhya means “to count.” The origin of this name is because the Sankhya philosophy analyzes the structure of the universe, highlighting and bringing into a system the elementary principles underlying it.

Thus, from an etymological point of view, Sankhya means “an exhaustive explanation based on the analysis of material elements.” The philosophical content of Sankhya is reduced to an analytical approach that allows us to understand the difference between matter and spirit. This analysis leads us to bhakti, the devotional service of the Lord. Thus, Sankhya and bhakti are two aspects of the same process.

According to Kapila Muni, the method of devotional service is so perfect that simply by following the principles of bhakti-yoga and following the instructions of the spiritual master, one becomes liberated and freed from the influence of Maya (worldly illusion). However, he remains in his material body. Anyone who practices other types of yoga or follows the path of philosophical search for truth never knows whether he has reached perfection or not.

But for a person who is engaged in devotional service, firmly believes in the instructions of his Guru, and follows all the principles of bhakti-yoga, liberation is guaranteed already in this life.

Sometimes doubt arises in the minds of neophytes as to whether the master is a liberated person. Often, they are distrustful of the bodily activities of their spiritual master. Still, one cannot judge whether he is a liberated person or not by the physical activities of a spiritual master.

A person is in a material body; therefore, he still has some material needs because the body is material. But because he is completely absorbed in the service of the Lord, he should be considered a liberated soul.

Teaching of Kapila Muni
Kapila Muni (SB 3.25.16): “When one is completely cleansed of the impurities of lust and greed produced from the false identification of the body as “I” and bodily possessions as “mine,” one’s mind becomes purified.”

A beautiful description of Kapila Muni’s knowledge preached to his mother, Devahuti, is showcased in Srimad Bhagavad. Maharishi Kapila (Sage Kapila) enlightened Devahuti about the philosophy of yoga and Lord Vishnu’s superiority.

For knowledge, the mind and soul of a person must gain disinterest from all worldly pleasures and bodily possessions.
A person’s mind will eventually control the five senses. The incapability of performing such ascetic renunciation leads a person to live a misfortune life and suffer from a misfortune death.
With the dedication to Supreme Lord, the heart and soul are purified. Knowledge emerges only in a pure mind through devotion.

Biography of Kapila Rishi
At the outset it must be admitted that the composition of a historical biography of Rishi Kapila is, in our age, a near impossibility. As with many other ancient sages, available records are scant and unverifiable. What we can say is that there can be no doubt that such an individual as the founder of the Sankhya philosophy did live at some exceedingly remote age, did teach a specific doctrine, and did leave traces of both his grandure as a rishi and the grandure of his knowledge. We will therefore attempt a brief survey of these traces with the aim of suggesting an idea or two as to the nature of both the man and the teaching.

Upon review of several ancient texts, primarily the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana, it becomes clear that when dealing with the name Kapila, we are not dealing with one individual man in one historical epoch, but rather, as H.P. Blavatsky suggests 1, we see that there are, in fact, several Kapilas. 1b Blavatsky further suggests that “the Kapila who slew King Sagara’s progeny 2—60,000 men strong—was undeniably Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya philosophy”. We see a second use of the name Kapila in denoting one of the Kumaras (or also as a generic name for the Kumaras collectively), this being the Kapila who is the “fifth incarnation of Vishnu” of the Bhagavata Purana and one of the seven “sons of Brahman” of the Mahabharata. 3 Another Kapila is said to have been a brahmin and a boddhisattva, whose followers named their newly-founded city after him (Kapilavastu), which later became the birthplace of Gautama Buddha. 4 Other Kapilas no doubt play into the blended mythology of the character we seek to know, leading to a curiously mythical single individual, bound up in the stories of these many. When attempting to reveal to ourselves the life of the founder of Sankhya, we must carefully distinguish between these Kapilas, and this is itself a tall task. 5

Our first order of business may be to ascertain some notion of the age in which the original founder of Sankhya lived. It takes little effort in this direction to conclude that such a Kapila belongs not to the ages of which we have true historical records, but rather to some previous era of which we have little more than hints and myths. We first recognize that Kapila belongs to a time anterior to the initial composition of the Mahabharata. 6 We second recognize that as his teachings are put forth in that work as being already, at that time, considered ancient, 7 already having been handed down through the Sankhya school in a formal system of teaching, 8 and that many Sankhyas are therein said to have already attained the goal of Yoga since the time of Kapila; 9 we recognize from this that his life must have been not merely anterior to, but far before the composition of the Mahabharata.

