Kaśyapa
Also sometimes written Kashyapa. In the Hindu sacred books he has a wide variety of things attributed to him, clearly indicating that there were several persons with this name. In one place he is a Vedic sage, descendant of Mar…ci (one of the seven great sages who was “mind-born” from Brahmš) and author of several hymns of the ¬g Veda. In the ®atapata Br€hmaŠa he is said to be the same as Praj€pati (i.e., Lord of Progeny) who assumed the form of a tortoise in order to create offsprings; in fact, one of the meanings of the word kaypa is “tortoise.” In another place he is the husband of twelve wives and progenitor of all kinds of living creatures as well as demons (asuras) and wise men (n€gas, lit. “serpents”). In still another he is the brahmin priest of both Paraur€ma and R€ma, two of the incarnations (avat€ras) of ViŠu. In another place, he is identified as the father of Kapila, originator of the Sš¥khya philosophy. Kayapa is also the Indian name of the constellation Cancer. In other words, the name is used to designate many different people as well as some non-human things (constellation and tortoise).
Kayapa is also the name of the Buddhist Arhat who was a direct disciple of the Buddha, and “to whom alone was entrusted the sacred keeping of the Esoteric interpretation” of Buddha’s teachings (CW XIV:444). He was the one who organized the first Buddhist council. He is usually known as Mah€-Kayapa to distinguish him from other disciples who were of the same name. In another context, Kayapa Buddha is said by Mahšyšna Buddhists to be the predecessor of Gautama Buddha. He was the sixth of the seven Buddhas mentioned in the Digha Nik€ya.
Helena P. BLAVATSKY repeats several of these stories, but interprets at least some of them as having a deeper meaning. For instance, the Kayapa who had twelve wives (clearly an allusion to the twelve signs of the Zodiac) and who gave birth to “all kinds of things” is “but a veiled record of the order of evolution in this round?” (SD II:253). That Kayapa, in other words, is a mythological figure. On the other hand, she states that the Kayapa who was the father of Kapila was an historical person (SD II:572) as was the Buddhist of that name (SD I:xxviii).
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