Maharishi Kapila is traditionally considered to be the original proponent of the Samkhya system of philosophy but there are no known writings by him that deal with Samkhya. Some also consider him an incarnation of Vishnu.

Maharishi Kapila lived in the Indian subcontinent, and it is said he lived around 500 BCE. Tradition has it that Shakyamuni Buddha studied the Samkhya system before his "awakening," so 500 BCE is not an unreasonable date. However, some scholars have noted that early forms of Samkhya, "Proto-Samkhya" occurred as early as the ninth century BCE. (It did not develop into the formal system of Karika Samkhya until about the fourth century CE.)

Very little is known about Maharishi Kapila's life, but some questionable sources mention the following:

He was the son of the sage Kardama and Devhuti. He allegedly preached mankind self - knowledge or the real knowledge. He started his preaching of knowledge with his mother who attained divinity. Her soul left the mortal body and her physical body melted into a river called 'Matri Teertha' which is located at Siddhapur, in Gujarat.

And also:

A man can become free from all his illusions and bondage with the help of desireless devotion.It is believed that the ocean had itself given



him a place for the maharishi to start his penance in the depth of the ocean and is also said that he still continues his penance there. He is one of the twelve teachers of Srimad Bhagwat.

Maharshi Kapila is a major figure in the story associated with the Hindu holiday of Makar Sankranti, about the birth of the Ganges River. In the story, the 60,000 sons of King Sagara disturbed the sage's meditations, accusing him of being a horse thief. According to the story, the sage opened his eyes, and with the force of his gaze reduced the 60,000 princes to a pile of ashes.

References

An Introduction to Hinduism, Gavin Flood, p. 232. Cambridge University Press, 1996. (Dates for proto-Samkhya, Karika Samkhya.)

Kapila Kapila