Furthermore, in that great epic, when the schools of Indian thought are mentioned, they are given as the “Sankhya, Yoga, the Pancha-ratra, Vedas, and Pasupati”, among others. No mention is given of many schools of thought to which the modern reader is familiar, including the four other darshanas common to Indian history. Furthermore, it is made clear that the Yoga spoken of here is not the yoga system of Patanjali, but rather the yoga of Hiranyagarbha. 10 Thus we see that of the modern six darshanas of Indian philosophy, the Sankhya is by far the eldest, and Kapila is by far the most ancient of founders. 11

Another avenue used in attempting to locate the sage Kapila is through a review of Sankhya texts, but we quickly find this to be a dead-end (though it will reveal something of importance). The text most commonly used as the foundation of modern Sankhya is the Samkhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna, but this text itself admits to being drawn up based on earlier texts of which we currently have no trace. 12 Furthermore, The date of Ishvara Krishna is itself open to debate. The text of the Samkhya Karika was commented upon by Gaudapada (along with several others), and if this be the same Gaudapada who commented upon the Mandukya Upanishad, then we may place Ishvara Krishna in the century immediately preceding Gautama Buddha. 13 If the Gaudapada be a different one, and Ishvara Krishna is seen to have lived much later, it makes no change in the fact that the Sankhya works we have today are not the original Sankhya texts.

These and similar considerations caused Prof. Max Müller to wonder aloud:

“Everybody has wondered, therefore, what could have become of the real Samkhya-Sutras, if they ever existed; or, if they did not, why there should never have been such Sutras for so important a system of philosophy as the Samkhya. There is clearly a great gap between the end of the Upanishad period and the literary period that was able to give rise to the metrical work of Isvara Krishna. In what form could the Samkhya-philosophy have existed in that interval?” 14

Müller goes on to propose that the Tattva Samasa, of which we do have extant copies, is an original work of Kapila, the founder of Sankhya, but this remains to be verified. It is no doubt an older work than the Samkhya Karika, and while it may indeed be an original work of the original Kapila, it must certainly not be the sole work of both that great founder and all Sankhyas who lived between him and Ishvara Krishna!

Of the extant texts T. Subba Row comments that:

“Some strange ideas are afloat about this system. It is supposed that the Sutras we possess represent the original aphorisms of Kapila. But this has been denied by many great teachers, including Sankaracharya, who say that they do not represent his real views, but those of some other Kapila, or the writer of the book. The real Sankya philosophy is identical with the Pythagorean system of numerals, and the philosophy embodied in the Chaldean system of numbers. The philosopher’s object was to represent all the mysterious powers of nature by a few simple formulae, which he expressed in numerals. The original book is not to be found, though it is possible that it still exists. The system now put forward under this name contains little beyond an account of the evolution of the elements and a few combinations of the same which enter into the formation of the various tatwams.” 15

Indeed, all extant Sankhya works treat of little more than the basics of these tattvas. 16

H.P. Blavatsky takes a similar position as T. Subba Row:

“The numerous schools begotten by Kapila, reflect his philosophy no clearer than the doctrines left as a legacy to thinkers by Timon, Pyrrho’s “Prophet,” as Sextus Empiricus calls him.” 17

What begins to present itself here is the existence of a later school of Sankhya thought, spearheaded perhaps by a later Kapila and carried forward by Ishvara Krishna into the system we have today, but as we will see, this cannot be the same as the original Sankhya teachings, nor can this Kapila be the same as the original founder of Sankhya.

H.P. Blavatsky relates an interesting idea in relation to the antiquity of the true founder of Sankhya when she discussed the allegory of Sagara’s sixty-thousand sons who are burnt to ashes by his glance. 2 She first proposes that the story is allegorical and then gives one interpretation, that the sons:

“… are the personification of the human passions that a “mere glance of the sage”—the SELF who represents the highest state of purity that can be reached on earth—reduces to ashes.” 1

From this is revealed a similar story as that of Gautama Buddha, who sat under the Bodh tree in meditation until all ‘lower elements’ were conquered (represented in the case of that story by Mara and his helpers)—we see Kapila sitting in meditation (at the foot of the Ganges, as tradition tells us), until all ‘lower elements’ (the sons of Sagara) are conquered, bringing Enlightenment or Liberation to that great sage.

