Philosophers

Kapila

Citation Formats

General Reference

Philosophy Atlas. "Kapila." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-philosophy.interactiveatlas.org/philosophers/kapila.

APA Style

Philosophy Atlas. (n.d.). Kapila. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-philosophy.interactiveatlas.org/philosophers/kapila

BibTeX

@misc{philosophyatlas-kapila,
  author = {Philosophy Atlas},
  title = {Kapila},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-philosophy.interactiveatlas.org/philosophers/kapila},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Kapila is the sage credited in Indian tradition, alongside his disciple Asuri, as the first master of Samkhya philosophy. He belongs to legend and possibly prehistory, and nothing about his life is reliably dated.

Facts

Tradition

Samkhya 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Traditions Founded

Samkhya

Source Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Sources

1. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Sankhya entry, Section 1 History

Quote, Sankhya entry, Section 1 History

According to the Indian tradition, the first masters of Sankhya are Kapila and his disciple Asuri. They belong to antiquity (and sometimes, prehistory) and are known only through ancient legends.

View the Source

Comments (0)

No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.

Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)

No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.

Switch Atlas

The Inner World

The Civil World

The Natural World