Kapila
Ancient · Founder of Sāṅkhya
Maharṣi Kapila is honoured as the founder of Sāṅkhya, one of the oldest schools of Indian philosophy. Sāṅkhya counts out (saṅkhyā) the principles of existence, distinguishing puruṣa, pure consciousness, from prakṛti, nature with its three guṇas — sattva, rajas and tamas. Its ideas run through the Gītā, Yoga and Āyurveda. The oldest surviving text of the school is the later Sāṅkhya Kārikā of Īśvarakṛṣṇa.
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa Kapila is an avatāra of Viṣṇu, son of Kardama and Devahūti, who teaches his mother the path of devotion and knowledge.
Tradition says the sixty thousand sons of King Sagara, searching for their sacrificial horse, disturbed Kapila’s meditation and were burnt to ashes by his gaze. Generations later Bhagīratha brought the Gaṅgā down to earth to free them — and Gaṅgāsāgar, where the river meets the sea, is linked with Kapila’s āśrama.
Sāṅkhya darśana · Puruṣa and prakṛti · Gaṅgāsāgar