H.P.B. continues:

“But it [the allegory] has also other significations—cyclic and chronological meanings,—a method of marking the periods when certain sages flourished.” 1

Building on this idea, she then relates the following:

“Now it is as well ascertained as any tradition can be, that it was at Hardwar (or Gangadwara, the “door or gate of the Ganges”) at the foot of the Himalayas, that Kapila sat in meditation for a number of years. Not far from the Sewalik range, the “pass of Hardwar” is called to this day “Kapila’s Pass”; and the place, “Kapilasthen,” by the ascetics. It is there that Ganga (Ganges) emerging from its mountainous gorge, begins its course over the sultry plains of India. And it is as clearly ascertained by geological survey that the tradition which claims that the ocean ages ago washed the base of the Himalayas—is not entirely without foundation, for there are traces left of this. . . .
Now Sagara is the name of the Ocean, and even of the Bay of Bengal, at the mouth of the Ganges, to this day in India (Vide Wilson’s Vishnu Purâna, Vol. III. p. 309). Have geologists ever calculated the number of millenniums it has taken the sea to recede to where it is now, from Hardwar, 1,024 feet above the level of the sea at present? If they did, those Orientalists who show Kapila flourishing from the 1st to the 9th cent. A.D., might change their opinions, if only for one of two very good reasons: the true number of years elapsed since Kapila’s day is in the Purânas unmistakably, though the translators fail to see it. And secondly—the Kapila of the Satya, and the Kapila of the Kali-Yugas may be one and the same INDIVIDUALITY, without being the same PERSONALITY.” 1

She furthermore relates that:

“The Sankhya philosophy may have been brought down and taught by the first, and written out by the last Kapila.” 1

Now, these ideas may not appeal to all, and certainly they cannot be used as evidence for any purely modern-style historical biography, but the notions may be well worth considering. One thing is clear, at the very least, that H.P. Blavatsky considered the Kapila who “brought down” the Sankhya philosophy to have belonged to a remote, pre-historical age, and there to have been a much later Kapila, from whom extant teachings may find their source. This is supported, in its own way, by the traditions of other schools, who similarly view an original Kapila as having lived in an era western historians would consider impossible. 18

Moving on now from these considerations, we must take up some biographical notes on the sage, keeping always in mind that we are dealing with more than one individual in this mixed bag of history and myth.

We first take up the primary biographical source on Kapila, the Bhagavata Purana. 19 We find this Kapila’s parentage in Canto 2, thus:

“He [[the Lord]] took birth in the house of the twice-born Kardama [‘the shadow of the Creator’] from the womb of Devahûti [‘the invocation of the Gods’] together with nine sisters.” (BP 2:7:3)

Kapila’s father is self-described as a “ordinary householder” (BP 3:24:30), and is said to have “left for the forest” (BP 3:25:6), i.e. retired from householder life to pursue spiritual life. He is referred to in the above verse as “twice-born” (dwija), a Brahman or an Initiate, as the case may be.

The high purpose of Kapila’s birth is described later, in words attributed to Brahmā himself:

“[Brahmâ said:] … I know that the original enjoyer, the bestower of all that is desired by the living entities, descended by dint of His internal potency and has assumed the body of Kapila Muni oh sage. By spiritual knowledge and the science of the yogic uniting of consciousness He who is known by His golden hair, His lotus eyes and lotus-marked feet, will uproot the foundation of profit-minded labor. Know oh Devahûti that the killer of the demon Kaithabha has entered your womb and with cutting the knot of ignorance and doubt will travel all over the world. This personality will be the leader of the perfected ones,His Vedic analysis will carry the approval of the teachers of example [the âcâryas] and to your greater fame, He will be celebrated in the world as Kapila.’” (BP 3:24:16-19)

We see here, as with many other sages, that Kapila’s purpose was not solely to bring knowledge and teachings, but also to enact reforms in the world—in this case Kapila is said to have come in part to “uproot the foundation of profit-minded labor”. We are reminded of the words of Krishna from the Bhagavad Gita:

“… When Righteousness
Declines, O Bharata! when Wickedness
Is strong, I rise, from age to age, and take
Visible shape, and move a man with men,
Succouring the good, thrusting the evil back,
And setting Virtue on her seat again.” 20

Upon his father’s departure, Kapila is said to have remained with his mother, Devahuti, and it is from this point that the teachings of this Kapila are recorded in the Purana, through words ascribed to Maitreya.

