Kashyapa

Kashyapa is an ancient seer whom the tradition makes the great ancestor of living beings — devas, asuras, birds, and serpents alike through his thirteen wives, chief among them Aditi, mother of the gods, and Diti, mother of the asuras.

Tradition/Life

Vedic literature names Kashyapa among the ancient seers; the later Satapatha Brahmana and the Puranas expand him into the cosmogonic father through whom creation divides into the warring families of light and darkness. Buddhist and Jain texts also carry the name — the Buddha Kashyapa of the Jain lineage? — careful: Kasyapa appears as a previous Buddha and as Mahavira’s earlier name in separate traditions, showing the seer’s name circulating widely. The Puranas also connect the valley of Kashmir with him: the land, lifted from the primordial lake, is called Kashyapamaru? — “Kashyapa’s land.”

Teachings/Works

Hymns attributed to Kashyapa appear in the Rig Veda; the Kashyapa Samhita is an Ayurvedic treatise on pediatrics attributed to his line, and Kashyap Sangita? — keep to Kashyapa Samhita.

Legacy

The Kashyapa gotra is among the largest in India; his cosmic paternity underlies Hindu accounts of kinship among all creatures.

Verification notes

• Vedic seer and Puranic cosmogonic ancestor are layered traditions; the Kashmir etymology is traditional.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).