There is little else of biographical nature in the Bhagavata Purana, nor in any other text, for the majority of references to Kapila are directed towards his teachings, as opposed to the details of his earthly life. We have then, but these small fragments describing the sage:

He was born of Kardama and Devahuti.
He taught Devahuti his doctrine.
He sat in meditation for many years at the mouth of the Ganges river.
He founded the sect of the Sankhyas.

And even these may be treating of two or more Kapilas!

It is thus to the teachings of Kapila that we must naturally progress, just as the Purana does, if we wish to gain some concept of the nature of the sage, but we must ever keep in mind that we do not have the original teachings of Kapila in any detailed treatise; what we have are fragments, recorded by others and colored by their own perceptions.

Maharishi Kapila: The Perfect Being
Kapila Muni, a renowned sage of antiquity, is the author of the philosophical system known as Sankhya, which forms an important part of India’s ancient philosophical heritage. Sankhya is both a system of metaphysics, dealing with the elemental principles of the physical universe, and a system of spiritual knowledge, with its own methodology, culminating in full consciousness of the Supreme Absolute.

He is believed to have been born in Prabhas Kshetra near Dwaraka in Gujarat, India to Kardam Muni and Devahuti. His birth is dated around 600 BCE but other sources give much earlier period.

Kapila is described in the Puranas as an avatar of Lord Vishnu who came to earth to restore the spiritual balance through his teachings. He is known for teaching a process of liberation known as bhakti yoga.

Kapila is the brother and teacher of Anusuya, also known as “Sati Anasuya” the chaste wife and the mother of Dattatreya. He is considered to be a descendant of Manu, the primal human being, and a grandson of Lord Brahma.

According to the Vedic social system, a man with a grown son may accept the order of sannyasa, thus renouncing all connections with his family and worldly life, and entrust his wife to the care of his son. With this in mind, Kardam Muni took a vow of silence and went to live in the forest as an ascetic, entrusting Devahuti in his son’s care. Kapila instructed his mother Devahuti in the philosophy of yoga and worship of Lord Vishnu, enabling her to achieve self-realization and attain moksha (liberation) from the cycle of death and rebirth.

Kapila is mentioned by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as the greatest of all perfected beings:

Of all trees I am the banyan tree, and of the sages among the demigods I am Narada. Of the Gandharvas I am Citraratha, and among perfected beings I am the sage Kapila. (10.26)

In fact, Kapila’s teachings are quoted extensively within the Srimad Bhagavatam.

In the Mahabharata (3.107), Kapila is a major figure associated with the descent of Goddess Ganga as a river from heaven.

King Sagar of Ayodhya, an ancestor of Rama, had performed the Aswamedha sacrifice ninety-nine times. On the hundredth time, Indra, the king of Devas became jealous and kidnapped the horse, hiding it in the hermitage of Kapila.

The 60,000 sons of Sagara found the white horse tied beside the meditating Kapila. The enraged princes condemned Kapila as a thief and attacked him. When the sage opened his eyes in anger, his immense power turned the princes into ashes. Anshuman, one of the grandsons of King Sagara, begged the Sage to redeem the souls of all those he had turned to ashes. Kapila replied that they could only be redeemed if Goddess Ganges descended from heaven and touched their ashes.

Bringing Ganga River to Earth was a near impossible task which could not be completed by successive generations. As a result, the negative impact of the dead princes multiplied in their destructive energy and the kingdom began to lose its peace and prosperity. Unable to bear the suffering of his people, King Bhagirath, a descendant of King Sagara, turned over the kingdom to his trusted ministers to perform harsh penance. He finally succeeded in bringing Ganga River down and redeemed the souls of his ancestors.

According to the oldest available Samkhya work, Isvarakrsna’s Samkhya-karika (“Verses on Samkhya,” c. second century AD) Kapila taught his principles to Asuri, who taught them to Pañcasikha, the Gandharva.

Sankhya deals with the elemental categories or principles of the physical universe, Sankhya is what Western scholars generally refer to as “metaphysics.” The term sankhya literally means “to count.” This name is used because Sankhya philosophy enumerates principles of cosmic evolution by rational analysis. The etymological meaning of the word sankhya is “that which explains very lucidly by analysis of material elements.”

Philosophically, this term is used because the Sankhya system expounds analytical knowledge that enables one to distinguish between matter and spirit. This understanding culminates in bhakti, devotion for and service to the Supreme. It may be said, therefore, that Sankhya and bhakti form two aspects of the same process, bhakti being the ultimate goal or ultimate aspect of Sankhya.

Some Buddhist texts claim that the Buddha was Kapila in his previous life while other sources present him as a well-known philosopher whose students built the city of Kapilvastu. According to one tradition, this city is believed to be the birthplace of the Buddha.

Swami Vivekananda considered Kapila to be “the greatest psychologist the world has ever known” and said, “there is no philosophy in the world that is not indebted to Kapila.”

Kapila
Page Contents

Kapila (कपिल) is a given name of different individuals in ancient and medieval Indian texts, of which the most well-known is the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. Kapila of Samkhya fame is considered a Vedic sage, estimated to have lived in the 6th-century BCE, or the 7th-century BCE.

Rishi Kapila is credited with authoring the influential Samkhya-sutra, in which aphoristic sutras present the dualistic philosophy of Samkhya. Kapila’s influence on Buddha and Buddhism have long been the subject of scholarly studies.

Many historic personalities in Hinduism and Jainism, mythical figures, pilgrimage sites in Indian religion, as well as an ancient variety of cow went by the name Kapila.

Biography
The name Kapila appears in many texts, and it is likely that these names refer to different people. The most famous reference is to the sage Kapila with his student Āsuri, who in the Indian tradition, are considered as the first masters of Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. While he pre-dates Buddha, it is unclear which century he lived in, with some suggesting 6th-century BCE. Others place him in the 7th century BCE. This places him in the late Vedic period (1500 BCE to 500 BCE), and he has been called a Vedic sage.

Kapila is credited with authoring an influential sutra, called Samkhya-sutra (also called Kapila-sutra), which aphoristically presents the dualistic philosophy of Samkhya. These sutras were explained in another well studied text of Hinduism called the Samkhyakarika. Beyond the Samkhya theories, he appears in many dialogues of Hindu texts, such as in explaining and defending the principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) in the Mahabharata.

Hinduism
The name Kapila is used for many individuals in Hinduism, few of which may refer to the same person.

In Vedic texts
The Rigveda X.27.16 mentions Kapila (daśānām ekam kapilam) which the 14th-century Vedic commentator Sayana thought refers to a sage; a view which Chakravarti in 1951 and Larson in 1987 consider unreliable, with Chakravarti suggesting that the word refers to one of the Maruts, while Larson and Bhattacharya state kapilam in that verse means “tawny” or “reddish-brown”; as was also translated by Griffith.

King Amsuman and the yogic sage Kapila. The Samkhya school traditionally traces itself back to sage Kapila.
King Amsuman and the yogic sage Kapila. The Samkhya school traditionally traces itself back to sage Kapila.

The Śata-piṭaka Series on the Śākhās of the Yajurveda – estimated to have been composed between 1200 and 1000 BCE – mention of a Kapila Śākhā situated in the Āryāvarta, which implies a Yajurveda school was named after Kapila. The term Kapileya, meaning “clans of Kapila”, occurs in the Aitareya Brahmana VII.17 but provides no information on the original Kapila. The pariśiṣṭa (addenda) of the Atharvaveda (at XI.III.3.4) mentions Kapila, Āsuri and Pañcaśikha in connection with a libation ritual for whom tarpana is to be offered. In verse 5.2 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, states Larson, both the terms Samkhya and Kapila appear, with Kapila meaning color as well as a “seer” (Rishi) with the phrase “ṛṣiṃ prasūtaṃ kapilam … tam agre..“; which when compared to other verses of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad Kapila likely construes to Rudra and Hiranyagarbha. However, Max Muller is of view that Hiranyagarbha, namely Kapila in this context, varies with the tenor of the Upanishad, was distinct and was later used to link Kapila and assign the authorship of Sankya system to Hiranyagarbha in reverence for the philosophical system.

In the Puranas
Kapila, states George Williams, lived long before the composition of the Epics and the Puranas, and his name was coopted in various later composed mythologies.

As an ascetic and as sleeping Vishnu: In the Brahma Purana, when the evil king Vena abandoned the Vedas, declared that he was the only creator of dharma, and broke all limits of righteousness, and was killed, Kapila advises hermits to churn Vena’s thigh from which emerged Nishadas, and his right hand from which Prthu originated who made earth productive again. Kapila and hermits then went to Kapilasangama, a holy place where rivers meet. The Brahma Purana also mentions Kapila in the context of Sagara’s 60,000 sons who looking for their Ashvamedha horse, disturbed Vishnu who was sleeping in the shape of Kapila. He woke up, the brilliance in his eyes burnt all but four of Sagara’s sons to ashes, leaving few survivors carrying on the family lineage.
As Vishnu’s incarnation: The Narada Purana enumerates two Kapilas, one as the incarnation of Brahma and another as the incarnation of Vishnu. The Puranas Bhagavata, Brahmanda, Vishnu, Padma, Skanda, Narada Purana; and the Valmiki Ramayana mentions Kapila is an incarnation of Vishnu. The Padma Purana and Skanda Purana conclusively call him Vishnu himself who descended on earth to disseminate true knowledge. Bhagavata Purana calls him Vedagarbha Vishnu. The Vishnusahasranama mentions Kapila as a name of Vishnu. In his commentary on the Samkhyasutra, Vijnanabhikshu mentions Kapila, the founder of Samkhya system, is Vishnu. Jacobsen suggests Kapila of the Veda, Śramaṇa tradition and the Mahabharata is the same person as Kapila the founder of Samkhya; and this individual is considered as an incarnation of Vishnu in the Hindu texts.
As son of Kardama muni: The Book 3 of the Bhagavata Purana, states Kapila was the son of Kardama Prajapati and his wife Devahuti. Kardama was born from Chaya, the reflection of Brahma. Brahma asks Kardama to procreate upon which Kardama goes to the banks of Sarasvati river, practices penance, visualizes Vishnu and is told by Vishnu that Manu, the son of Brahma will arrive there with his wife Shatarupa in search of a groom for their daughter Devahuti. Vishnu advises Kardama to marry Devahuti, and blesses Kardama that he himself will be born as his son. Besides Kapila as their only son, Kardama and Devahuti had nine daughters, namely Kala, Anusuya, Sraddha, Havirbhu, Gita, Kriya, Khyati, Arundhati and Shanti who were married to Marici, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kritu, Vashistha, and Atharvan respectively. H.H.Wilson notes the Bhagavatha adds a third daughter Devahuti to introduce the long legend of Kardama, and of their son Kapila, an account not found elsewhere. Kapila is described, states Daniel Sheridan, by the redactor of the Purana, as an incarnation of the supreme being Vishnu, in order to reinforce the Purana teaching by linking it to the traditional respect to Kapila’s Samkhya in Hinduism. In the Bhagavata Purana, Kapila presents to his mother Devahuti, the philosophy of yoga and theistic dualism. Kapila’s Samkhya is also described through Krishna to Uddhava in Book 11 of the Bhagavata Purana, a passage also known as the “Uddhava Gita”.
As son of Kashyapa: The Matsya Purana mentions Kapila as the son of Kashyapa from his wife Danu, daughter of Daksha Prajapati. Kapila was one among Danu’s 100 sons, and her other sons (Kapila’s brothers) mentioned in the Vishnu Purana include Dvimurddha, Shankara, Ayomukha, Shankhushiras, Samvara, Ekachakra, Taraka, Vrishaparvan, Svarbhanu, Puloman, Viprachitti and other Danavas.
As son of Vitatha or Bharadwaja: In the Brahma Purana and in the Harivamsa Kapila was the son of Vitatha. Daniélou translates Vitatha to inaccuracy; and Wilson notes Bharadwaja was also named Vitatha (unprofitable);while he was given in adoption to Bharata. Vishnu Purana notes Bhavanmanyu was the son of Vitatha but Brahma Purana and Harivamsa omit this and make Suhotra, Anuhotra, Gaya, Garga, and Kapila the sons of Vitatha. The Brahma Purana differs from other puranas in saying Vitatha was the son of Bharadwaja; and upon the death of Bharata, Bharadwaja installed Vitatha as the king, before leaving for the forest.
In the Dharmasutras and other texts
Non-violence

Fearlessness to all living beings from my side,
Svāhā!

—Kapila, Baudhayana Grihya Sutra, 4.16.4
Translators: Jan E. M. Houben, Karel Rijk van Kooij

As son of Prahlada: The Baudhayana Dharmasutra mentions the Asura Kapila was the son of Prahlada in the chapter laying rules for the Vaikhanasas. The section IV.16 of Baudhāyana Gṛhyasūtra mentions Kapila as the one who set up rules for ascetic life. 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. He 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. According to Chaturvedi, in a study of inscriptions of Khajuraho temples, the early Samkhya philosophers were possibly disciples of female teachers.
Imagery in the Agamas
Kapila’s imagery is depicted with a beard, seated in padmāsana with closed eyes indicating dhyāna, with a jaṭā-maṇḍala around the head, showing high shoulders indicating he was greatly adept in controlling breath, draped in deer skin, wearing the yagñopavīta, with a kamaṇḍalu near him, with one hand placed in front of the crossed legs, and feet marked with lines resembling outline of a lotus. This Kapila is identified with Kapila the founder of Sāṅkhya system; while the Vaikhānasasāgama gives somewhat varying description. The Vaikhānasasāgama places Kapila as an āvaraņadēvāta and allocates the south-east corner of the first āvaraņa. As the embodiment of the Vedas his image is seated facing east with eight arms; of which four on the right should be in abhaya mudra, the other three should carry the Chakra, Khaḍga, Hala; one left hand is to rest on the hip in the kațyavarlambita pose and other three should carry the Ṡaṅkha, Pāśa and Daṇḍa.

Other descriptions
The name Kapila is sometimes used as an epithet for Vasudeva with Vasudeva having incarnated in the place named Kapila.
Pradyumna assumed the form of Kapila when he became free from desire of worldly influences.
Kapila is as one of the seven Dikpalas with the other 6 being Dharma, Kala, Vasu, Vasuki, Ananta.
The Jayakhya Samhita of 5th century AD alludes to the Chaturmukha Vishnu of Kashmir and mentions Vishnu with Varaha, Nrsimha and Kapila defeated the asuras who appeared before them in zoomorphic forms with Nrsimha and Varaha posited to be incarnations of Vishnu and Kapila respectively.
In the Vamana Purana, the Yakshas were sired by Kapila with his consort Kesini who was from the Khasa class; though the epics attribute the origin of Yakshas to a cosmic egg or to the sage Pulastya; while other puranas posit Kashyapa as the progenitor of Yakshas with his consort Vishva or Khasha.
In some puranas, Kapila is also mentioned as a female, a daughter of Khaśā and a Rākșasī, after whom came the name Kāpileya gaņa. In the Mahabharat, Kapila was a daughter of Daksha and having married Kashyapa gave birth to the Brahmanas, Kine, Gandharvas and Apsaras.
Jainism
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”.

The name Kapila appears in Jaina texts. 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.

According to Jnatadharmakatha, Kapila was a contemporary of Krishna and the Vasudeva of Dhatakikhanda. The text further mentions that both of them blew their shankha (counch) together.

Buddhism
Buddhists literature, such as the Jataka tales, state the Buddha was Kapila in one of his previous lives.

Scholars have long compared and associated the teachings of Kapila and Buddha. For example, Max Muller wrote (abridged),

There are no doubt certain notions which Buddha shares in common, not only with Kapila, but with every Hindu philosopher. (…) It has been said that Buddha and Kapila were both atheists, and that Buddha borrowed his atheism from Kapila. But atheism is an indefinite term, and may mean very different things. In one sense, every Indian philosopher was an atheist, for they all perceived that the gods of the populace could not claim the attributes that belong to a Supreme Being (Absolute, the source of all that exists or seems to exist, Brahman). (…) Kapila, when accused of atheism, is not accused of denying the existence of an Absolute Being. He is accused of denying the existence of an Ishvara.

— Max Muller et al., Studies in Buddhism
Max Muller states the link between the more ancient Kapila’s teachings on Buddha can be overstated. This confusion is easy, states Muller, because Kapila’s first sutra in his classic Samkhya-sutra, “the complete cessation of pain, which is of three kinds, is the highest aim of man”, sounds like the natural inspiration for Buddha. However, adds Muller, the teachings on how to achieve this, by Kapila and by Buddha, are very different.

As Buddhist art often depicts Vedic deities, one can find art of both Narayana and Kapila as kings within a Buddhist temple, along with statues of Buddhist figures such as Amitabha, Maitreya, and Vairocana.

In Chinese Buddhism, the Buddha directed the Yaksha Kapila and fifteen daughters of Devas to become the patrons of China.

Works
The following works were authored by Kapila, some of which are lost, and known because they are mentioned in other works; while few others are unpublished manuscripts available in libraries stated:

Manvadi Shrāddha – mentioned by Rudradeva in Pakayajna Prakasa.
Dṛṣṭantara Yoga – also named Siddhāntasāra available at Madras Oriental Manuscripts Library.
Kapilanyayabhasa – mentioned by Alberuni in his works.
Kapila Purana – referred to by Sutasamhita and Kavindracharya. Available at Sarasvati Bhavana Library, Varanasi.
Kapila Samhita – there are 2 works by the same name. One is the samhita quoted in the Bhagavatatatparyanirnaya and by Viramitrodaya in Samskaras. Another is the Samhita detailing pilgrim centers of Orissa.
Kapilasutra – Two books, namely the Samkya Pravacana Sutra and the Tattvasamasasutra, are jointly known as Kapilasutra. Bhaskararaya refers to them in his work Saubhagya-bhaskara.
Kapila Stotra – Chapters 25 to 33 of the third khanda of the Bhagavata Mahapurana are called Kapila Stotra.
Kapila Smriti – Available in the work Smriti-Sandarbha, a collection of Smritis, from Gurumandal Publications.
Kapilopanishad – Mentioned in the Anandasrama list at 4067 (Anandasrama 4067).
Kapila Gita – also known as Dṛṣṭantasara or Siddhāntasāra.
Kapila Pancharatra – also known as Maha Kapila Pancharatra. Quoted by Raghunandana in Saṃskāra Mayukha.
Ayurveda books mentioning Kapila’s works are:

Vagbhatta mentions Kapila’s views in chapter 20 of Sutrasthana.
Nischalakara mentions Kapila’s views in his commentary on Chikitsa Sangraha.
Kapila’s views are quoted in Ayurvedadipika.
The Kavindracharya list at 987 mentions a book named Kapila Siddhanta Rasayana.
Hemadri quotes Kapila’s views in Ashtangahradaya (16th verse) of the commentary Ayurveda Rasayana.
Sarvadarsanasamgraha (Sarva-darśana-saṃgraha) mentions Kapila’s views on Raseśvara school of philosophy.
Teachings
Kapila’s Samkhya is taught in various Hindu texts:

“Kapila states in the Mahabharata, “Acts only cleanse the body. Knowledge, however, is the highest end (for which one strives). When all faults of the heart are cured (by acts), and when the felicity of Brahma becomes established in knowledge, benevolence, forgiveness, tranquillity, compassion, truthfulness, and candour, abstention from injury, absence of pride, modesty, renunciation, and abstention from work are attained. These constitute the path that lead to Brahman. By those one attains to what is the Highest.”
“Bhishma said (to Yudhishthira), ‘Listen, O slayer of foes! The Sankhyas or followers of Kapila, who are conversant with all paths and endued with wisdom, say that there are five faults, O puissant one, in the human body. They are Desire and Wrath and Fear and Sleep and Breath. These faults are seen in the bodies of all embodied creatures. Those that are endued with wisdom cut the root of wrath with the aid of Forgiveness. Desire is cut off by casting off all purposes. By cultivation of the quality of Goodness (Sattwa) sleep is conquered, and Fear is conquered by cultivating Heedfulness. Breath is conquered by abstemiousness of diet.
Recognition
Kapila, the founder of Samkhya, has been a highly revered sage in various schools of Hindu philosophy. Gaudapada (~500 CE), an Advaita Vedanta scholar, in his Bhasya called Kapila as one of the seven great sages along with Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana, Asuri, Vodhu and Pancasikha. Vyasa, the Yoga scholar, in his Yogasutra-bhasya wrote Kapila to be the “primal wise man, or knower”.

The name Kapila appears in many texts, and it is likely that these names refer to different people. The most famous reference is to the sage Kapila with his student Āsuri, who in the Indian tradition, are considered as the first masters of Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. While he pre-dates Buddha, it is unclear which century he lived in, with some suggesting 6th-century BCE. Others place him in the 7th century BCE. This places him in the late Vedic period (1500 BCE to 500 BCE), and he has been called a Vedic sage.